Formed in 1998 in Cebu by Fritz Labrado, Jovan Mabini and Mike Manaloto, the word Cueshé is a portmanteau of "Cue", from
banana cue; a snack delicacy in the Philippines, which are skewered bananas coated with caramel, and the pronoun "shé" (pronounced shay) is a reference to their former vocalist, a female, who joined in 1999. After the female vocalist left with their songwriter in 2001, she was replaced by Jay Justiniani. They started out performing covers at small gigs such as debuts and weddings, sometimes even bringing their own sound system if their venues didn't have any. They covered songs by
The Smiths,
Soundgarden,
China Crisis,
Nirvana,
U2, etc. They then started learning how to write and record their own songs. On December 24, 2001, Justiniani was severely injured in a motorcycle accident. To make ends meet, Labrado became a jeepney driver with Mabini as his assistant, Manaloto traded imported cigarettes to local bars in Cebu, while the rest focused on their studies. Still, they continued their weekly jamming sessions. They were signed to
BMG Records two months later. They were one of the first Filipino artists to be signed under the merger between
BMG Records and
Sony Music. The group then achieved hit singles ("Stay", "Sorry", "Ulan", "Can't Let You Go" and "24 Hours"), a double platinum album (
Half Empty Half Full), and multiple accolades within the span of a year. Their style of music led them to be associated with the slang term
pogi rock. The band also contributed to
The Eraserheads' tribute album,
Ultraelectromagneticjam!: The Music Of The Eraserheads, on which they sang their own rendition of "Hard To Believe" (originally from the album Sticker Happy; released in 1997). Less than a year later, the band released their second album,
Back to Me. The new album contained ten new tracks, all of which were written by the band members themselves. The first single from the album was of the same title, followed by three more singles "Borrowed Time", "Bakit?" and "Pasensiya Na". Being fans of
The Beatles, they also did a
cover of the
John Lennon hit single "
Jealous Guy". In 2008, a third album was released entitled
Driven, which spawned the three singles "BMD", "There Was You" and "Minsan". In 2010 the band released their fourth and latest album
Life, containing the singles "Pangako", "Lupit", and "Sana". In 2025, the band was chosen to perform the theme song for the
2025–26 PBA season entitled,
Solid. They performed the song live on the opening ceremony of the season on October 5, 2025. ==Members==