On January 20, 1967 a freak snow storm that dumped twenty inches on Chicago changed the fate of Gary & The Knight Lites when Kenny Myers, former Senior Vice President of Mercury Records, found himself stranded and met with Producer Bill Traut in his studio at Universal Recording.

[5] The success allowed the group, originally signed for singles, to make albums and quit their daytime gigs to pursue music full-time.

[1] The song, written by Scott English and Larry Weiss, had previously been recorded by an all-female band known as the Models and was also a hit on the UK Singles Chart for the British group Amen Corner.

Contributing to the success of the American Breed's version of "Bend Me, Shape Me" was the arrangement of the song by the band's record producer, Bill Traut, who added horns among other changes.

The band also found themselves in high demand in the lucrative radio jingles market, recording commercials for Coca-Cola, the United States Navy, and Bell Telephone, among others.

But the band was for all intents and purposes finished by then, though Loizzo briefly tried to keep the name afloat in 1970 with one last single, "Can't Make It Without You", which went nowhere.

[1] McWilliams was later replaced by Chaka Khan and the band later scored their first Top 10 hit under the Rufus name with "Tell Me Something Good" in 1974.

The four members of The American Breed (Ciner, Loizzo, Colbert, and Graziano) briefly reunited in 1986 and recorded the album Once Again, featuring a new version of "Bend Me, Shape Me".

Since that first regrouping in 1986, the band has continued to make periodic reunion appearances at shows and fairs, mostly in and around their native Chicago.