Created in 1969 in London, Ontario, Motherlode was a group that took the charts by storm. William Smith, Steve Kennedy, Wayne Stone, and Kenny Marco were the group’s founding members. They were friends before the formation of the group and worked multiple music ventures together.

Following their debut, they signed with Revolver Records. At this studio, they composed around 25 songs. Doug Riley and Terry Brown produced their first single, “When I Die”. The track brought success to the group, reaching #18 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1969 and broke records with over 500,000 copies sold, making it number one in Canadian charts.

Motherlode collaborated with Dianne Brooks by being a part of her album, and in return she contributed to “Memories of a Broken Promise”, with background vocals on their When I Die album. It is famously said that the group initially did not have a guitarist for their performances, and performed many tracks with a keyboard instead, however, they hired a guitarist for the studio recordings.

By the 1970s, the band had fractured and they are now know as primarily a “one hit wonder” group.