![]() ![]() The Saginaw-area band had a # 1 hit in 1966 with “96 Tears”, but they had not had a chart hit since 1967. They found the third member for their group, Mel Schacher, playing bass in a later version of ? (Question Mark) & The Mysterians. They then changed their name slightly to the Fabulous Pack and recorded two more singles, “Wide Trackin’” and a cover of Jimi Hendrix’s “Fire” (renamed “Next To Your Fire”), before breaking up in 1969.įarner and Brewer were interested in putting together a new power trio similar to Cream or the Jimi Hendrix Experience. The rest of the band continued on as the Pack and had a local hit with a cover version of “Harlem Shuffle”. ![]() Knight left the group in 1967 to pursue a solo career but had only limited success. Terry Knight and The Pack charted their only national hit, “I (Who Have Nothing)” early in 1967. The group had statewide hits with “A Change On The Way”, “This Precious Time”, and a cover version of the Yardbirds’ “Better Man Than I”. Terry Knight and The Pack were very popular locally and opened for both the Rolling Stones and the Yardbirds when those bands toured in Michigan. ![]() Mark Farner soon joined the group on bass and later switched to guitar. The original five-man band included drummer Don Brewer. Knight renamed the group ‘The Pack’, a name inspired by the motorcycle gang in the Shangri-Las’ “Leader Of The Pack”. When Knight decided that he wanted to front a band, he persuaded a Swartz Creek group called the JazzMasters to join him. Knight was a popular deejay on several powerful AM radio stations including WTAC in Flint and CKLW in Windsor, Ontario. The tale of Grand Funk is a rags to riches story involving hard work, incredible success, questionable management, lawsuits, tax problems, and numerous break-ups and reunions among band members.Īlthough all of the members of Grand Funk Railroad played in a variety of local bands, the first real step toward stardom can be traced back to the Flint band, Terry Knight and The Pack. The group sold out a two-day stand in just seventy-two hours and grossed over $300,000 for their efforts. But in 1971 Grand Funk Railroad did just that. It’s hard to imagine that a band composed of three musicians from Flint, Michigan could possibly break the Beatles’ ticket sales record at New York’s Shea Stadium. Created: Thursday, 29 September 2011 16:24 ![]()
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