Profile of Jimmy Griffin on Famous Like Me

James Arthur Griffin (August 10, 1943 - January 11, 2005) was the guitarist of 1970s rock band Bread.

Griffin was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, but grew up in Memphis, Tennessee. Dorsey and Johnny Burnette were his neighbors, and became his role models. Once the Burnette brothers moved to Los Angeles, California in order to further their music careers, Griffin went there to visit them, and managed to secure a recording contract with Reprise Records. His first album, Summer Holiday, was released in 1963. He had small roles in two films, For Those Who Think Young and None But the Brave in the mid-1960s.

In the 60s, Griffin teamed with fellow songwriter Michael Z. Gordon to write songs for such diverse singers as Ed Ames, Gary Lewis, Bobby Vee, Brian Hyland, The Standells, Leslie Gore, Sandy Nelson and Cher. The pair won a BMI award for "Apologize".

In 1968, Griffin teamed with David Gates, Robb Royer and Mike Botts to form the band Bread (Botts joined on their second album, On the Waters). They had a number one Billboard magazine hit with the song "Make It With You". Other hits by the band included "Baby I'm-a Want You," "If" and "Everything I Own".

In 1970, Griffin joined with Royer and songwriter Fred Karlin to write the song "For All We Know" for the movie Lovers and Other Strangers. The song won the Academy Award for Best Song.

Following the breakup of Bread, Griffin performed with the country music groups Black Tie (with Randy Meisner, Billy Swan, and Charlie Rich, Jr.) and the Remingtons (with Richard Mainegra and Rick Yancey).

External link

• Letter by Jimmy Griffin's mother sent to the Remingtons fan club

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