Quickly earning a reputation as a formidable live act playing in and around Birmingham, the early Dexys set featured several Sixties Soul covers including "Hold On I'm Coming", "Big Time Operator" and "Respect". By the end of the following year the group had secured a record deal and a support slot on the Two Tone tour playing alongside The Specials and The Selector. With Bobby 'Jnr.' Ward replacing John Jay on drums and the brass section reducing to a three-piece following Jeff Kent's departure, Dexys adopted a new "Mean Streets" look which featured on the cover of their debut single "Dance Stance". The song, which was a scathing attack on anti-Irish jokes, reached number 40 in the British charts earning the group their first appearance on BBC TV's "Top Of The Pops".

With only Kevin Rowland now remaining from the original band, the story of Dexys Midnight Runners might very well have ended at this point but for the staggering success of their subsequent single release, the fiddle-led frenzy of "Come On Eileen". Accompanied by a new 'gypsy-style' visual image complete with dungarees, torn clothing and unkempt hair, the new sound and look proved surprisingly commercial in an age dominated by synthesisers and New Romantic fashions. Despite a slow ascent up the British charts, once "Come On Eileen" reached the number one position it stayed there for four weeks, becoming the best-selling single of 1982 and assuring that the album - by this point retitled "Too-Rye-Ay" - was a similar success.

Two years (and several studios and producers) later Dexys finally re-emerged with a brilliant new album, "Don't Stand Me Down" and the customary new image, this time based on the 'Ivy League-look' of American college students, but dismissed by some in the media as a 'double-glazing salesman look'. The new nucleus of Rowland, Adams and O'Hara, accompanied by previous Dexys members Gatfield, Edwards, Paterson and organist Robert Noble (who had joined during the latter stages of "The Bridge" tour) were augmented during the album sessions by several seasoned players including pianist Vincent Crane (ex-Atomic Rooster), Al Green's former drummer Tim Dancy and Julian Littman on mandolin.

With its elongated songs (including the 12-minute epic "This Is What She's Like"), unusual arrangements, strong political content and dead-pan comedy conversations between Rowland and Adams, "Don't Stand Me Down" either delighted or baffled those who heard it in 1985, but the decision not to release a single ensured that it was overlooked by most at the time. The "Coming To Town" shows which followed featured organ player Mick Bolton (pianist on some of the the album's early sessions) along with new recruits Pol Coussee on saxophone, Fayyaz Virji on trombone, Penn Pennington on pedal steel guitar, Jerry Preston on bass and Jerod Minnies on electric guitar. Although this proved to be a formidable live unit, the album's lack of chart success (despite the belated release of "(An Extract From) This Is What She's Like" as a single) meant that this line-up was never able to realise its potential and split after the tour ended. Following its use as the theme tune to a BBC sit-com called "Brush Strokes", the "Don't Stand Me Down"-era composition "Because Of You" was released as a single and returned Dexys to the Top Twenty late in 1986, but although Adams and O'Hara featured on the song's video, Kevin Rowland performed it unaccompanied in the "Top of The Pops" studio and by the start of the following year he had decided to go solo, signalling the end of the first Dexys Midnight Runners era.

Having experienced limited success with his first solo offering, 1988's "The Wanderer" and succumbing to a drug addiction, Kevin Rowland - together with long-time right-hand man, Jimmy Paterson - attempted to resurrect Dexys Midnight Runners in the early Nineties. Although several demos were recorded including such titles as "My Life In England" and "Coming Home" the only public airings of the new Dexys material were the performances of "Manhood" and "If I Ever" on Channel 4's "Saturday Zoo" in March 1993 and the planned new album never emerged. When Kevin Rowland signed a record deal with Creation in 1997 it was reported that his solo album "My Beauty" would be followed by a new Dexys album but the demise of Creation shortly after the album's release meant that this never became a reality.

Eventually in 2003 Dexys Midnight Runners did return with two new tracks (updated versions of "Manhood" and "My Life In England") and an almost entirely new line-up for a critically acclaimed tour of Britain and Scandanavia, entitled "To Stop The Burning". Alongside Rowland and former Midnight Runners, Mick Talbot and Pete Williams (this time featuring as a joint lead vocalist), violinist Lucy Morgan, guitarist Neil Hubbard, bass player Julian Crampton, drummer Crispin Taylor, keyboard man Volker Janssen and ex-Bureau trombonist Paul Taylor made up the latest incarnation of Dexys Midnight Runners. An almost inevitable hiatus has followed this flurry of activity with constant rumours that new material is in the pipe-line which will see Dexys return once more. These rumours seemed to be confirmed when Kevin Rowland announced on Radio 2 that Dexys were back in the studio working on a new album in June 2005 but so far all that has emerged is the demo entitled "It's OK, Johanna" featured on Kevin Rowland's new 'My Space' webpage.