The original members of the band were Nancy "Nansi" Nevins (lead vocals/guitar), August Burns (cello), Albert Moore (flute/backing vocals), Alan Malarowitz (drums), Elpidio Cobian (
conga), Alex Del Zoppo (keyboards) and Fred Herrera (bass)and Richard Alspaugh/stage name R.G.Carlyle (guitar, percussion). Sweetwater originally formed to perform in local coffeehouses in Los Angeles until being signed to a major label. The members of the band were early developers of the
psychedelic rock/
folk rock fusion style that was popularized by acts such as
Jefferson Airplane. In 1968–69, the band often toured with
the Doors. They were also one of the opening acts for
the Animals in 1968. One of their best-known recordings is a version of the traditional folk song "
Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child". It appeared on their debut album
Sweetwater, the band's only album to chart nationally in the U.S. As the band progressed, their sound moved closer to that of the
psychedelic folk genre. Three days after Sweetwater performed on
The Red Skelton Show on December 30, 1969, Nevins was severely injured in an auto accident with a drunk driver. She suffered a brain injury that left her in a coma for 10 days, and she suffered damage to a vocal cord as a result of the tracheotomy performed to save her life. Nevins would never again complete a full album with the band, although she still had some recordings prepared for the next two albums. For several years, there was a widespread but unfounded belief that
Beverly Bivens, formerly of the West Coast group
We Five, had died in a car accident. It is thought that confusion over names (Bivens/Nevins) may have contributed to this rumor. The group reunited for
Woodstock '94 in 1994 with three original members: Nevins, Herrera and Del Zoppo. Burns died after contracting pneumonia while being treated in a German hospital for injuries that he had suffered after falling out of a construction elevator in 1979, Malarowitz was killed in a car crash in 1981 and Moore died of lung cancer in 1994. Cobian works as an underwater welder in the film industry. In 1999, the band's story was depicted in a
VH1 television movie titled
Sweetwater: A True Rock Story.
Amy Jo Johnson portrayed Nevins as a young woman, and
Michelle Phillips played Nevins as an older woman. ==Discography==