The classic lineup of the group (consisting of John Cafferty on vocals and guitar, Gary Gramolini on lead guitar, Pat Lupo on bass, Kenny Jo Silva on drums, Bobby Cotoia on keyboards, and Michael "Tunes" Antunes on saxophone) started out as a New England bar band based in Narragansett, Rhode Island and established a following up and down the Northeast corridor with strongholds in the beach resort towns of Narragansett and Misquamicut, Rhode Island; New York City; New Haven, Connecticut; Boston, Massachusetts; and Asbury Park, New Jersey.
They first achieved success with a 1980 self-released single pairing two of their songs, "Wild Summer Nights" and "Tender Years", which sold over 10,000 copies and had radio play up and down the Atlantic seaboard.
They finally achieved international success when producer Kenny Vance, a longtime fan, offered them the score to a movie soundtrack he was helming, based on a best-selling novel about a legendary bar band, Eddie and the Cruisers.
Thanks to frequent airings of the film on HBO and the purchase of the soundtrack album by their established fanbase, as well as hundreds of thousands of new converts, Eddie and the Cruisers: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack reached the top 10 on the Billboard 200 chart,[1] and produced a number 7 hit single ("On the Dark Side") on the Billboard Hot 100.
[1] Several personnel changes occurred over the next few years with Kenny Jo Silva departing in 1992 and Pat Lupo in 1994 to be replaced, respectively, by Jackie Santos, formerly of Tavares, and Dean Cassell.
[7] On May 26, 2023, the band issued their first new single since 1989, entitled "Day in the Sun" from their as-of-yet unnamed forthcoming album which was initially scheduled to be released in 2023.