Members of the band were gradually added, including lead singer Annie Golden and guitarist Ronnie Ardito.
The band's debut album, The Shirts, was recorded in London, while lead singer Golden commuted back to the US to shoot Miloš Forman’s screen version of Hair, and released in 1978.
[1] Producer Thorne chose to record the band's second album, Street Light Shine (1979),[1] at Mediasound Studios in New York City.
Now under Capitol's management rather than Thorne's, recording went poorly and the resulting album, Inner Sleeve (1980),[1] was not properly supported by the label, with only 10,000 copies being pressed.
[1] Members of the band, some of whom had stayed in the music business, reunited twice in the 1990s to play benefits for CBGB, which periodically suffered tax issues.
Efforts were made to reform The Shirts, which included early auditions with Golden, who had established a career in film, television and theatre, and two other female singers, Caren Messing and Kathy McCloskey, who had worked with Racioppo in another band.