Guitarist Tuck Andress met singer Patti Cathcart at an audition in San Francisco in 1978. Before this, Andress studied classical music at Stanford and was a session musician with The Gap Band. Cathcart was also classically trained and was a member of The Brides of Funkenstein.

Andress and Cathcart married in 1983. After moving to Cathcart's hometown of San Francisco, they worked in a rock and roll cover band. They declined offers of recording contracts so they could polish their sound. In 1987, they signed with Windham Hill Jazz, a subsidiary of Windham Hill for whom they recorded their breakout album, Tears of Joy, which received airplay on jazz and pop radio stations around the U.S. They recorded several more albums for Windham Hill Jazz, then signed with Epic in 1995. They followed this with more albums for Windham Hill and 33rd Street. They started the label T&P Records, which licenses their albums for worldwide distribution. In addition to performing they teach private lessons and vocal and guitar workshop