The origins of the Lovin' Spoonful can be traced back to February 9, 1964. Zal Yanovsky and John Sebastian were both invited over to Cass Elliot's apartment to watch the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan show. From there, they struck up both a friendship and a musical partnership. Zal was a member of the Mugwumps along with Cass, Denny Doherty and Jim Hendricks (and John Sebastian, who played harmonica for a short time); after the group disbanded, John and Zal decided to do their own thing and began looking for a drummer and a bass player.

The Spoonful's future producer, Erik Jacobsen, introduced drummer Joe Butler to Zal and John, and in turn, Joe suggested bass player Steve Boone. During the winter of 1964-65, the Spoonful holed up in a hotel in Bridgehampton, Long Island, and practiced constantly. Also during that time period, Steve and John completed some session work for Bob Dylan in New York City. After they returned from Long Island, the Spoons moved into the Albert Hotel, along with Denny, Cass Elliot, and countless other musicians, continuing their rehearsals in the basement.

The Lovin' Spoonful, which took its name from legendary bluesman Mississippi John Hurt's "Coffee Blues," began a residency at the Night Owl Cafe in Greenwich Village in 1965 and began generating interest. After Jacobsen put up the initial funds, the band was booked into a studio and began to record. At first, labels were disinterested, even though on given nights at the Night Owl, such impressarios as Phil Spector could be spotted in the audience. However, the Spoons finally inked a deal with the small label under MGM distribution called Kama Sutra.

Releasing their first single, Do You Believe In Magic? in 1965, the Spoonful rose to instant fame. Each member played a crucial role: John wrote, sang, and played autoharp, guitar, piano, harmonica, among other instruments; Steve also wrote and played bass, organ, and piano; Zal sang and contributed guitar and bass; and Joe added percussion and sang. The band played a number of notable gigs, including one night at Fordham University where they were called out for nine encores. Other musical milestones included scoring two films, What's Up, Tiger Lily? and You're a Big Boy Now.

However, in 1967 word was leaked about an incident the previous year in which Steve and Zal had been busted for an ounce of pot in San Francisco (Zal would later remember the quantity of drugs quite differently and in the 1973 rockumentary Rock-A-Bye, he lists pot, cocaine and enough pharmaceuticals to fill a mom & pop drugstore in the bust). Faced with deportation for Zal, they gave up their dealer, and we subsequently vilified for it in the press and among fans, who took to using Spoonful albums as doormats. The incident, among other factors, contributed to Zally's departure from the Spoons in 1967.

He was replaced by Jerry Yester, whose resume not only included performing (the Modern Folk Quartet), but also producing (his brother's band, the Association; Tim Buckley), and working as a session musician (the Monkees). Yester had also been working with the Spoonful for awhile, operating as vocal arranger for Do You Believe In Magic?, and also playing piano on the song. With Yester in the band, the Spoonful recorded Everything Playing, an album that made history by being the first to be recorded using an Ampex 16-track tape machine. It faired well and yielded three hit singles.

The Spoonful finally disbanded in 1968, shortly after John Sebastian left the band to pursue his solo career. Although the Spoonful is remembered mainly for their unique brand of "good time music," it is important to recognize also their significant contribution to the evolution of rock 'n roll as a genre, as well as appreciating their stellar track record - the band produced seven top-ten singles in two years.

The Lovin' Spoonful was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000.