The band was formed under the name Patio Kids in 1956 by McCormack, Stephens and de Cordova, who were Plainview High School classmates.
They were then joined by drummer Charles Jay Edmiston and, in early 1957, and they rechristened themselves the Rock ‘n’ Rollers with the arrival of another guitar player, Jimmy Torres.
They began recording in Amarillo, Texas, as the Rock'n Rollers, under their first manager Johnny Voss, Keith McCormack's Uncle.
The group changed its name to The Leen Teens and recorded "So Shy" and "Dreams About You," which also met with little success on the Imperial label.
Petty continued to own the String-A-Longs name, and to avoid confusion between the instrumental sound of The Fireballs and that group's current vocal hit "Bottle of Wine," it was decided to reuse the String-A-Longs name for the LP Wide World Hits on Atco in 1968.
Keith McCormack, singer, guitarist and songwriter, died of a stroke on April 10, 2015, at age 74.