IMAGINATION have been described as Britain's first black supergroup, and certainly for a four year period during the Eighties they stacked up an impressive pile of hit recordings, including most notably Body Talk in 1981 which reached Number 4 in the charts, Just an Illusion the following year which stalled at Number 2, and Music and Lights -also in 1982- which sailed to Number 5. In fact, all 11 of Imagination's singles for the R&B label charted in the UK and three of their albums also went to win Gold Discs.

The seeds of IMAGINATION 's success had been solved several years before when vocalist Leee John and multi-instrumentalist Ashley Ingram found themselves working together as backing singers for the Velvelettes during the US band's British tour. The two found themselves working again on other tours, for such soul bands as Chairman of the Board, The Elgins and The Delfonics amongst others. Leee and Ashley started developing plans to form their own 'slinky, sexy and erotic' group. At an audition they attended for a group called Midnight Express they met drummer Errol Kennedy. Soon afterwards, Midniht Express folded and Errol teamed up with Leee and Ashley - the die was cast for their future success as IMAGINATION .

The newly-formed group took along a demo of Body Talk to two record producers, Steve Jolley and Tony Swain. Such was the impact of the rough recording on Jolley and Swain, they rushed IMAGINATION into the studio to record it professionnally, and April 1981 the song was released as their first single. It was an eventual success, climbing into the Top 10, and spending a total of 18 weeks in the Top 50.
In actual fact, Leee, Ashley and Errol hadn't even come up with a group name when they recorded Body Talk for their debut single. Eventually they chose IMAGINATION , as a tribute to John Lennon and his classic song Imagine. When the single was released, it was no overnight success however. At first it was totally ignored by radio, but eventually started to get heavy exposure in the clubs that were mushrooming throughout the country. For months later, the single finally made the Top 50 and then started its long climb up the charts. It enjoyed the longest chart run of any pop record that year, and sold more than 250.000 copies in the UK alone.

Body Talk was followed by two other Top 20 successes, In and Out of Love and Flashback (both of which reached Number 16), and then their fourth record climbed to Number 2. Their fifth consecutive hit single was Music And Lights which went to Number 5. In 1982, IMAGINATION did a sell-out tour of Europe which also included 22 dates in the UK. They had two more singles with In The Heat of the Night and Changes. Their success was no by means restricted to the UK. IMAGINATION had chart hits in 28 different countries, and between 1981 and 1983 earned no less than four platinum discs, nine gold and more than a dozen silver discs for their European sales. They also consolidated this success on record with sell out live perfomances too. Back here in the UK, they were hardly ever off television it seemed, with regular appearances on Top Of The Pops, and many of the other top pop music programmes of the day. Leee John even branched out into acting, with several guest appearances on the Legendary Doctor Who Programmes!
1983 saw the band back in the charts with two more hit singles, Looking at Midnight which climbed into the Top 30 and New Dimensions, and their fourth album Scandalous also gave them yet another gold disc. The following saw two more charts entries, State of Love and Thank You My Love (from the album Trilogy) the latter peaking at Number 22.

By the middle of 1984, IMAGINATION played to Royalty at the Princes´ Trust Royal Albert Hall show. This was followed by a stadium show to over 100.000 people in Algeria and a month long Spanish tour. 1985 saw the band again touring the U.K., Europe and Far East, dates that led in 1986 to the bands Fifth Anniversary. An event that was celebrated in style by the capacity crowd at the Royal Albert Hall on May 15th., And coincided with a Top 20 single "Thank You My Love". IMAGINATION signed to RCA in 1987, and wrote and recorded the album "Closer" in America, with producers Arthur Baker, Preston Glass, Nick Martinelli, Ron Kersey and Robert Kraft.

During 1988 IMAGINATION spent considerable time in America both performing and appearing on T.V. and Radio and during that summer achieved the Number 1 spot in the Billboard Dance Charts with a smash single "Instinctual" from the "Closer" album. The groups last album, released in August 1989 titled "Like It Is" reached number 4 in the U.K. album chart with double gold status being achieved in 12 weeks. The album remained in the U.K. top 100 albums for 38 weeks. Endorsing the success of the album in the U.K. "Like It Is" charted all over Europe and the "Megamix single" first released in France in june 1989, was in the top ten in France for 4 months and charted throughout Europe. On September 2nd 1989 the group embarked on the first leg of a six month World tour. Their opening concert in France saw them playing to 42.000 people in Dunkerque. Followed by dates in Germany, Switzerland, and further dates in France. The tour reached the U.K. in December playing seven dates across the country culminating with a sell out Christmas Show at Hammersmith Odeon. Due to the immense popularity of IMAGINATION the tour was extended beyond the original 6 months, undertaking a gruelling live 6 week 31 show sell out tour of Russia, a tour of India, Sri Lanka, Angola and the Reunion and surrounding Islands, the group is constantly demand. With the release of the long awaited new album titled "Fascination Of The Physical" throughout Europe with Japan and America to follow in the fall.

During 1991 Ashley made the decision to leave IMAGINATION for a career in songwriting and production. Originally teaming up with third member Errol Kennedy, Errol was replaced during the summer of 1987 by vocalist PETER ROYER. PETER who was born in London, had previously had a solo recording career. "SEGUN" has now replaced Ashley Ingram as third member of IMAGINATION. "SEGUN" is an accomplished musician, playing guitar, bass, drums, keyboards and trombone, he is also a much sought after session singer.