A Flock of Seagulls was started by Mike Score and his brother Ali in 1979 in Liverpool. Mike, who was previously a hairdresser, played keyboards, guitar, and Vocals, Ali played drums and their friend Frank Maudsley played bass. The band took their name from a line in the song "Toiler on the Sea" by The Stranglers, which appears on their album Black and White.

The band added guitarist Willie Woo and Mark Edmondson joined briefly when Ali and Mike had a fall out with Ali re joining when Mark took ill. They then began writing songs. Soon later Willie left allowing Paul Reynolds to join. They then started playing clubs, and soon enough, they got a contract. The choice of their name was between "The Seagulls" and what it is today. A friend chose "A Flock of Seagulls" because it was a shorter name to write on first time gig posters.

Eventually, under the management of Harry Maguire Tommy Crossan and Mick Rossi (Checkmount Limited), they began to release singles through Jive Records.

Reynolds abruptly left A Flock of Seagulls, leaving the band a trio, and the band continued to tour. The Score brothers wanted to base the band in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The band was able to sell out four straight shows in Philadelphia. Mike and Ali Score and Frank Maudsley all applied for, and were conditionally awarded, green cards, and the three settled in Philadelphia.

Maudsley returned to Liverpool and is now the owner of a newsagent in the City Centre, while Mike and Ali Score stayed in Philadelphia. The brothers then had a falling out that resulted in Mike Score remaining as the sole original member of the band and Ali going to Boston, where he played in a hard rock band and then worked for a computer company in Cambridge.

During this time, two videos, "Who's That Girl" and "Heartbeat Like a Drum", were filmed in quick succession. These two videos were the last time the three remaining members were together in a recording or performance capacity until 2004.

Following the dissolution of the band in the wake of Dream Come True, Mike Score resurfaced in a series of new bands with changing line-ups. The band released two singles ("Magic" and "Burnin' Up") and one album (The Light at the End of the World) which achieved some success. The group made a cameo appearance in the 1999 movie The Suburbans, starring Jennifer Love Hewitt and Will Ferrell.