In 1968 Manzanera and MacCormick formed a band at Dulwich College with a floating membership except for drummer Charles Hayward, two years their junior.
MacCormick and Manzanera both left Dulwich College in 1969 and they reunited with Charles Hayward the following year to form a band called Quiet Sun.
In 1974 MacCormick decided to pursue his interest in politics and was awarded a place at the London School of Economics to start in September 1975. in the meantime, Manzanera was planning to record his first solo album (Diamond Head) but had booked extra studio time in order to record Quiet Sun's unrecorded material.
Ian and MacCormick then continued writing and recording with Manzanera over an extended period producing the album Listen Now, released in 1977.
In the summer of 1976, Manzanera, MacCormick and Eno along with drummer Simon Phillips, Francis Monkman and slide guitar player Lloyd Watson formed the short-lived 801 which played three gigs and recorded an album 801 Live, released in late 1976.
This consisted of Manzanera, MacCormick, singer/guitarist Simon Ainley, Roxy Music drummer Paul Thompson and keyboard player David Skinner.
Later that year MacCormick was invited to join Random Hold, a band formed by guitarist David Rhodes and keyboard player the late Dave Ferguson.
At the subsequent Brecon and Radnor by-election in 1985 he organised the first ever computerised direct mail campaign which helped the Liberal Party win the seat.
In 1988 he was appointed one of two National Elections Co-ordinators for the Liberal Democrats alongside Chris (later Lord) Rennard before he left in 1989 after a financial crisis in the new party.
He joined a small direct marketing company called PS Mailing but continued to be contracted back to the Liberal Democrats for fundraising and by-elections.