The original lineup included David Diamond, bass, lead vocals; Mister Zero (aka John Picard,[2] listed as Aryan Zero in the original "Kings Are Here" LP liner notes), guitar; Sonny Keyes, keyboards and vocals; and Max Styles (drums), with Zero and Diamond serving as the main songwriters with contributions from Keyes.

[3] Together they created the album The Kings Are Here with the songs "This Beat Goes On" and "Switchin' To Glide", The double-A side single spent 23 weeks on the U.S. charts, peaking at #43 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Two other singles followed, including "Don't Let Me Know" which only reached #109 on Billboard, and the band began touring extensively with Bob Seger, Jeff Beck, The Beach Boys and Eric Clapton.

During 1980, their rising commercial fortunes culminated in an appearance on Dick Clark's American Bandstand, and the closing spot at the major Heatwave festival in August.

This comeback prompted The Kings to return to the studio to record Unstoppable produced by John Punter, David Diamond and Mister Zero in 1993.

A reunion of the original lineup of The Kings occurred in the winter of 2001 with Max Styles and Sonny Keyes joining their old mates for Alan Frew's (Glass Tiger) children's benefit concert for Camp Trillium in Toronto.

In late 2005, The Kings had a full length reunion concert in Toronto which was filmed for inclusion in the DVD documentary being assembled by Mister Zero.

[citation needed] In 2020, American band the Cherry Poppin' Daddies released a cover of "Switchin' to Glide" as a standalone single, accompanied by a music video.