[4] The two met through a mutual friend who had recently joined Simply Red as bassist and formed a musical collaboration.
At this time, Kellett went on tour as keyboardist with Vini Reilly's The Durutti Column, with whom he had played for a decade prior to joining Simply Red.
The completion of the three initial demos attracted the interest of various UK record labels, and Olive signed with the top bidder, RCA,[4] in September 1995.
[3][4][7] Popularity in America and Australia was muted, with the track falling short of an American Top 40 position and being restricted to a small musical niche with Australians.
[5] The band went on tour to promote the album with a seven-piece band,[4] playing three episodes of Top of the Pops ("You're Not Alone" twice in May 1997, "Outlaw" in August),[10] a ten-date UK tour,[5] as well as legs in Germany and the US[4] In the time leading up to the release of the follow-up album, Taylor-Firth had left the group to concentrate on Nightmares on Wax, and begin other projects (Sub Machena,[11] BudNubac, Piano Segundo[12]) bringing it down to a duo.
The album was more dance-oriented, and a cover of the 10cc song "I'm Not in Love" reached number one on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart.
[15] Today, Olive is generally placed alongside mid-1990s trip hop and electronica artists such as Moloko, Beth Orton, and the Sneaker Pimps.