Christopher Reed North (born January 26, 1951) is an American musician. He is the founding keyboardist of the American

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog) is a broad genre of rock music that primarily developed in the United Kingdom through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early-to-mid-1970s. Initially termed " progressive pop", the ...

band

Ambrosia In the ancient Greek mythology, Greek myths, ambrosia (, ) is the food or drink of the Greek gods, and is often depicted as conferring longevity or immortality upon whoever consumed it. It was brought to the gods in Mount Olympus, Olympus by do ...

Career

North was born in San Francisco. He grew up in

San Pedro, California San Pedro ( ; ) is a neighborhood located within the South Bay (Los Angeles County), South Bay and Los Angeles Harbor Region, Harbor region of the city of Los Angeles, California, United States. Formerly a separate city, it consolidated with Los ...

, playing in various bands through junior high and high school. Some of the early bands he played with were The Proones, The Livin End, and Thee Exceptions. In 1968 he formed the psychedelic rock band Blue Toad Flax with Tom Trefethen playing organ and singing lead vocals. Crn4ambrosia

In 1970 he formed the progressive rock band

with

David Pack David Robert Pack (born July 15, 1952) is an American singer and musician best known as co-founder, lead vocalist, and guitarist of the rock band Ambrosia (band), Ambrosia in the 1970s and 80s. Pack wrote and sang most of Ambrosia’s biggest h ...

Joe Puerta Joe Puerta (born July 2, 1951) is the bassist/vocalist and founder of the American rock group Ambrosia. He co-wrote one of the band's early hits, "Holdin' On To Yesterday" (1975). Puerta was a touring member (bass/vocals) of the bands for Chi C ...

and

Burleigh Drummond Burleigh Drummond (born September 25, 1951) is an American drummer, percussionist, producer, songwriter, and singer. He is a founding member and the only drummer/percussionist for the five-time Grammy Award nominated band Ambrosia. He performs o ...

. He is known for his very intense live performances. North and the other members of

contributed to the album ''

Tales of Mystery and Imagination ''Tales of Mystery & Imagination'' (often rendered as ''Tales of Mystery and Imagination'') is a popular title for posthumous compilations of writings by American author, essayist and poet Edgar Allan Poe and was the first complete collection of ...

'' by

The Alan Parsons Project The Alan Parsons Project was a British rock music, rock duo formed in London in 1975. Its core membership consisted of producer, audio engineer, musician and composer Alan Parsons, and singer, songwriter and pianist Eric Woolfson. They shared w ...

. He played organ and piano on the hit songs "Galilee" and "Rock 'N' Roll Preacher" from the debut album by

Chuck Girard Chuck Girard (born on August 27, 1943) is an American musician, considered a pioneer of Contemporary Christian music. He moved to Santa Rosa, California in his early teens, becoming a band member of the Castells and later the surf-rock band The ...

and also on Girard's 1980 album ''The Stand''. North played organ on the John Lennon tribute single "Johnny's Gone Away" written and produced by Tom Trefethen with

Alan Parsons Alan Parsons (born 20 December 1948) is an English audio engineer, songwriter, musician, and record producer. Parsons was the sound engineer on albums including the Beatles' ''Abbey Road'' (1969) and '' Let It Be'' (1970), Pink Floyd's ''The ...

as executive producer. Cnorthambrosia

In 2014 North played on the song "The Soft Parade" from '' Light My Fire: A Classic Rock Salute to The Doors''. North is listed on the All Time Hammond Pops list three times for his solos on Ambrosia hits “

Holdin' on to Yesterday "Holdin' On to Yesterday" is the debut single by American rock band Ambrosia. It was written by David Pack and Joe Puerta. Chart performance The song was released in the spring of 1975 as the lead single from their eponymous debut album, peakin ...

”, “

Biggest Part of Me "Biggest Part of Me" is a song by American band Ambrosia (band), Ambrosia, from the album ''One Eighty (album), One Eighty''. Released as a single in 1980, the song reached number one on the ''Radio & Records'' chart and number 3 on both the US B ...

” and “ You're the Only Woman (You & I)”. He was also listed from 1976-1981 as one of the top multi-keyboardists by Keyboard Magazine at which time they discontinued the list.

Discography

Albums with Ambrosia

Live Albums with Ambrosia

Compilation Albums with Ambrosia

Singles with Ambrosia

References

External links

Ambrosia - Official Website

Ambrosia - Official Facebook Page
* https://web.archive.org/web/20110203021946/http://christophernorthmusic.com/ {{DEFAULTSORT:North, Christopher Ambrosia (band) members 1951 births Living people 20th-century American keyboardists 20th-century American male musicians 21st-century American keyboardists 21st-century American male musicians 21st-century American organists American male organists American organists Musicians from San Francisco Progressive rock keyboardists