Described in John Robb's book on 'post punk' Death To Trad Rock as "The misfits' misfits" and comprising an ever-fluctuating line up, based around lyricist/singer Robert Lloyd, the Nightingales enjoyed cult status in the early 1980s as darlings of the credible music scene and were championed by John Peel, who said of them – "Their performances will serve to confirm their excellence when we are far enough distanced from the 1980s to look at the period rationally and other, infinitely better known, bands stand revealed as charlatans".

[2] In the late 1980s, the Nightingales stopped working but, following the occasional gig between times, they re-grouped in 2004, with Lloyd being joined by original Prefects guitarist Alan Apperley.

The current line up features Robert Lloyd, James Smith, Andreas Schmid on bass and ex-Violet Violet drummer Fliss Kitson.

A feature-length documentary about the band - King Rocker - fronted by comedian and writer Stewart Lee and directed by Michael Cumming was to be released in 2020, but it eventually debuted on the UK Sky Arts channel on 6 February 2021.

[3][4] Their debut single, "Idiot Strength" was released in 1981 on Rough Trade,[1] following which Duffy was replaced by Steve Hawkins on bass and Andy Lloyd and Nick Beales joined on guitars.

The band signed to Cherry Red Records and released three more singles before debut album Pigs on Purpose (Produced by Richard Strange) was issued in late 1982.

The group continued to release singles, record Peel Sessions and tour northern Europe, as headliners and supporting acts as diverse as Bo Diddley and Nico, but after the third album, In The Good Old Country Way, the band split up in 1986.

The band re-grouped in 2004 featuring mainstay/band leader Lloyd, original Prefects guitarist Alan Apperley, ex-Nightingales Byrchmore and Duffy, plus former PWEI drummer Robert "Fuzz" Townshend.

Live appearances include radio sessions for Marc Riley's Rocket Science on BBC 6 Music, John Kennedy's XFM show, Terre T's Cherry Blossom Clinic on WFMU (USA) and Another Nice Mess (NL) in addition to gigs around England.

For a brief July–August 2007 UK and European tour (including a return to the Klangbad Festival on 4 August), Nick Blakey of the Boston, Massachusetts band The in Out substituted for Lowe on bass.

After dates in New York and Boston in March 2008, the group travelled to Faust Studio, Scheer, Germany to record a new album – Insult to Injury – for Jochen Irmler's Klangbad label.

[7] The new four piece Nightingales – Lloyd, Apperley, Schmid and Kitson – recorded another album For Fucks Sake in September 2013 for vinyl LP release in April 2014.

"For Fucks Sake" is an 180g vinyl LP, containing twelve songs and came packaged in a beautiful matt varnish gatefold sleeve (& inner bag) featuring five original art works by brilliant Scarborough based artist David Yates."