Blood, Sweat & Tears began as the vision of former Blues Project keyboardist Al Kooper, fulfilling his vision of a brass-heavy jazz-rock band. In 1968, the New York group released their debut album and became cult favorites. But Kooper left soon after, and the band pursued a more commercial direction with new lead singer David Clayton-Thomas. Blending jazz and rock with folk, pop, and R&B, BS&T radically reinvented tunes by the likes of Laura Nyro and Carole King alongside their own original material, and they became one of the biggest acts of the late '60s and early '70s in the process.