Mary Harris is an American keyboardist, singer, songwriter, arranger, and producer. She is currently appearing on stage as a member of the five-time Grammy Award nominated band Ambrosia. Harris, as a member of Jimmy Buffett's

Coral Reefer Band The Coral Reefer Band is the touring and recording band of American singer-songwriter Jimmy Buffett. The band's name alludes to both coral reefs (in line with Buffett's tropical-themed music) and "reefer" (slang for marijuana). Origins Current ...

arranged vocals and sang on recordings and live performances, and has worked with

Stewart Copeland Stewart Armstrong Copeland (born July 16, 1952) is a Scottish-American musician and composer. He is best known for his work as the drummer of the English rock band the Police from 1977 to 1986, and again from 2007 to 2008. Before playing with th ...

and

Stanley Clarke Stanley Clarke (born June 30, 1951) is an American bassist, film composer and founding member of Return to Forever, one of the first jazz fusion bands. Clarke gave the bass guitar a prominence it lacked in jazz-related music. He is the first ja ...

, and recorded for Pink Floyd. She is also a founding member of the group Tin Drum along with her husband and musical partner Burleigh Drummond who also performs with her in Ambrosia.

Childhood

Harris began playing piano at age four, starting formal lessons at age five. She grew up from early childhood in the town of

Three Rivers, California Three Rivers is an unincorporated community in Tulare County, California, United States. Located in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada at the edge of the San Joaquin Valley, the town is near the entrance to the national parks of Sequoia and Kin ...

where she performed from age ten on with family members locally.

Early music career

Harris' first paying music performances were with bands including Oak Grove and Fair Game in Three Rivers in the seventies and early eighties. She moved to Los Angeles, California in 1982.

Professional career

Mary Harris is perhaps best known for her singing and vocal arranging with Jimmy Buffett as a long-time member of the

. She joined Buffett's band on the recommendation of Coral Reefer Band singer Brie Howard. Harris has performed and recorded with numerous notable music acts including

, and

in the band

Animal Logic Animal Logic is an Australian animation and visual effects digital studio based at Disney Studios in Sydney, New South Wales in Australia, Vancouver in Canada, and Rideback Ranch in Los Angeles, California. Established in 1991, Animal Logic has ...

Harris joined the

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. In ...

group Ambrosia in 2012 as a full-time member, and is currently active in touring, composing and recording with the band, which includes her husband and Ambrosia founding member Burleigh Drummond.

Tin Drum and Bill Champlin's Wunderground

Besides Ambrosia, Harris, and Drummond perform together onstage in California with two other groups: their own band Tin Drum, formed in the 1990s, which has released three albums to date, and Bill Champlin’s Wunderground, since 2018.

References

External links

Mary Harris sings “Surrender” with Tin Drum

Mary Harris in Jimmy Buffett's Coral Reefer Band

Mary Harris sings her composition "Honesty" with the 1980s all-female band Red Shoes

Mary Harris performing live in Europe with Stewart Copeland and Stanley Clarke in the band Animal Logic

Mary Harris and Burleigh Drummond
interviewed by Gonzo Today in 2017 {{DEFAULTSORT:Harris, Mary Living people Ambrosia (band) members Year of birth missing (living people) American rock singers Coral Reefer Band members MCA Records artists