In 1978 Mark Cloud, handling vocals along with electric and acoustic guitars, dobro, mandolin, Appalachian dulcimer, and keyboards, joined Cheryl Cloud, who wrote songs and delivered lead vocals while playing acoustic guitar, to launch the folk-rock group Common Ground. The ensemble blended traditional Celtic repertoire with Cheryl’s own compositions and soon incorporated Marcy Hogan on vocals, viola, and keyboards, Scott Van Dusen on drums and percussion, and Bill Carrigan on vocals, bass, and acoustic guitar. Early publicity listed the act as Cheryl Cloud and Common Ground; after Cheryl’s passing the name was shortened to Common Ground alone. Throughout the 1980s the musicians appeared regularly at the Troubadour, the Ice House, and Madame Wong’s, and in 1981 they issued the vinyl EP Leaving Love Behind. Although an extensive archive of studio recordings accumulated during that decade, the band concentrated on live work and issued no additional albums at the time.
Cheryl received a cancer diagnosis in 1991. Despite undergoing sixteen operations that ultimately removed most of one lung, she persisted with performances and efforts to raise cancer awareness, for which the American Cancer Society presented her the Courage Award in 1994; she died the following year. Also in 1994 Common Ground delivered its debut CD, Hard Choices. Before her death Cheryl urged the remaining members to keep the group active. Mark Cloud therefore assumed lead-vocal duties for the 1996 album Wings of Silver. Shortly after its release Karen Ambellan joined as singer, and the band maintained its schedule of concerts, issuing the 1998 live tribute Live at the Emu Farm in Cheryl’s honor. Immediately following that Emu Farm performance, Mark and his fiancée Kari were married in an impromptu ceremony. The ensemble later assembled the two-volume greatest-hits retrospective The Best, Vol. 1 and 2, surveying material from 1979 to 1999 and releasing the sets in 2000 and 2001; it also brought out the posthumous collection Songs of Christmas, Vol. 1 drawn from Cheryl’s solo recordings in 2000, with further selections from the archive slated for 2001.
