Brewer and Frost joined Bob Segers Silver Bullet Band. Farner returned to his solo career, before joining Adrenalin. Failing to recapture former glories, they split again. Grand Funk, this time comprising Farner, Brewer and bass player Dennis Bellinger, re-formed for two years in 1981-83 and recorded Grand Funk Lives andWhats Funk? for the Full Moon label. The others stayed together, adding guitarist Billy Elworthy and changing their name to Flint, a unit who failed to find commercial success with their solitary album. When it failed to reach the Top 50, Farner left for a solo career. The following year they signed with MCA Records and recordedGood Singin, Good Playin, produced by Frank Zappa. In 1975, with their popularity considerably diminished, the band reverted to its original name of Grand Funk Railroad. In 1974 a major revision of Little Evas The Loco-Motion also reached the top (the first time in US chart history that a cover version of a song that had previously reached number 1 also attained that position). Now produced by Todd Rundgren, they finally broke into the singles market, reaching number 1 with the album title track Were An American Band, a celebration of their times on the road. In 1973 the band shortened its name officially to Grand Funk, and added a fourth member, keyboard player Craig Frost (b. In 1972 the band fired Knight, resulting in a series of lawsuits involving millions of dollars (they hired John Eastman, father of Linda McCartney, as their new manager). The next year saw the release ofSurvival and E Pluribus Funk, the latter most notable for its round album cover. 1970s Live Album reached number 5 and included another concert and radio favourite in Farners Mean Mistreater. Their recordings sold in greater quantity even though many radio stations ignored their releases. In June 1971, for example, Grand Funk Railroad became only the second band (after the Beatles) to sell out New Yorks Shea Stadium. That promotional campaign backfired with the press, however, which dismissed the bands efforts despite spiralling success with the public. In 1970, for example, Knight reportedly paid $100, 000 for a huge billboard in New York Citys Times Square to promote the bandsCloser To Home, which subsequently became their first Top 10 album, reaching number 6 and spawning the FM radio-staple title track. Grand Funk Railroads huge success is often attributed to the public relations expertise of manager Knight. Of those, 1973sWere An American Band was the biggest seller, reaching number 2. By the summer of that year they had become a major concert attraction, and their albums routinely reached the Top 10 for the next four years. On Time reached number 27 in 1969, followed by the number 11Grand Funk in 1970. Their first singles reached the charts but Grand Funk soon proved its real strength in the album market. The new trio signed with Capitol Records in 1969 and immediately began making its name by performing at several large pop festivals. At this point Knight stopped performing to become the bands manager, renaming it Grand Funk Railroad (the name was taken from the Michigan landmark the Grand Trunk Railroad). Following a single release on the small Lucky Eleven label, I (Who Have Nothin), which reached number 46 in the US chart, the Pack were joined by Schacher, formerly of ? And The Mysterians. Farner and Brewer had both been members of the Pack, while Brewer had also belonged to the Jazz Masters. 3 April 1951, Owosso, Michigan, USA) and drummer Don Brewer (b. The group was a spin-off of Terry Knight And The Pack, a popular soul rock group in the Michigan area in the mid-60s, and originally comprised guitarist Mark Farner (29 September 1948, Flint, Michigan, USA), bass player Mel Schacher (b. Formed in 1968, Grand Funk Railroad was the first American heavy rock power trio to achieve massive fame, while alienating another large segment of the rock audience and critics at the same time.
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