By Russ:
Ambrosia is an American rock band that started out in 1970. Their brand of music fused symphonic rock with a crafted pop sound, resulting in a “melodic progressive rock” style that garnering them five top 40 hit singles in the early part of their career. For example, here is one of those hits that you may remember.
Formation
Coming out of Southern California’s South Bay, the group was founded as a quartet with guitarist/vocalist David Pack, bassist/vocalist Joe Puerta, keyboardist Christopher North and drummer Burleigh Drummond. They later adopting San Pedro as their hometown.
Their initial musical influences, like many of their generation, came from the Beach Boys, Jimmy Reed and the Beatles.
Early on, the band was infatuated with Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young and began to experiment with vocal harmonies. After the group attended a show at the Whisky a Go Go in December 1969 to see an unknown but highly recommended new band called King Crimson, their perception of music was changed.
The musicians, inspired by the music and artists of the progressive rock era, acquired a significant regional admiration. In 1971, a friend who was doing sound for the Hollywood Bowl, invited them to play there on stage to test a new sound system that had been installed. Gordon Parry, the head engineer in charge at the Bowl, was so impressed with the group that he invited them back to attend performances by the Los Angeles Philharmonic. He introduced them to conductor Zubin Mehta, who featured Ambrosia as part of a so-called All-American Dream Concert.
Rise to fame
The band was signed by 20th Century Fox Records in 1975, who released their first two albums.
Their first album
The eponymous Ambrosia, produced by Freddie Piro, was released in February 1975. It spawned the top 20 chart single “Holdin’ On to Yesterday“
Another hit from this album was “Nice, Nice, Very Nice“., which sets to music the lyrics to a poem in Kurt Vonnegut’s Cat’s Cradle.
Their first album was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Engineered Recording (other than Classical). Alan Parsons was the engineer and would become the producer for their second album.
Incidentally, all four members of Ambrosia played on the first Alan Parsons Project album, Tales of Mystery and Imagination, which was recorded soon after Ambrosia’s first album.
Their second album
After lengthy touring, the band recorded Somewhere I’ve Never Travelled, produced by Alan Parsons and released in September 1976. It received a Grammy nomination and set the stage for the band’s moving on to sign with Warner Bros. Records. The record sleeve folded into a large pyramid.
Their second album yielded the title song “Somewhere I’ve Never Travelled” and the single “Can’t Let a Woman“, and both these songs became FM favorites, featuring lush orchestration and vocal arrangements.
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In 1976 the group recorded a cover of the Beatles song “Magical Mystery Tour“, for the transitory musical documentary, All This and World War II (November 1976). The film’s soundtrack consisted of different artists providing arrangements of Beatles songs. Their version of “Magical Mystery Tour” scored a top 40 hit, and has since been a staple of their live shows.
Their third album
In August 1978, Life Beyond L.A. was released. It marked a move away from their lush arrangements and introduced a more raw, aggressive jazz/R&B influence.
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This album marked their biggest pop breakthrough with their first Gold single “How Much I Feel” – it went to a No. 3 hit on the Billboard Hot 100.
Warner Bros advertised the title cut for radio and Life Beyond L.A. started to get significant airplay on radio stations, a few months after the album’s release.
Extensive touring with Fleetwood Mac, Heart, and the Doobie Brothers, in addition to major headlining shows, cemented Ambrosia’s reputation as a top flight live act.
Their fourth album
In April 1980 Warner Bros. released One Eighty, which produced two of the year’s biggest hits. The first, “Biggest Part of Me“, reached number three for three weeks on the Billboard Hot 100, and crossed over to the soul chart, where it peaked at number thirty-five.
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The second hit song from One Eighty was another blue-eyed soul hit, “You’re the Only Woman (You & I)“, which reached No. 13 on the Billboard Hot 100.
One Eighty earned the band three Grammy nominations, including Best Pop Vocal Group. A headlining world tour followed. For the Japanese leg of the tour, the group was joined by their longtime friend Cliff Woolley (formerly of the Association, who had also guested on Life Beyond L.A.) on guitar, harmonica, and backup vocals.
The title of the album One Eighty was believed by fans to signal the group’s “180-degree” change in direction. But the band maintains that the album title came from the fact that they began recording in January 1980 (1/80).
Also in 1980, the band contributed the song “Outside” to the film Inside Moves, and “Feels So Good to Win” appeared in the film Coast to Coast later that same year.
The following year they placed another track, “Poor Rich Boy” (written by Burt Bacharach), on the soundtrack of the film, Arthur.
In 1982, David C. Lewis briefly left the touring group to be replaced by Bruce Hornsby, four years before his own rise to stardom.
Their fifth album
The same year, Ambrosia released their fifth and final studio album, Road Island (May 1982), their first effort without the assistance of Freddie Piro’s production company. Produced by James Guthrie, the album consisted of intense, driving hard rock (outside of the soft ballad “Feeling Alive Again” and the progressive rock closer “Endings“). Though it received some airplay with “How Can You Love Me“, the album was a commercial disappointment. The band broke up afterwards, ending their run of chart success.
Later years
After Ambrosia, David Pack pursued a solo career and produced or worked with many top artists. Pack’s 1985 solo album, Anywhere You Go, included the song “Prove Me Wrong“, which also appeared on the soundtrack of the 1985 film White Nights. Joe Puerta went on to become a founding member of Bruce Hornsby and the Range.
In 1989, Ambrosia reunited with all four original members and began playing live shows again, mostly on the West Coast. They expanded their touring ranks once again with Tollak Ollestad (vocals, keyboards, harmonica) and Shem von Schroeck (vocals, percussion, bass, guitar).
In 1995, the band expanded their annual touring schedule. David Pack had a conflict and guitarist John DeFaria filled in for him. Bernie Chiaravalle likewise stepped-in in the summer of 1997 and Mike Keneally did the honors in 1998 and 2000 for the concerts Pack was unable to play. Brian Stiemke subbed for an ill Burleigh Drummond for a few shows in 1997.
In May 1997, Warner Bros. released Ambrosia’s greatest hits CD Anthology, which contained tracks from all five albums plus three new tracks. In addition to Anthology, the entire Ambrosia catalog was remastered and released on CD.
The band launched a 30th anniversary tour in 2000. Early the following year, it was announced that Pack had permanently left the band and he was replaced by Doug Jackson, who had filled in for him for some shows the previous year. Pack’s final show with the band was on November 4, 2000, in Chandler, Arizona. Jackson was in place on guitar for their 2001 shows, except for one gig at Stone Mountain Park in Georgia on August 25 where Steve Farris (from Mr. Mister) subbed for him.
Ricky Cosentino filled in for Shem for some concerts in 1998, 1999, 2000, and 2003. Shem then left in 2003 to join Kenny Loggins‘ band. Robert Berry (vocals, guitars), formerly of 3 and GTR, joined temporarily in 2004–2005, and singer/guitarist Ken Stacey became a member in 2005. Shem then returned and he and Stacey alternated with the group for a while.
Tollak Ollestad left in late 2004 to concentrate on a solo career and relocate to the Netherlands where he has had success. David C. Lewis then returned, after having substituted for Ollestad on some 1999 and 2003 gigs. Ollestad remained on call to sub for various band members and came back to play with Ambrosia’s spring 2009 tour in place of Lewis and Shem.
Later in 2009, Rick Cowling (formerly with Kenny Loggins) came in on vocals, guitar, and keyboards, though Ollestad still appeared with the band from time to time, most recently in 2010 when Doug Jackson was out playing guitar for Gary Wright, and again while Cowling moved over to lead guitar until Jackson’s return later in the year.
Current era
Ambrosia appeared on the May 2, 2011 episode of Late Night with Jimmy Fallon as part of the host’s “Yacht Rock 2k11″ theme show, performing “Biggest Part of Me” (during the show) and “How Much I Feel” (after the formal taping, but put up on the Fallon website).
In 2012, Burleigh Drummond’s wife Mary Harris, after filling in on a show or two since 2000, became a permanent band member on keyboards and vocals. Harris is also a vocal arranger and songwriter, who has co-written new material for Ambrosia performed onstage. She has previously worked in varied capacities with Pink Floyd, XTC, Stanley Clarke and for many years with Jimmy Buffett.
Ken Stacey rejoined in 2014 after Rick Cowling departed. Ambrosia’s six-person lineup was then stable for a while and the group continued to tour, sometimes combining their talents with other artists including Bill Champlin, Peter Beckett, Michael McDonald, Edgar Winter, Dave Mason, Gary Wright, Al Stewart and others.
Ambrosia’s live performances showcase both their legacy hit material and more recent songs. Ambrosia continues to feature a majority of the band’s founding members, with Puerta, Drummond and North onstage, as they have been for the past thirty plus years. Kipp Lennon (from the Venice, California band Venice) joined on lead vocals to start the 2021 tour as the band began their post lockdown era, Ken Stacey having exited during their downtime in 2020.
Former keyboardist for the band David Cutler Lewis died of brain cancer on June 7, 2021.
Former member Shem von Schroeck returned in the fall of 2022, this time on drums, to sub for Drummond, who was recovering from back surgery.
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