While many funk artists like Parliament and Funkadelic were being dismissed as a fad, Cameo rose above and showed that it had the depth to survive the fall. The band came together in the mid 1970s with a mixture of Julliard and the New York City club scene. There were 13 original members who were originally named the New York City Players. The funk group soon had a record deal through Casablanca and switched the name to Cameo. They released their debut, Cardiac Arrest, in 1977, which found success with singles like "Funk Funk" and "Rigor Mortis."

The band needed to keep the momentum going, so they released two albums in 1978, We All Know Who We Are and Ugly Ego. They weren't quite as big as their first album, but they continued on and released Secret Omen in 1979. The sound of this album was more similar to their first and therefore more commercially successful. The 1980s brought in many changes for the band. They pared down to only a handful of members, but kept releasing albums prolifically. That decade's releases were Feel Me in 1980, Knights of the Sound Table in 1981, Alligator Woman in 1982, Style in 1983, She's Strange in 1984, Single Life in 1985, Word Up! in 1986 and Machismo in 1988. Word Up! was the second of the decade's albums to make it to number one on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart.

Cameo had proved that they could put their mark on music and their influences were starting to be heard in other groups. The band never quite found the same success as in their heyday, but they released albums like Real Men Wear Black n 1990, Emotional Violence in 1991, Money in 1992, In the Face of Funk in 1994, Nasty in 1996 and Sexy Sweet Thing in 2000.