10cc singer-guitarist Gouldman, bassist Bernard Basso and drummer Kevin Godley, formerly of The Sabres with Creme). The Mockingbirds recorded five singles in 1965–66 without any success, before dissolving. The guitarist in both The Whirlwinds and The Mockingbirds was Stephen Jacobson, brother of well-known writer Howard Jacobson. In June 1967, Godley and Creme reunited and recorded a solitary single ("Seeing Things Green" b/w "Easy Life" on UK CBS) under the name "The Yellow Bellow Room Boom". In 1969, Gouldman took them to a Marmalade Records recording session. The boss Giorgio Gomelsky was impressed with Godley's falsetto voice and offered them a recording
Graham Gouldman work at Strawberry Studios, a Stockport (Cheshire) recording studio in which he and Stewart were financial partners. Kasenetz and Katz booked the studio for three months. Kevin Godley later recalled: When the three-months production deal with Kasenetz-Katz ended, Gouldman returned to New York to work as a staff songwriter for Super K Productions while the remaining three continued to dabble in the studio. In late 1970, Gouldman returned to the UK to join Stewart, Godley and Creme – who had in the interim scored an international hit single with "Neanderthal Man" under the name of Hotlegs – on an abbreviated