Grand Funk Railroad (often shortened to Grand Funk) is an American rock band formed in Flint, Michigan, in 1969 by Mark Farner (vocals, guitar, keyboards, harmonica), Don Brewer (drums, vocals) and Mel Schacher (bass).

[4] The original trio reunited at various times later into the band's career; after Farner's final departure in 1998, Brewer and Schacher have continued touring as Grand Funk Railroad.

[6] Mark Farner talks of the circumstances leading up to the formation of Grand Funk Railroad: "We were actually a five-piece, I was the singer, there were four other musicians (including Brewer), but I wasn't playing anything in that band, the Fabulous Pack (so renamed after Knight had gone).

We started looking and went out to Delta Promotions in Bay City where this company that sent us out to the Boston area to do these gigs [was located] and we were going to give them a piece of our minds.

[8] This exposure proved to be invaluable, and the band was signed by Capitol Records, where their manager, Knight, was working as an A&R person.

Patterned after hard-rock power trios such as Cream, the band, with Terry Knight's marketing savvy, developed its popular style.

In August 1969, the band released its first album titled On Time, which sold over 1,000,000 copies and was awarded a gold record in 1970.

In VH1's Behind the Music Grand Funk Railroad episode, Knight stated that the original contract would have run out in about three months and that the wise decision for the band would have been to wait out the time.

[14] In 1972, Grand Funk Railroad added former Fabulous Pack bandmate Craig Frost on keyboards full-time.

The addition of Frost, however, was a stylistic shift from Grand Funk's original garage-band-based rock & roll roots to a more rhythm & blues/pop rock-oriented style.

[16] To refine Grand Funk's sound, the band secured veteran musician Todd Rundgren as a producer.

(December 1974) depicted the band members' heads superimposed on the bodies of bodybuilders Arnold Schwarzenegger and Franco Columbu.

Although they were highly successful in the mid-1970s, tensions mounted within the band due to personal issues, burn-out, and disputes over musical direction.

While pressures between the band members still existed, they agreed to move forward and complete one more album for Capitol to avoid legalities similar to those they endured with Terry Knight in 1972.

The band recorded Born to Die (January 1976), but its lower sales (it only managed to reach #47 on the Billboard chart) and lack of hit singles disappointed the group.

[citation needed] In 1981, Grand Funk Railroad reunited after being approached by their former manager Andy Caviliere (who had taken over from Terry Knight in 1972).

The reunion took place without Frost (who was playing with Bob Seger) and with Dennis Bellinger replacing Schacher on bass.

[14] The new lineup released two albums on Irving Azoff's Full Moon label, distributed by Warner Bros. Records.

[14] Farner continued as a solo performer and became a Christian recording artist while Brewer went on to join Frost in Bob Seger's Silver Bullet Band.

[14] After some rehearsals in late 1995, Grand Funk Railroad's three original members (joined on tour by keyboardist/guitarist and background vocalist Howard Eddy Jr.) once again reunited in 1996 and played to 500,000 people during a three-year period.

The band released a live two-disc benefit CD called Bosnia recorded in Auburn Hills, Michigan.

This live recording also featured Peter Frampton, Alto Reed and Howard Eddy Jr.[citation needed] In late 1998, Farner left the band after disagreements with Brewer and returned to his solo career.

And after a two-year hiatus, when Brewer and Schacher once again approached Farner about reuniting, he turned them down after they refused to honor his desire to be paid fifty percent, rather than a third of the group's revenue as in the past.

[23] And so in late 2000, Brewer and Schacher voted to go forward without Farner, recruiting lead vocalist Max Carl (formerly of Jack Mack & the Heart Attack and 38 Special), former Kiss lead guitarist Bruce Kulick and keyboardist Tim Cashion (Bob Seger, Robert Palmer) to complete the new lineup.

[28] On January 2, 2024 Bruce Kulick announced he was departing Grand Funk Railroad after 23 years, having played his final concert with the group on December 14, 2023 in Marietta, Ohio, citing that he wanted to focus on other projects.

[29] On January 4, 2024 Grand Funk Railroad announced that singer-guitarist Mark Chatfield (The Godz, Rosie, Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band) would replace Bruce Kulick as permanent member of GFR.