A nectar-of-the-gods name for a band that blended prog and pop

Ambrosia began as a quartet: guitarist and vocalist David Pack, bassist Joe Puerta, keyboardist Christopher North and drummer Burleigh Drummond. According to Puerta, they first called themselves Ambergris Mite, but after some touring they found another band already used Ambergris. They went to the dictionary and picked Ambrosia, a word for the nectar of the gods that seemed fitting. The four had been raised in Southern California's South Bay and later adopted San Pedro as their hometown.

Their influences ranged from the Beach Boys, Jimmy Reed and King Crimson to the Beatles, and they were smitten with Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, which pushed them into vocal harmonies. The result was a blend of symphonic art rock and slick pop that gets described as melodic prog. In 1971 a friend working sound at the Hollywood Bowl invited them to play there while testing a new system. The head engineer was so impressed that he took them to hear the Los Angeles Philharmonic and introduced them to conductor Zubin Mehta, who featured the band in an All-American Dream Concert.

A deal with 20th Century Fox Records came in 1975. Their self-titled debut, produced by Freddie Piro, spawned “Holdin' On to Yesterday” and “Nice, Nice, Very Nice”, which sets a poem from Kurt Vonnegut's Cat's Cradle to music. Alan Parsons engineered that first record, which earned a Grammy nomination for engineering, and he produced the follow-up, Somewhere I've Never Travelled, in 1976.

Altogether Ambrosia scored five top 40 singles between 1975 and 1980, including the top 5 “How Much I Feel” and “Biggest Part of Me”, and the top 20 “You're the Only Woman (You & I)”. The original lineup reunited in 1989. After Pack left in 2000, the group continued with various singers, led by founders Joe Puerta and Burleigh Drummond, and the band still tours internationally. The hits were radio-friendly, but much of the material on those first five albums leaned progressive.