[16] In 1995, while studying at University College London, Rice-Oxley formed a rock band with Scott and invited Hughes to play drums.

After listening to Rice-Oxley's piano playing during a weekend at Virginia Water, Surrey, in 1997, Chris Martin invited him to join his newly formed band Coldplay.

However, Rice-Oxley declined because he did not want to leave The Lotus Eaters, stating "I was seriously interested, but Keane were already operational and Coldplay's keyboard player idea was dropped.

"[12] Because of Martin's offer, and although Hughes and Scott were originally opposed to it, Chaplin joined the band in 1997, taking Rice-Oxley's place as vocalist and adding himself as the acoustic guitarist.

Returning a year later, in July 1998, following a meeting with friend David Lloyd Seaman, Hughes' first words when the band picked up Chaplin at the airport were "we've got a gig in 10 days.

"[23] Dominic Scott decided to leave the band in July,[21] a month after "Wolf at the Door" was released, to continue his studies at the LSE.

[21] One gig at the Betsey Trotwood in London was attended by Simon Williams of Fierce Panda Records, the same man who had discovered Coldplay years previously.

[27] As a result of the attention created by this release and because of the strong live reputation they had built through constant UK touring, a bidding war for the band ensued among major record labels.

[34] Post-release, the band released singles from the album "Bedshaped," "This Is the Last Time" (a version with Island Records) and "Bend and Break" on 16 August, 22 November, and 25 July 2005, respectively.

Keane are also patrons of War Child, and in September 2005, they recorded a cover version of Elton John's "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" to the charity album Help: a Day in the Life.

[37] As a result, the upcoming UK and European tours, scheduled for October and November 2006, were considered to be liable for possible postponement depending on Chaplin's treatment.

The Under the Iron Sea tour was brought to an end with performances in Oporto, Portugal, and at the Natural Music Festival in El Ejido, Spain on 3 August and 4 respectively.

In a March 2007 video interview, Chaplin and Hughes spoke of wanting to take a more "organic" approach on album three, but played down suggestions about the use of guitars, referring to them as "a fun part of the live set" at present; however, the cover of "She Sells Sanctuary" became the first song recorded since "The Happy Soldier" (2001) to feature the instrument.

On 25 August 2008, Keane appeared as studio guests on BBC 6 Music with Steve Lamacq where three of the new songs from Perfect Symmetry were played for the first time: "Spiralling", "The Lovers Are Losing", and "Better Than This".

The EP includes a cover of the song "You've Got to Help Yourself" by Yellow Magic Orchestra, featuring vocals by Japanese funk MC Tigarah.

Ryan Brockington of the New York Post's PopWrap called the work "game changing" while writing that the first single "Stop for a Minute" is "just as brilliant" as the album.

"[52] Chris Roberts of the BBC criticised Strangeland as "an unabashed scurry back to the comfort zone", and that "Keane lack blood, guts and muscle", with the album ultimately classed as "a somewhat saddening step backwards.

"[53] John Murphy of musicOMH rated the album two stars out of five, where "melodies are stodgy and predictable", with "a whole bucket of cliches piled in", calling Strangeland "proof positive that playing it safe is not always the best option.

Toward the end of 2018, Keane posted a series of cryptic images onto their various social media accounts, hinting that the quartet were in the studio working on material.

On 15 March 2019, Keane performed their song "Somewhere Only We Know" on Comic Relief's Red Nose Day on BBC One with London Contemporary Voices.

On 26 March 2019, Keane posted "We’ve been desperate to tell you that we’re busy making another album, which we’ll be releasing later this year" to their Facebook page.

[65] On 17 May 2019, Keane released an EP titled Retroactive EP1 featuring "our favourite archived live performances, older demos and random treasures".

Neil Z. Yeung of AllMusic gave the album a positive review, writing "Not a game-changing comeback by any means, Cause and Effect is instead a satisfying return to form that manages to gracefully age Keane by invigorating a familiar formula with wisdom and honesty learned over a dramatic, life-changing decade.

"[68] On 9 April 2021, Keane announced on their social media platforms they would be participating in Record Store Day 2021 Drop 2 on 17 July, with the special early release of their Dirt EP on 12" vinyl, featuring four previously unreleased tracks from the Cause and Effect sessions.

[73] In November 2004, Keane collaborated with electronic DJ Faultline on a cover of the Elton John song "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road".

Two years later, Rice-Oxley collaborated with Gwen Stefani as a co-writer of the song "Early Winter", released later in 2007 as a single, from her album The Sweet Escape.

The band collaborated with Somali-Canadian rapper K'naan and Japanese Baile Funk singer Tigarah on the EP Night Train.

In 2017, a version of Tom Chaplin's solo track "Solid Gold", featuring alternative pop singer JONES, was released as a single.

[76] Keane usually harbours an ample, reverberated, melodic, slow- to mid-tempo fully orchestrated sound, somehow reminiscent of Elton John's early and middle career, and their more introspective songs have brought comparisons to Suede and Jeff Buckley.

While guitars have been (minimally) present even in their early work, their appearance in the final mix has always been slight, and while Chaplin has stepped up as an almost full-time guitarist in the band, that instrument is never featured as prominently as to be more than barely noticed.