One night the group, known then as The Sheratons, was playing in a London pub, The Mildmay Tavern in the Balls Pond Road. In the audience were Ken Howard and Alan Blaikley, a very prolific British songwriting team, who later wrote hits for such artists as Lulu, Elvis Presley, Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich and Petula Clark.

Howard and Blaikley, then working in production for BBC Television, liked what they saw and suggested the band might like to hear some of their material. The band had an upcoming audition with indie record producer Joe Meek, whom most notably had produced The Tornados, and composed their number one hit ("Telstar") in 1962, and were eager for some new material. At the audition in Meek's studio in Holloway Road, they played Howard and Blaikley's "Have I the Right?" which Meek immediately recorded.

The group's founder Martin Murray had worked as a hairdresser, Honey Lantree being his assistant. They decided to combine his profession with the name of the drummer, and changed their name to The Honeycombs. They were signed to the Pye record label. After proving a 'sleeper' for seven weeks the record took off in the summer of 1964 reaching the number one spot around the world and selling over 2 million records. It was Meek's final hit in the United States, where it was issued on the Interphon label (a Vee Jay label). The Honeycombs were managed by Howard and Blaikley who went on to write more successes for them.

The Honeycombs' first recording 'Have I The Right?' hit number one in the UK and number five in the US in the autumn of 1964 shortly after the start of the British Invasion in pop music. They were especially successful in Sweden (four consecutive number ones) and in Japan ('Love in Tokyo' went to number one and they issued a Japan only released live album).

Honey Lantree was an accomplished drummer and the star attraction of the group as she was one of very few female drummers at the time. The unique and heavily compressed bass drum sound on 'Have I The Right?' which many other drummers of the period tried to replicate was augmented by the group stamping on the stairs of Meek's studio. Meek achieved this by placing four microphones attached with bicycle clips under the stairs. The Honeycombs also recorded the song in German.

They made many appearances on music television shows such as Top of the Pops, Ready Steady Go! (UK), Shindig! (US), and Beat-Club (Germany). They also recorded their second album entitled All Systems - Go! in 1965. A dubbed performance appears in the 1965 British film Pop Gear (US title Go Go Mania!).

The Honeycombs line up changed in 1966 and the group became known as the New Honeycombs. The New Honeycombs were the original drummer and vocalist Honey Lantree plus bassist John Lantree and included in the new lineup were Rod Butler on lead guitar and vocals, Colin Boyd on vocals and guitar, and Eddie Spence on keyboards and vocals. Further singles were recorded at Joe Meek's the studio and were released on the Pye label. The New Honeycombs went on to tour extensively in the UK and Europe.

In the early 1990's Martin re-formed the band with Glenn Rogers, Rick Maskell, Ken Doughty and Peter Reading. This line up worked on the cabaret circuit, initially as Martin Murrays Honeycombs (91 -93 approx) then as The New Honeycombs through 94 & 95.

In 1994 this line up recorded and released an EP through Rogers' own label, Danzdevil, which included, 'Colourslide', 'Have I The Right' and two original songs written for the band by Rogers. During this time, Denis also continued to appear at selected events with his own version of the band. Conflicts of identity resulted in both entities retiring from live performance until Martin recovered rights to the name. The New Honeycombs continues to be held by Glenn Rogers.