Trevor Burton teamed up with Steve Gibbons who fronted the long-established Birmingham group The Ugly's. Burton and Gibbons, along with Uglys' rhythm section Keith Smart and Dave Morgan, plus the keyboardist Richard Tandy created a new Birmingham supergroup to be named Balls. Morgan left the band during the summer of 1969, to be replaced by Denny Laine, ex-singer/guitarist of [a=Moody Blues]. But Balls split at the end of 1969 and reconvened as a quartet the following summer, with Laine, Burton, former The Plastic Ono Band drummer Alan White and vocalist Jackie Lomax. Lomax was soon replaced by the returning Gibbons, and ex-Spooky Tooth drummer Mike Kellie replaced White in January 1971