Ambrosia (band) - Formation and Inspiration

Formation and Inspiration

The members of Ambrosia decided on the moniker in 1970 to represent a vision of their music: all shades, textures, colors and styles. While Ambrosia had many radio hits in the 1970s, much of the material on their five albums is progressive in nature.

The founding constituents of Ambrosia were reared in Southern California in the area known as The South Bay, later adopting San Pedro as their hometown. Their initial musical influences, like many of their generation, came from The Beach Boys and The Beatles. Ambrosia fused symphonic art rock with a slick produced pop sound.

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. Despite this early career break, however, it took them four additional years to obtain a recording contract.