Formed by members Kerry Livgren, Robby Steinhardt, Dave Hope, Phil Ehart, Steve Walsh, and Rich Williams, the group signed a recording contract with Kirshner Records in 1974.

11 on the Billboard Hot 100, leading the album to sell over five million copies in the United States.

The following year, their fifth album Point of Know Return was issued and certified four-times platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America; it spawned the Top 10 single "Dust in the Wind".

Kansas reformed again in 1985 and released the studio album Power in 1986 on MCA Records, whose single "All I Wanted" reached No.

Lineup changes in 2014 motivated a return to the studio which led to the release of The Prelude Implicit in 2016 and The Absence of Presence in 2020.