* En anglais uniquement
Los Angeles quartet
Ambrosia, whose founding members included guitarist/vocalist
David Pack, bassist/vocalist
Joe Puerta, keyboardist
Christopher North, and drummer
Burleigh Drummond, fused symphonic art rock with a slickly produced pop sound. After forming in 1970, the group was discovered in 1971 by Los Angeles Philharmonic conductor
Zubin Mehta, who featured
Ambrosia as part of a so-called All-American Dream Concert. However, it took them four more years to get a record contract;
Ambrosia was released in 1975 and spawned the chart singles "Holdin' on to Yesterday" and "Nice, Nice, Very Nice." (The latter was based on Kurt Vonnegut's Cat's Cradle.)
Ambrosia scored another hit in 1977 with a cover of
the Beatles' "Magical Mystery Tour" from the film All This and World War II, which they also appeared in.
North left the group just before their biggest pop breakthrough in 1978 with the number three hit "How Much I Feel."
Ambrosia followed this success in 1980 with another number three hit, "Biggest Part of Me," and the number 13 follow-up "You're the Only Woman." Their next album failed, ending their run of chart success, and the group broke up; individual members are still active as session musicians and vocalists, as well as producers.
David Pack's 1985 solo album
Anywhere You Go actually featured both
Puerta and
Drummond (alongside
Kerry Livgren,
Michael McDonald,
Stanley Clarke, and
Toto's
Michael Porcaro), and the band reunited several years later. Several tours followed during the '90s, along with new recordings featured on the band's 1997 Anthology release.
Pack left after 2001 for additional solo projects, and the band released the concert album Live a year later without him. ~ Steve Huey