Earl McKenzie and Clive Gardiner are two lifelong friends who grew up together in Southall, West London, UK since the age of 5. Their mutual love of soul, funk, and jazz inspired them to form a 7-piece band The Class of 78’ while still in high school. In 1980. Earl and Clive worked part-time for months to fund their demos. The line-up evolved as the crew graduated and left for university, and they gigged for 3 years before making 2 more demos “No Use Hidin’” and “I’ll Keep Loving You”.

In early 1983, Earl and Clive experimented making demos as a duo, and soon afterwards won a competition run by Streetwave Records to get free studio time. They recorded “From Time (Groove Version)” and were immediately offered an artist contract and a chance to record the song again as an official 12” single “From Time (Vocal Version)”, thus solidifying Earl and Clive as a duo.

As the group disbanded, Earl McKenzie and Clive Gardiner became McKenzie & Gardiner and are making new music again as well as enjoying reissues of their 1980s catalogue. Bass guitarist Richard Salmons (aka Richie Concrete) is part of reggae combo Rebel Control. Guitarist Steve Waddington became a member of Beloved.