The group came together in Birmingham in1964 from the remnants of several local bands, the most notable of which was Denny Laine & The Diplomats who, apart from Laine, also included Roy Wood and Bev Bevan both of whom later were members of The Move and E.L.O.

In '64 they took over Manfred Mann's Monday night residency at London's Marquee Club, signed with Decca, and released their first single, Steal Your Heart Away", in September. Despite appearing on the popular TV show "Ready, Steady, Go!" promoting the record it failed to reach the charts.

Their second single, a cover of Bessie Banks' "Go Now" was a British No. 1 in January '65 and later that year they toured the US with The Beatles. The follow-ups to "Go Now" didn't fare nearly as well.

They spent the next two years trying to repeat their success in vain and Laine and Warwick both left the group in 1966 to be replaced by Justin Hayward and John Lodge respectively.

Warwick disappeared, but Laine would re-surface with his own band Balls before joining Paul McCartney's Wings.

After a long period playing gigs to ever-dwindling audiences, the band shifted tack in '67, bought a Mellotron and started to write their own material. The result was conceptual orchestral pop which would serve them well into the 1970s.