Air Supply's founding members met on 12 May 1975,[2] while rehearsing for the Australian production of the musical Jesus Christ Superstar.

[3][8][9] When the show's run finished in late 1976, Hammond departed to form a hard rock group, Cheetah, with her sister.

[3][10] Hammond was replaced in the group by Jeremy Paul (ex-Soffrok) who provided bass guitar and backing vocals.

[3][8] Paul had joined the cast of Jesus Christ Superstar when it reached Brisbane and continued with the show to New Zealand.

[3][11][12] Russell recalled that they had been unable to promote "Love and Other Bruises" while still performing in Jesus Christ Superstar, due to contractual obligations to the show.

[3][11] It was produced by Peter Dawkins (Spectrum, Ross Ryan) with the line-up of Hitchcock, Paul, Russell and drummer Jeff Browne, guitarist Mark McEntee, and keyboardist Adrian Scott.

[3][8][14] Air Supply undertook a national tour in support of their debut album with Hitchcock, Paul, Russell and Scott joined by Nigel Macara (ex–Tamam Shud, Ariel) on drums and Brenton White (Skintight) on guitar.

[15] Their second album, The Whole Thing's Started, also produced by Dawkins,[8] was released in July 1977, with White replaced on lead guitar by Rex Goh.

[11] In mid-1977, the group supported Rod Stewart during his tour of Australia, and he invited them to continue to the United States and Canada.

It included re-recordings of tracks from their previous two albums, with Jimmy Horowitz producing, and was released later that year in the US on Columbia Records.

[3] Although their music had some commercial success, Russell claimed, on a 1995 DVD, that he and Hitchcock were so poor that they checked the backs of hotel sofas for change so that they could buy bread to make toast.

[3][11][17] The track caught the attention of Arista Records boss Clive Davis, who remixed the song and released it as a single in the US early the following year.

The line-up for the album kept Hitchcock, Russell, Cooper, and Moyse, and added Criston Barker (bass guitar) and Frank Esler-Smith (keyboards) with help from other session musicians.

The associated album, Lost in Love, appeared in March, which was co-produced by Robie Porter, Rick Chertoff and Charles Fisher.

[11][17] Air Supply's sixth studio album, The One That You Love (July 1981), was produced by Harry Maslin with the title track issued as a single in April.

[3][8][18] A fourth single, "I'll Never Get Enough of You", a cover version of Samantha Sang's song, was released in Japan in 1981 and achieved top ten status there.

[22] Their seventh studio album Now and Forever, was released in June 1982 with the line-up of Cooper, Esler-Smith, Goh, Green, Hitchcock, Moyse and Russell; it was produced by Maslin, again.

They released their first compilation album, Greatest Hits, in August 1983,[3] which included a new single, "Making Love Out of Nothing at All" (July), written by Jim Steinman.

Their song "I Can Wait Forever", which was co-written by Russell with David Foster and Jay Graydon, was featured in a scene of the film, Ghostbusters (June 1984), and was included on its soundtrack album in the same month.

[18][21] Russell and Hitchcock recorded a 1987 Christmas Album, containing the holiday single "The Eyes of a Child", before taking a break as a band.

However, his single "Swear to Your Heart" (1990) – from the soundtrack album for the film Arachnophobia – received significant airplay and reached the top ten on the US Adult Contemporary chart.

They followed with their twelfth studio album, The Vanishing Race, in May 1993,[29] which was supported by the single "Goodbye" (September), with lyrics by David Foster and Linda Thompson.

[citation needed] The duo's popularity continued in South-east Asia,[32] culminating in the release of Greatest Hits Live ... Now and Forever (June 1996), a CD and DVD recording of two live concerts from mid-June 1995 in Taipei, Taiwan, which stayed at the top of the Hong Kong album charts for 15 weeks.

[3] Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic rated the album at two-and-a-half stars out-of-five and explained, "it's slick and professional... but the intent is clearly replication, not interpretation... it's not bad — it's pleasant, even — but it's not necessary.

They were scheduled to perform two concerts, and played the first show on 7 July, the day before Hurricane Dennis hit the island.

In 2008 based on their chart performances, they were ranked the 83rd best musical act of all time in Billboard Hot 100's 50th anniversary edition.

[41] He continued that the pair were due to return to Australia for the ceremony and "have fun with everybody and we want to say thank you to all who participated in our ARIA Hall of Fame induction.

It showcased new songs, "Desert Sea Sky", "Dance with Me" and "I Won't Stop Living You", alongside their earlier hits.

[43] The band gave 200 free tickets to the wives of the firemen through the Haifa Fire Department workers union.

It was created and produced by Naomi Toohey and Dale Harrison,[45] and written by Canadian playwright Jim Millan.