The group formed in 2007 with the members Bird Zhang, Mars Ma, Kenny Liu, Caesar Li, and Tanas Kim.
Due to the success of the predecessor Super Girl, Hunan TV and record label EE Media decided to produce a male counterpart of the contest.
[4] Although Li Mao of Nanjing, Ma Xueyang of Chengdu, Liu Zhoucheng of Guangzhou, and Gao Wei of Changsha were all eliminated before the final round, it had already been proposed by EE Media for these four contestants to unite as one vocal group.
[8] In early 2008, EE Media announced that the rumors of a line-up change were true, and Gao Wei was to be replaced with an anonymous member.
[9] The "Happy Boy Group" returned to China in April 2008 with the announcement of the new member Kim Eun-sung, a Korean trainee under DoRreMi Media who had replaced Gao Wei.
[10] However, EE Media claims that Kim was added to the group due to his special voice and the bond he had formed with the existing members.
[13] Right before they recorded their debut single, the group decided on the name Zhi Shang Li He (Chinese: 至上励合), literally meaning "supreme combination".
Zhang Yuan became Bird, Li Mao became Caesar, Ma Xueyang became Mars, Liu Zhoucheng became Kenny, and Kim Eun-sung became Tanas.
Promoted as "China's Number One Motivational Boy Band" (Chinese: 中国第一励志天团), Top Combine's debut was both successful and controversial.
[16] The color, style, and material seen in "Arrival" is similar to that of the "O" and "Purple Line" music videos by Korean boy band TVXQ.
[23] In September 2010, Top Combine traveled to the United States to receive training and to record two singles with American producer Nicholas Cooper for their third studio release, Lucky Boys.
Their appearance happened to be preceded by a speech from United States president Barack Obama, which caused the live broadcast of Top Combine's performance of "This I Promise You" to be delayed 20 minutes.
The EP was described as their first work in which they pulled away from the Korean and Japanese pop influences that had characterized their previous music, thus allowing them to exhibit a more local and creative quality.