Several musicians, including Clarke, Flora Purim, Airto Moreira and Al Di Meola, came to prominence through their performances on Return to Forever albums.

After playing on Miles Davis's jazz-fusion albums In a Silent Way (1969) and Bitches Brew (1970), Corea formed an avant-garde jazz band called Circle with Dave Holland, Anthony Braxton and Barry Altschul.

[2] This initial band consisted of singer and percussionist Flora Purim, her husband Airto Moreira (both Brazilians) on drums and percussion, Corea's longtime musical co-worker Joe Farrell on saxophone and flute, and the young Stanley Clarke on bass.

After the second album, Farrell, Purim and Moreira left the group to form their own bands, and guitarist Bill Connors, drummer Steve Gadd and percussionist Mingo Lewis were added.

[2] The nature of the group's music had by now completely changed into jazz-rock, and had evolved into a similar vein to that which the Mahavishnu Orchestra, Weather Report, and some progressive rock bands were performing at the time.

Their music was still relatively melodic, relying on strong themes, but the jazz element was by this time almost entirely absent,[2] replaced by a more direct, rock oriented approach.

The final album by this longest-lasting "classic" lineup of the group, which had by this time left Polydor for Columbia Records, was Romantic Warrior (1976), the best selling of all Return to Forever's efforts,[2] eventually reaching gold disc status.

Romantic Warrior continued their experiments in the realms of jazz-rock and related musical genres, and was lauded by critics for both the technically demanding style of its compositions as well as for its accomplished musicianship.

After the release of Romantic Warrior and Return to Forever's subsequent tour in support (as well as having in addition signed a multimillion-dollar contract with CBS), Corea shocked Clarke by deciding to change the lineup of the group and to not include either White or Di Meola.

Twenty-six years later, Corea, Clarke, White, and Di Meola reunited a second time for a tour of the United States and Europe that began in the summer of 2008.

A boxed set of remixed and digitally remastered tracks from the albums Hymn of the Seventh Galaxy, Where Have I Known You Before, No Mystery, and Romantic Warrior was released to coincide with the tour.

[7] Corea, Clarke, and White (minus Di Meola) performed an acoustic tour in 2009 and released a live album in 2011 titled Forever.