They released three top 40 hits in Canada between 1983 and 1987, including "Rise Up",[1] "At the Feet of the Moon" and "Love Is Fire" (which featured guest duet vocals from John Oates).

The band was well known for being one of the first mainstream pop acts in Canada to integrate world music influences, particularly Caribbean styles such as reggae and soca, into their sound.

Davidson at the time was one of very few female saxophonists playing professionally; Segato, Conger and Bryans had previously been associated for several years as the nucleus of Mama Quilla II, a band that gained respect in Toronto in the late 1970s and early 1980s for their integrated musical and sexual politics—elements that would continue with The Parachute Club.

They added Lauri Conger from Mama Quilla II, as well as local musicians Margo Davidson, Dave Gray and Steve Webster.

Adding Jule Masi to the ranks, The Parachute Club was thereby formed, while Mama Quilla II made their 'hiatus' permanent and disbanded.

Julie Masi left the band after their Canadian tour in support of the album, and was replaced on a session basis for live dates by singer Rebecca Jenkins.

Davidson, who died in 2008 at the age of 50, became a creative writer and community activist for the homeless,[4] serving as a director of St. Clare's Multifaith Housing Society and as an outreach worker at Eva's Phoenix.

[5] In 2005, critic Greg Quill wrote in the Toronto Star that "No musical collective bespoke this city during a specific period as powerfully as Parachute Club did in the 1980s.

Their infectious, inclusive, soca-soaked dance music carried important messages about the social changes Toronto was experiencing at the time, about sexual and personal politics, about the need for hope and courage in an age of confusing, impersonal rhetoric from local policymakers and world leaders.

"[6] In 1998, the Parachute Club song "Rise Up" was licensed by EMI Music Canada to McCain Foods Limited for a television commercial for self-rising pizza dough.

[9] In 2005, a reconstituted Parachute Club commenced performing, co-headlining a reunion show with Martha and the Muffins and headlining at Toronto's City Roots Festival.

The Parachute Club reunited again on September 30, 2011, for a free show in Toronto's David Pecaut Square to celebrate their induction to Canada's Walk of Fame.

[12] For these shows, the Parachute Club now included founding members Lorraine Segato, Dave Gray, Julie Masi, Lauri Conger and Steve Webster.

In 2014, the surviving band members released a contemporary dance remix of "Rise Up", in conjunction with Toronto's hosting of the 2014 edition of WorldPride.