The band is composed of singer and guitarist Erlend Øye of Kings of Convenience, bassist Marcin Öz, drummer Sebastian Maschat, and Daniel Nentwig on Rhodes piano and Crumar.

The Whitest Boy Alive started as an electronic dance music project in 2003 in Berlin, but since slowly developed into a band with no programmed elements.

[2] The band started The Whitest Boy Alive + The New Wine tour in April 2009, visiting Germany, Denmark, United Kingdom, Switzerland, France, Netherlands, Belgium, and Sweden.

[citation needed] In June 2014, the band announced via their Facebook page that they were "no longer composing or playing together as The Whitest Boy Alive".

A further session to record another new song was planned in spring 2020, but was aborted when the COVID-19 pandemic led to the members becoming physically separated while in Mexico for a festival that later was cancelled.