Terry Knight and the Pack

Origins

Former DJ, Knight was tenured in several radio stations before trying his hand at a solo musical career in 1964. As a DJ, he was an early advocate of The Rolling Stones, and imitated their style as soloist and later when he joined the band. His initial efforts, which included an unsuccessful single and local performances, were not met with much success, so Knight persuaded a band known as The Jazz Masters to accept him as their frontman in 1965. The group, impressed by Knight's contacts in the music industry, accepted him into the band. Knight quickly took control of the band, first by changing their name to The Pack, inspired by The Shangri-Las' hit, "Leader of the Pack". and taking the group out of uniforms and switching to a more casual look similar to The Rolling Stones. In the band, Knight became the singer and songwriter. Don Brewer played drums, Herm Jackson was on bass guitar, Curt Johnson was on lead guitar, and Bobby Caldwell provided keyboards.

Recording

Knight was able to use his contacts to enable the Pack to record their first single, “Tears Come Rolling"/"The Colour of Our Love”, at the Golden World Studio in Detroit, released on the Wingate label. At this time the band was managed by Jim Atherton, of Flint, who felt that a traditional label such as Wingate could not properly promote a British-influenced Rock group like the Pack. Atherton convinced fellow Flint businessman Otis Ellis to record the band on his small Lucky Eleven label. Before the band recorded their second single, the band name was changed to Terry Knight and The Pack, reflecting Knight's de facto role as the charismatic front man and leader of the group.

Six of their nine singles made regional Top 40s throughout Michigan, Ohio and New York, with two of them - "You're a Better Man Than I" (originally by The Yardbirds) and "I (Who Have Nothing)" (a cover of a Ben E. King song) - reaching the national charts. "I (Who Have Nothing)" went to #46 and earned the band an appearance on Dick Clark's television program Where the Action Is. Their debut album, Terry Knight and the Pack, and second album, Reflections, were both released in 1966.

Tracks by the band include: "This Precious Time" (composed and produced by P.F. Sloan), covers of the Rolling Stones' songs "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" and "Lady Jane", and several Knight originals: "Numbers", "A Change on the Way" and "Love, Love, Love, Love, Love" (later covered by Detroit roots rockers Brownsville Station). The Music Explosion issued an almost identical version of "Love, Love, Love, Love, Love", with the same instrumental backing track but a different vocal track; it's unclear whether The Pack or the Music Explosion recorded the "original".

TK&TP were mainstays on Cleveland's TV rock & roll showcase, Upbeat. In addition, they opened regional gigs for the Rolling Stones, the Dave Clark Five and the Yardbirds.

Grand Funk Railroad

After their second LP, Reflections, Knight left the band to pursue a frustrated solo career as producer and singer. The Pack continued without Knight with even less success, releasing a few more 45 RPM singles under the names The Pack and The Fabulous Pack. The band was largely forgotten until Farner and Brewer formed the nucleus of Capitol Records' best-selling act of the early 1970s, Grand Funk Railroad, initially managed and produced by Knight.

Reissues

All recordings by Terry Knight and the Pack have been out of print since 1973, except for "I (Who Have Nothing)" which is included in the Cameo Parkway 1957-1967 box set. Only one "best of" compilation was released in late 1972 by ABKCO Records as the double album Mark, Don & Terry 1966-67 (plain blue cover) inspired by the Grand Funk Railroad doublet Mark, Don & Mel: 1969–71 (plain black cover) released earlier that year on Capitol. The ABKCO-released album was later re-packaged in 1973 as Funk-Off. Both albums are considered collectors items after being dropped from the ABKCO catalog. Another quasi-best-of compilation, Track On, was released on Lucky Eleven circa 1969-70.

Albums