Brownie Mary's Kelsey & Co.

Formed in 1993, Brownie Mary was one of Pittsburgh’s hot  acts during the 1990s. The core members Kelsey Friday and Rich Jacques  met in Bethany college in West Virginia and started off doing covers at  the local bars, eventually becoming inspired to pen their own tunes. The name Brownie Mary comes from a hospital volunteer  named Mary Rathbun, who was arrested several times for handing out  marijuana brownies to patients suffering from cancer and AIDS. Upon  graduating they decided to take it seriously and move to Pittsburgh.  There they linked up with bassist Mike  Marks and drummer Steve Kaz and became regulars at local clubs like  Graffiti, Nick’s Fat City, Rosebud as well as performing non stop on the  east coast college circuit. The band had a loyal following in  Pittsburgh, and their fan base soon stretched from Columbus to New York  to Sarasota. Brownie Mary won top honors at the 1994 Graffiti Rock  Challenge. The Graffiti victory, taken in competition against 100 of the  freshest East Coast groups, earned the band Graffiti’s tag as the &  Next Big Thing. They opened for Melissa Etheridge, Hootie and the  Blowfish, The Dave Matthews Band, The Smithereens, The Crash Test  Dummies, and Rusted Root. Brownie Mary also performed at 1995’s  Saxophone Club DNC fund-raiser before an audience that included then  President Bill Clinton and daughter Chelsea. They even had a presence on  MTV, popping up on the occasional reality show. Churning out catchy pop  tunes, Brownie Mary looked like a breakout group. In 1994, Brownie Mary's debut came in the form of a  self-released, 11-track CD called “That’s Me.” Although courted by  several major labels, the group released the follow-up independently, too. The result was an EP called “Who’s Your Daddy,” a title  which, according to Friday, is based on an inside band joke. Most of the  tracks are upbeat pop, with a couple of folky cuts. The driving force  is Barber’s vocals, circling around a heavy groove. In 1997 with the support of a large enthusiastic fan base  in the east coast tri-state region Brownie Mary was signed to Atlantic’s  Blackbird/Sire label Brownie Mary released their major label debut in  1998. The album was produced by Kevin Moloney who worked with Sinead  O’Connor and U2. The band was being compared to other alt pop groups  like The Cranberries, The Pretenders, and No Doubt. They got plenty of national airplay with “Naked,” and  toured like madmen in its support, playing 250 dates in the  twelve months following its release with artists including the Dave  Matthew’s Band, Fuel, and Greenday. Finally after 7 years together they felt it had run it’s  current course and Jacques and Friday went on to do their own things the  last official Brownie Mary show was New Years eve 2000 performing with  Veruca Salt in Columbus OH.