After forming in 1972, Mama’s Pride quickly grew a strong following. They signed to Atco Records in 1974, a division of Atlantic Records at that time. They released the self-titled album Mama’s Pride in 1975, which was produced by Grammy Award winning producer Arif Mardin. The band’s second album Uptown & Lowdown was released in 1977. The band toured with acts such as Lynyrd Skynyrd, The Allman Brothers, The Charlie Daniels Band, The Outlaws, REO Speedwagon, Heart and played solo dates with Alice Cooper and Todd Rundgren. The band spent the majority of 1978 on tour with Greg Allman as his backing band for his solo tour that year. The group disbanded in 1982 and reunited ten years later in 1992 and released Guard Your Heart, which was produced by Grammy winner Jim Gaines. In 2006, the band released a double live album entitled Alive and Well. On December 1st, 2012 the band celebrated their 40th anniversary with a sold out show at The Pageant. That same week the band was inducted into the K-SHE Real Rock Museum Hall of Fame and their song “Blue Mist” was voted as the #1 KSHE Klassic (as voted on by listeners).
Flip through the gallery for 10 Things You Might Not Know About Mama’s Pride!
The original name for Mama’s Pride was going to be Blood Brothers, but Pat Liston came up with Mama’s Pride while driving to LA. This photo was taken the very first night Max, Pat and Danny got together and decided to form a band
This was four of the original members of Mamas Pride; Mike Gordon, Gary Bougeous, Max Baker, and Danny Liston. Pat Liston was the photographer, circa 1973
Ahmet Ertugen flew to Tampa, FL to see Mama’s Pride and wanted to sign them to Atco Records on the spot. The band asked if he would come to St. Louis instead to sign them and he loved the idea. "In all honesty, we had no idea just how powerful of a man he was, clueless to be honest”
The band’s managers were Alan Walden and Charlie Bruscoe. Alan's brother Phil started the whole Macon music scene, which included the Allman Brothers, Marshall Tucker, and Wet Willie
The lady on the first album isn't actually Pat & Danny Liston’s mother. She was a fill in weather lady in Miami and her name was Gertrude Marx. "They wanted us to have very sarcastic looks on our faces originally, and we knew our mom would have killed us for that, so a stand-in was used instead”
Lucille Liston was the name sake for the band. She sang on KMOX in the 30's with the Texas Bluebonnets
For the first year after their record deal, the band toured in a '64 Ford Econoline Van, affectionately called Ol’ Blue. They were once mistaken for the guys who set up the chairs at a show, because of their transportation. "They laughed when we told them we were the opening act for Charlie Daniels”
Ronnie Van Zandt of Lynyrd Skynyrd had expressed interest in producing the band's third album, shortly before his death in 1977. It wasn’t until 1992 that their 3rd album, Guard Your Heart, was finally released
For about three months in 1978, Gregg Allman hired Mama’s Pride to be his backup band. At that time they were down on their luck and living in Daytona Beach
The two children on the 'Guard Your Heart' CD were the daughters of Dave Kelley, General Manager of KSHE from 1997-2001
