The band came from Toxteth (aka Liverpool 8), a largely black working-class neighborhood in Liverpool. By the mid-1970s, they had a record deal, and made their debut on BBC's Top Of The Pops. They appeared regularly with British pop rocker David Essex, supporting him on a US tour, and playing alongside Miles Davis's musicians at the hip Greenwich Village venue The Bottom Line. The band's big breakthrough came in their collaborations with songwriter-producers Ken Gold and Michael Denne: You To Me Are Everything and Can't Get By Without You.