Mike Botts

Born in Oakland, California, in 1944, Michael Botts' family moved to Sacramento where Michael began his career as a musician. He played for several years there, and by the time he was in college, he had logged substantial opportunities playing the area with Jazz greats, Wes Montgomery and Jimmy Smith, some pretty serious "chop-building" experience. Being aware of the music action in Los Angeles at the time, he knew what many musicians know, that he would end up there eventually.

Michael found that ticket to L.A. and the road beyond when he began playing with a group called the Travelers Three, an interesting folk rock group. This brought him to Los Angeles where he began to quickly assimilate and work his way into the recording studio forum. In fact, it was actually at a session for the Travelers Three band that Michael met David Gates for the first time. (David had been called upon by Capitol Records to produce some tracks on them.) Although the company passed on the band, this meeting would tell much about Michael's future.

After running into each other from time to time in the studios, Gates called Micheal Botts one day in late 1969 to play BREAD's first album for him and offer him the drum chair with the band...

"David wanted me to come by to meet the other guys in BREAD and hear their first album. Having been soured by previous 'group' ventures, I was less than enthusiastic. But after hearing the music and meeting Jimmy and Rob, I agreed to become a member. Well, little did I realize what was about to happen. I got another call from David. It was to tell me that 'Make it with you' was climbing up the charts and we had a hit on our hands. BREAD soon became the all consuming part of our professional lives."

Michael Botts has had a career that has encompassed not only being a permanent member of BREAD's line-up, but also working with a roster of other artists, including Linda Rondstadt, Karla Bonoff, Dan Fogelberg, and Richard Carpenter. His recording credits read like a who's who in the music industry with acts/artists like Air Supply, Hoyt Axton, Peter Cetera, Rita Coolidge, Bill Medley, Eddie Money, Linda Ronstadt, Tina Turner, and even THE SIMPSONS on his resume.

In addition to recording and touring for other artists, Mike has recently released a CD of his own, Double Platinum Drums, for all the MIDI/Sampling buffs out there. It is a painstakingly recorded disc with nearly two thousand various drum samples and grooves for the professional studio environment. (Available from ILIO of Chatsworth, CA.)

Michael proudly endorses D.W. DRUMS.

More recently he released a solo album called 'Adults Only' a fantastic CD featuring 'The Wait' and a track called 'Shame' which tells the story of Bread's breakup.

"Shame" Preview

"The Wait" Preview

"Old Mans Lament" Preview