Briefly called "Charlie Cuckoo" (after a racehorse), it soon began work as "Charlie". After a couple of early singles, including the well-played "Johnny Hold Back", and several albums, the band finally had a hit in 1978 with "She Loves to Be In Love," which reached the Top 60 in the United States. Julian Colbeck, who had replaced Martin Smith after the first album, departed four albums later in 1980 amid some turmoil. He writes, "Finally, the touring band line-up of Terry Thomas, John Anderson, Eugene Organ, Steve Gadd, and myself ceased operations once Arista refused to release "Here Comes Trouble", and our caring, sharing management company immediately cut off all our money in 1980. That's a whole other story but, for the record, our final gig was in 1979 at the Civic Center in Providence, Rhode Island on Monday 29 October, alongside Foreigner." Thomas commented "Arista our new label in the U.S. wanted more songs - our company in the UK - Trident Audio Productions - refused to put us in the studio or spend any more money. The UK record company - Polydor - wouldn't release it until it had a U.S. release. Effectively Charlie had no record label and no money to live on. Eugene and Julian decided to leave." In 1982, Terry Slesser joined the group as lead singer. In 1983, the group had their most successful hit single, "It's Inevitable". The MTV music video featured a rousing pie fight. The album was a flop, however, and the band folded. In 1986, Thomas rejoined with a new crew and released In Pursuit of Romance. Thomas writes, "This was basically a contractual album - Steve had gone off to work with Iron Maiden as a drum tech and John had a job in the telecommunications industry. I ended up making the whole album by myself - it put me in the hospital!"