Keyboardist Keith Emerson, bassist Lee Jackson, guitarist David O'List, and drummer Ian Hague originally formed in 1967 to be the backing band of soul singer P. P. Arnold.

[6] Meanwhile, P. P. Arnold, a performer who reached a higher level of popularity in the UK than her native US,[7] was unhappy with her backing band, the Blue Jays, and wanted a replacement.

Emerson recruited Jackson, drummer Ian Hague and ex-The Attack guitarist David O'List, the latter by recommendation from journalist Chris Welch.

Oldham had managed to secure a separate set for the group in a side tent away from also accompanying Arnold on the main stage, where they gained attention.

Hague was not interested in the "progressive" direction the group wanted to go in, so he was replaced by former Mark Leeman Five and Habits drummer Brian Davison.

[11] Now a band in their own right, the Nice expanded their gear, recruiting roadies Bazz Ward and Lemmy, the latter of whom provided Emerson with a Hitler Youth ceremonial dagger to stick into the keys on his Hammond organ.

The group clashed with producer Oldham in the studio over the length of the track, but eventually won the argument; the full eight-minute piece was included on the album.

The track used the main theme of the Bernstein piece (from West Side Story) but also included fragments of Dvořák's New World Symphony.

The single concludes with Arnold's three-year-old son speaking the lines "America is pregnant with promise and anticipation, but is murdered by the hand of the inevitable."

[16] A spokesman for the band said: "Several record stores have refused to stock our current single .... the Nice feel if the posters are issued in United States they will do considerable harm".

[17] During the tour that followed the release of their second album in July, the group spawned controversy when Emerson burned an American flag onstage during a performance of "America" at a charity event, Come Back Africa in London's Royal Albert Hall.

As with previous albums, it included arrangements of classical material, in this case Lalo's Symphonie espagnole which was rewritten as "Diary of an Empty Day" plus rearrangements of Bob Dylan's "She Belongs to Me" and Tim Hardin's "Hang On to a Dream".

Emerson performed as a session player for Rod Stewart and the Faces,[29] while the whole group provided instrumental backing for the track "Hell's Angels" on Roy Harper's 1970 album Flat Baroque and Berserk.

[30] Mid-year, tour promoter Michael Emmerson asked the Nice to write some music for the Newcastle upon Tyne Arts Festival.

Following standard television procedure of the day, the Nice's contribution (a version of "America") was recorded ahead of time and the band mimed for the cameras.

[46] Emerson's playing was inspired by Jimi Hendrix, Billy Ritchie of Clouds, and Don Shinn as well as earlier figures such as pianist Jerry Lee Lewis.

[23] He used a combination of Marshall Amplification and Leslie speakers in order to project a full sound to compensate for the lack of a guitarist.

[50] He was influenced by Bob Dylan, whose songs were often covered at the time; the Nice interpreted several of them, typically reducing them to three or four verses and featuring a long improvised middle section, such as "She Belongs to Me".

[56] Though the Nice were not the first to combine a rock band and orchestra, they did inspire similar attempts by other groups, such as Pink Floyd's Atom Heart Mother.

[57] Emerson's showmanship was more important in the Nice, and he mostly used just a Hammond organ live as opposed to a wider range of keyboards, including the Moog synthesizer, in ELP.