The Ivy League originally consisted of members John Carter and Ken Lewis (previous members of Carter-Lewis and the Southerners); plus Perry Ford. All three members were session singers who possessed high-pitched singing voices.

They were first heard doing background vocals for The Who on their hit single "I Can't Explain" in November 1964. After that song, the band never called on the Ivy League again, as John Entwistle and Pete Townshend were able to handle the backing vocals.

Their debut single, "What More Do You Want" generated little interest, but the second release, "Funny How Love Can Be", turned out to be a surprise UK Top 10 hit. Further hits followed, including "That's Why I'm Crying" and "Tossing and Turning", the latter of which reached #3 in the UK chart.

The original trio released just one album, 1965's This is the Ivy League – panned in the music press as disappointing, with its excessively wide spread of musical styles and material – before both Carter and Lewis left the group. Carter departed in January 1966, with Lewis leaving about one year later. The duo then set up a production company called Sunny Records.

With replacement members Tony Burrows and Neil Landon taking the recently departed original members' places, the Ivy League issued two more albums, 1967's Sounds of the Ivy League and 1969's Tomorrow is Another Day, but these were compilations of earlier singles and album tracks. Several more singles followed, including the minor hits, "Willow Tree" and "My World Fell Down". A cover version of the latter song provided the U.S. band, Sagittarius, with a #70 chart placing in the Billboard Hot 100 in 1967.

Success for The Ivy League in the United States was minimal, with only "Tossing and Turning" hitting the Billboard charts, making a modest high of #83 on the Billboard Hot 100. Carter and lewis masterminded The Flower Pot Men, hitting #4 in the UK with its single "Let's Go To San Francisco." Messrs Carter and Lewis then fulfilled the role of managers. Burrows and Landon left The Ivy League to join the touring version of The Flower Pot Men, leaving Perry Ford to carry on with new personnel. He stopped using the name in 1975.

In the 1980s a band started touring under the name The Ivy League which performed the group's hits at nightclubs and Sixties nostalgia events, even though none of the earlier members were involved. During the 1990s, several best of compilations surfaced, including 1998's 43 track Major League: the Collectors' Ivy League.