- Craig Frost born April 20, 1948 in
Flint, MI.
- Don Brewer born September 3, 1948 in
Swartz Creek, MI.
- Mark Farner born September 29, 1948
in Flint, MI.
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- Dennis Bellinger born October 8, 1949
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- Mel Schacher born April 8, 1951 in
Owasso, MI.
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- Don Brewer and Mark Farner play with
various bands around Flint, Michigan including Terry Knight and
The Pack.
- Terry Knight and The Pack make the
national charts with "I (Who Have Nothing)" which peaks at
#46 on November 12, 1966.
- 1968: Don Brewer and Mark Farner quit
The Pack and recruit (question mark) ? and The Mysterians
bass player Mel Schacher to form a "power trio" type band.
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- Terry Knight becomes the band's
manager.
- They decide on the name Grand Funk
Railroad, which is taken from the Michigan landmark "Grand Trunk
Western Railroad".
- May: The band plays their first
gig as a trio in Buffalo, NY.
- July 4: The band gains
"overnight" success after playing at the Atlanta Pop
Festival before a crowd of 180,000.
- July: Capitol Records signs the band almost
immediately.
- July: GFR release their first
single "Time Machine", and it charts at #48.
- GFR's first album On Time
is released on August 25.
- The album Grand Funk, AKA
"The Red Album" is released December 29.
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- Closer To Home album is
released June 15 and peaks at number 6 on the charts.
- The band
spends $100,000 on a block long billboard announcing the Closer To
Home album in New York’s Times Square. A Union goes on strike and
the billboard is left up for 3 months.
- Grand Funk's Live Album
is recorded in Florida that summer and released on November 26.
It goes GOLD before it's released and hits number 5 on the charts
within a month.
- December 11, 18: Grand Funk sells out
two shows at Madison Square Garden in 8 hours.
- Grand Funk sells a total of around 10
million records during the year 1970, selling more records and tapes
than any other band in the U.S.
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- January: Grand Funk sells out a show
at London's Royal Albert Hall without having had a single record
played on British radio.
- April: The album Survival is released
and sells a million copies on the day of release. It reaches #6 in the
U.S. charts within 2 weeks and becomes the band's 5th GOLD album.
- June: The group sets out for their
first European tour perform a free concert
for 100,000 at London's Hyde Park on July 3rd.
- July 9: Grand Funk sell out New
York's Shea Stadium in less than 72 hours, breaking the Beatles'
record of 80 days.
- November: E Pluribus Funk is released
with over one million advanced sells. It hits #5 in the charts within
one month and stayed on the charts for 30 weeks.
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- March: Terry Knight is released from
his duties as the band's manager and record producer.
- April: The double album Mark, Don
& Mel 1969-71 is released to fulfill the contractual agreement the
band had with Capitol Records. The album peaks at #17 and goes GOLD.
- September: Phoenix is released and is
the band's first album that they produce themselves. It reaches #7 in
the charts and initially sells over 900,000 copies. Keyboardist Craig
Frost plays extensively on the album.
- December 23: Grand Funk end their
1972 tour with a benefit show at Madison Square Garden. The proceeds
go to a drug rehab center called "The Phoenix House." ABC
also films the show for their In Concert series.
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- July 1973: Todd Rundgren produces the
album We're An American Band. It reaches #2 on the U.S. charts, the
band's highest chart position up to that time.
- August 1973: The single "We're An
American Band" becomes the band's first number one hit. The album and
the single both go GOLD.
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- March 1974: Shinin' On album is
released and hits the charts at #5 and is the band's 10th GOLD album.
- March 9, 1974: A Carol King cover
"The Loco-Motion" becomes the band's second number one
single. It also goes GOLD.
- June 1, 1974: The San Diego concert
is filmed and later released as a video and laser disk in Japan.
- July 1974: The single "Shinin' On"
reaches #11 on the charts.
- December 1974: The album All The
Girls In The World Beware is released and hits #10 on the charts.
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- The RIAA creates their PLATINUM award
which signifies one million copies sold. GFR is awarded PLATINUM
awards for their previous 10 releases.
- December 1974: Another cover tune
"Some Kind Of Wonderful" reaches #3 on the charts.
- March 1975: "Bad Time" becomes the
second hit single from the album and peaks at #4.
- GFR's second live album Caught
In The Act is recorded on their 1975 tour and released August
1975.
- The band starts recording an album to
fulfill their contract with Capitol Records. They decide to take some
time off.
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- January: Born To Die album is
released and is intended to be GFR's last album. It charts at #47.
- Summer: The band reunites to record
one last album in order to work with Frank Zappa.
- August: The Frank Zappa produced Good
Singin' Good Playin' is released.
- October: GFR disbands.
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- Mark Farner releases 2 solo albums.
- Mel, Don and Craig record two albums
under the band name "Flint".
- "Flint" disbands.
- Craig Frost joins Bob Seger's Silver
Bullet Band.
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- Mark, Don and Mel discuss reforming
GFR. Mel goes into rehearsal with Mark and Don but decides not to
record or tour for personal reasons.
- Local Flint musician Dennis Bellinger
is brought in to replace Mel on bass.
- The song "Queen Bee" is
recorded for the animated classic "Heavy Metal" soundtrack.
- July 1981: The album Grand Funk
Lives is released.
- Mark, Don and Dennis tour throughout
1981-1982 and sell out shows in Japan and South America.
- January 1983: What's Funk?
album is released.
- GFR disband again.
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- Don joins Bob Seger's Silver Bullet
band for several tours and plays with various musicians including Pat
Travers.
- Mark records several Christian albums
and continues a career in the Contemporary Christian Music genre.
- Mel opens a Record Shop, restores
Jaguar cars and goes into construction building custom homes.
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- 1995: Mark is asked to play with
ex-Beatle Ringo Starr's "All Starr Band".
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- 1996: Mark, Don and Mel discuss the
possiblity of a reunion. They meet at a hunting lodge for a
preliminary reheasal.
- May 1996 to July 1996: GFR reunite
and perform before 260,000 people at 14 sold out shows.
- The band hires Ringo Starr promoter David Fishof as their manager.
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- January 1997 - The band plan 3 shows
in Detroit, New York and Los Angeles to benefit and bring awareness to
orphans in the war torn country of Bosnia.
- April - Novemeber 1997: The band play
30+ shows in the U.S. and Japan with added sideman Howard Eddy Jr.
- April 20, 1997: Audio is recorded at
the Detroit (Auburn Hills) show which will later be released as the
live album Bosnia.
- April 11, 1997: GFR perform on
"Good Morning America".
- May 2, 1997: GFR perform on "The
Tonight Show" with Jay Leno.
- October 1997: The double live album Bosnia
is released as a box CD set. The proceeds are to go to the Bosnia
Relief Effort.
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- January 1998: The band switch
management teams and hire Bobby Roberts and Jim Della Croce as
co-managers.
- April 29, 1998: The band performs at
Cleveland's Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame museum and donate articles for
a display to be created at a future date.
- The band play a 65+ show tour
throughout 1998 and is listed as one of the top 10 grossing tours of
1998.
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- Mark pursues a solo career and goes
on tour.
- January: The Frank Zappa produced
album Good Singin' Good Playin' is remastered and reissued on
CD.
- March: VH-1 debuts a "Behind The
Music" special on Grand Funk Railroad.
- June: The Thirty Years Of Funk
1969-1999 Anthology is released by Capitol Records. The 3 CD box
set contains previously unreleased outtakes and 3 new songs recorded
in 1997 by Mark, Don and Mel. All songs were digitally remastered.
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