1970s
The group auditioned for Herb Alpert and A&M Records early on but the audition did not go well. In spite of their poor performance, Alpert let the band do some demos. Eventually they signed with Rubicon Management, which eventually landed the group a deal with 20th Century Fox Records.
The first album, Ambrosia, produced by Freddie Piro, was released in 1975. It spawned the Top 20 chart single "Holdin' On To Yesterday" as well as the minor hit "Nice, Nice, Very Nice." The latter sets to music the lyrics to a song in Kurt Vonnegut's Cat's Cradle. The album was nominated for a Grammy award for Best Engineered Recording (other than Classical). Alan Parsons was the engineer for Ambrosia's first album and the producer for their second. 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. David Pack later appeared on the Alan Parsons album Try Anything Once (1993), co-writing, playing and providing vocals on three songs.
After lengthy touring, the band returned in 1976 with Somewhere I've Never Travelled. The album yielded the title song and the single "Can't Let A Woman", which both became FM favorites, both featuring lush orchestration and vocal arrangements. The record sleeve folded into a large pyramid. Somewhere I've Never Travelled received a Grammy nomination and set the stage for the band's signing to Warner Bros. Records.
In 1976, the group covered The Beatles song "Magical Mystery Tour" for the transitory musical documentary All This and World War II. The film's soundtrack consisted of different groups 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.
In 1978 Life Beyond L.A. was released. It marked a move away from their lush arrangements and introduced a more raw, aggressive progressive rock/jazz influence. Christopher North, who had family obligations and was not totally happy with the group's shift away from the sound of the first two albums, left the group in 1977 during the album's recording. The year 1978 marked their biggest pop breakthrough with their first Gold single "How Much I Feel" from the album, which was a No. 3 hit on the Billboard Hot 100. Warner Bros advertised the title cut for radio and Life Beyond LA 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 live act. For the '78 touring band, North returned and the group added a second keyboardist, David C. Lewis, as well as an additional singer Royce Jones.
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