Early career The group's original members,
David Sinclair,
Richard Sinclair,
Pye Hastings and
Richard Coughlan had all been in the Canterbury-based
Wilde Flowers, albeit not at the same time. Richard Sinclair had been an early member, but left in September 1965 to study at college. Hastings had replaced
Robert Wyatt as the group's singer and Coughlan as drummer in the band when Wyatt, who performed both roles, formed
Soft Machine. David Sinclair joined the group in late 1966, but after future Soft Machine member
Hugh Hopper left the group in June the following year, they began to run out of momentum and broke up in October 1967. Coughlan, Hastings and the two Sinclairs subsequently formed Caravan in 1968. "We all had the same goal" recalled Richard Sinclair, "to make our music, write it ourselves, and make a living from it." The band rented a house in
Whitstable,
Kent for six months, where they began to write and rehearse new material. Verve subsequently released the band's debut LP,
Caravan (1969), the following year, but a few months later moved out of the UK record business and dropped the band. After a series of gigs in London, including the
Speakeasy Club, the band were introduced to Terry King, who became the group's first manager.
David Hitchcock, who had been working in the art department of
Decca Records, asked the company's president,
Hugh Mendl to sign the band. The accompanying single "Hello Hello" helped them land an appearance on the TV show
Top of the Pops, performing the album's title track. "Nine Feet Underground" in particular was a regular fixture on late-night FM radio during the early 1970s. Despite the critical success of
In the Land of Grey and Pink, the group were disappointed by its lack of commercial success, believing that Decca were not promoting the band properly or investing enough money. In August 1971, David Sinclair accepted a job with former Soft Machine drummer
Robert Wyatt's new band,
Matching Mole. Reflecting on the decision to leave, Sinclair later said "I felt the whole thing was going a bit stagnant ... I wanted to play with other people, but had to accept that with Caravan it was either all or nothing."
Line-up changes The remaining members continued on together and Richard Sinclair invited keyboardist Steve Miller to join the band. and was a minor hit in the US, reaching number 124. but by this point the group were out of step with the prevailing musical trends, and after a final album,
Better by Far (1977) on
Arista Records, After performing at
NEARFest in 2002, they released
The Unauthorized Breakfast Item album in 2003, where David Sinclair was replaced by a returning Jan Schelhaas. An archive collection of BBC sessions from 1968 to 1975,
The Show of Our Lives was released in 2007. The DVD of this gig was released in May 2011 and the recording was shown on ITV as part of the Legends series. In January 2013, the band completed a successful UK tour to celebrate the 40th Anniversary of the album
For Girls Who Grow Plump in the Night (1973). This was followed later in the year by the announcement of a new album,
Paradise Filter (2013). The album was funded by a
PledgeMusic campaign, scheduled for release on 24 February 2014. Hastings declared "now you can be part of the whole process by pledging to support this project". On 1 December 2013, founding member Coughlan died, having been in poor health for some years. His funeral took place in Canterbury on 20 December. A statement from the band stated "his unique style of playing and wonderful character will be sorely missed." Caravan headlined the Rites of Spring festival (RoSfest) festival in Pennsylvania, USA from 2–4 May 2014. In 2021, Jim Leverton left the band to return to his R&B roots. His replacement is
Lee Pomeroy. ==Musical style==