Khan had been performing at the Pumpkin Room on the south side of Chicago, with a local group, Lock and Chain, led by drummer Scotty Harris.īob Monaco was part of a booking company known as Ashley Famous with Jim Golden. Paulette also got Khan a gig with the group Lyfe, formed by Chicago's Cash McCall. After the band hesitantly submitted, Paulette remained for a few weeks to teach Khan the material. When Paulette decided she was leaving Ask Rufus, she told them she had the perfect singer to replace her she had also asked Khan if she was interested. Khan attended most Ask Rufus gigs when they performed in Chicago. Paulette McWilliams and Chaka Khan had met and became the best of friends through their spouses Howard Towles and Hassan Khan. Willie Weeks was in turn replaced by Dennis Belfield, James Stella by keyboardist/vocalist Ron Stockert and Lee Graziano by Andre Fischer. In 1971, the band signed a contract with Epic Records recording an album that was not released, after which Epic dropped their contract in early 1972. At this point, Ciner came back to replace Pilder and Willie Weeks was added on bass after Colbert left. In 1970, after switching their management to Bob Monaco and Bill Traut, the group's name changed again to "Ask Rufus", the name is taken from the title of the advice column in Mechanics Illustrated. They re-emerged in 1969 under the name "Smoke". After much success, Colbert and Graziano (without Loizzo who pursued a successful production career) created a new group, adding later day "Breed" members Kevin Murphy on (keyboards) and Paulette McWilliams (vocals), plus James Stella (vocals) and Vern Pilder (guitar) from the bar band "Circus".
In 1968, the American Breed ( Gary Loizzo, guitar/vocals, Al Ciner, guitar, Charles "Chuck" Colbert, bass and Lee Graziano, drums) had a top ten hit with the classic rock single, " Bend Me, Shape Me".
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