The Grass Roots were a hugely successful U.S. band that existed between 1965 and 1975. At first, a band only in the imagination of songwriting duo P.F. Sloan and Steve Barri.
In their career, The Grass Roots achieved one platinum album, two gold albums, thirteen gold singles and charted singles a total of twenty-nine times. Between 1967 and 1972, The Grass Roots were on the Billboard charts 307 straight weeks. They have sold over 20 million records worldwide.
The name Grass Roots originated in 1965 as the name of a band project by the prolific Los Angeles, California songwriter/producer duo of P.F. Sloan and Steve Barri. They had written several songs in an attempt of their record company Dunhill Records to cash in on the budding folk rock movement. One of these songs was "Where Were You When I Needed You" which was recorded by Sloan/Barri and a now all but forgotten line-up of studio musicians. Sloan provided the lead vocals and played guitar. The song was released under The Grass Roots name and sent, as a demo, to several radio stations of the San Francisco Bay area.
When moderate interest in this new "band" arose, Sloan/Barri went to look for a group that could incorporate The Grass Roots name. They found one in a San Francisco outfit The Bedouins, and cut a new version with that band's lead vocalist Bill Fulton. For some months, the Bedouins were the first "real" Grass Roots - but the partnership with Sloan/Barri broke up when the band demanded more space for their own more blues-orientated material (which their producers were not willing to give them). The band went back to San Francisco, with only drummer Joel Larson remaining (he was to become a member of a later Grass Roots line-up, as well). In the meantime, the second version of "Where Were You When I Needed You" peaked at #28 in mid- 1966 - an album of the same name sold disappointingly, probably because of the fact that, at the time of its release, there were no Grass Roots anymore to promote it.
