Original lead singer
Sally Carr, drummer Ken Andrew, guitarist Ian McCredie, and his bassist brother Eric McCredie founded the band on 1 April 1970 in
Glasgow, Scotland. They had already played together under the name Part Four since 1967 and later in
Latin American style under the name
Las Caracas. Under the name
Las Caracas they won the UK TV talent show
Opportunity Knocks. They moved to Italy in 1970 because they had not found success in the United Kingdom. There they met the Italian music producer Giacomo Tosti, who gave the band their distinctive sound and gave them their international break. The band had their first and biggest
hit record in the United Kingdom with their debut UK single, "
Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep". The song reached No. 1 in the
UK Singles Chart in June 1971 and stayed there for four more weeks. In all, Middle of the Road had five
hit singles in the UK in 1971 and 1972. The band had especially strong success in Germany, where they achieved eleven Top 40 hits between 1971 and 1974. As an example of this,
Frank Valdor was fast to adapt "Sacramento" as his "party records". "Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep" and "Sacramento" were played a lot on Scandinavian radio. In the Dutch
Daverende 30 the group had four number 1 hits in between 1971 and 1973. In Europe,
Sheila (French singer) best known in the UK for her 1979 Nile Rogers'-produced disco hit Spacer)under the name
Sheila and B. Devotion had a big hit with Les Rois Mages, (her French cover of Tweedle Dum, Tweedle Dee) and again with Samson et Delila, while
Nana Mouskouri covered Soley Soley (Oh, Soleil Soleil in French). In 1974, early
Bay City Rollers member Neil Henderson joined the band on guitar. He wrote and co-wrote songs for Middle of the Road, including the singles "Rockin' Soul" and "Everybody Loves a Winner" and 1974 albums,
You Pays Yer Money and You Takes Yer Chance and
Postcard, all released in Germany via
Ariola like their first German LP,
Music Music. Carr left the group in 1977, and was replaced by Linda Carroll, who sang on the
Something Old Something New album (1981), and several singles released between 1977 and 1981. Carroll left the group in 1981. ==Current activity==