The Dakotas were formed in Manchester, England, in 1960, and by 1961 the line-up comprised Mike Maxfield (guitar), Tony Bookbinder (drums), Robin MacDonald (guitar) and Ray Jones (bass). They teamed up with local singer Pete Maclaine and played the club and ballroom venues of northern England, and , in particular, Manchester and Liverpool. Meanwhile, in Liverpool, Brian Epstein wanted to add local boy Billy J Kramer to his ever increasing stable of stars. The Dakotas had played at the legendary Cavern, with the Beatles among others, and quickly gained a reputation as a solid, professional group. When Brian Epstein asked them to back Billy J Kramer, it was an offer too good to refuse. Sadly, original singer Pete Maclaine was the first casualty of this arrangement. He was, and still is a fine frontman, and despite recording some excellent material, such as the self-penned "But I Do" (on Decca), he never hit the charts.

John Lennon gave the group a demo of a new song, "Do You Want to Know a Secret", which they perfected whilst working in Hamburg at the Star Club. On returning to Britain, the song was recorded at Abbey Road studios, with producer George Martin. It stormed up the charts and reached No.2 in the spring of 1963. It must be remembered that the Dakotas and Billy each had separate recording contracts with EMI's subsidiary, Parlophone, and that they were billed as "Billy J Kramer WITH the Dakotas". To maintain the group's identity, the guitar nstrumental "The Cruel Sea" was released as a single, and it reached the Top 20 around the same time as "Secret". This Mike Maxfield tune was released in America as "The Cruel Surf", coinciding with the surf craze. Although it didn't chart 'stateside, a cover version by the Ventures did make the US charts as the flipside of "Walk Don't Run '64".
Whilst the first two singles were still in the UK charts, another single, "Bad To Me" made it three in the Top 30 at the same time! This Lennon-McCartney song went to No.1 that summer. Yet another Beatles song was given to the group for the next single, "I'll Keep You Satisfied" , which reached No.4 late in 1963. Remember that the UK charts at the time were extremely competitive, with records by the Beatles, Hermans Hermits, Rolling Stones, the Searchers and Freddie & the Dreamers all vying for the top spot. To have material written by the Beatles and produced by George Martin was an undoubted assett. The Dakotas had a crisp recorded sound, and Billy's voice had a very unique style.

The first Billy J Kramer with the Dakotas album, "Listen...", was released at the end of 1963, and eventually reached No.11 on the LP chart. Early in 1964, the group felt they needed to release a single that wasn't written by the Beatles (!) and chose "Little Children". This controversial move paid off, and the record went to No.1 on the British charts in the spring of 1964. Later that year, both "Bad To Me" and "Little Children" made the American Top 10, and the group visited the 'states, appearing on the Ed Sullivan Show, and playing to sell-out frenzied fans of the "British invasion" sound. The Dakotas with Billy were now at their peak, and the year finished off with a season at the Finsbury Park Astoria in London, with the Beatles.

To coincide with the Christmas gigs with the Beatles, the new single was a return to the Lennon and McCartney songwriting partnership. "From A Window", however, reached only No.10 in the UK charts (No.23 in America) and the group had turned down McCartney's "Yesterday"! The British Invasion continued in America, but musical styles were changing. In 1965, the band recorded Jackie De Shannon's "When You Walk in the Room", but lost out to the Searchers, who took their version to No.1. The Dakotas and Billy J Kramer's last Top 20 chart entry was "Trains and Boats and Planes", which competed with writer Burt Bacharach's own version, in the spring of 1965. By this time, bassist Ray Jones had been edged out of the band and , in 1966, Mike Maxfield left, to be replaced by Mick Green from Johnny Kidd & the Pirates. As the Beatles own career went into overdrive, Brian Epstein became an increasingly remote figure to most of his other acts. Following his death in 1967, the time had passed for most of the first wave of British Invasion/Merseybeat groups. By 1968, Billy had gone solo and shortly afterwards, the Dakotas disbanded.

During the 70's Billy J Kramer turned to cabaret and it was not until a chance meeting that the Dakotas were reborn in 1989. Original drummer Tony Bookbinder (Mansfield) returned from a lengthy spell in Canada and was introduced, by mutual friend and former member of Freddie & Dreamers, Bernie Dwyer, to Manchester musician Eddie Mooney. Mike Maxfield was tempted back to the fold, and a keyboard player, Pete MacDonald was added. The first new studio album since the 60s "The Dakotas" was released to critical acclaim in 1992.Pete was replaced by session keyboard player and record producer Toni Baker and the band toured Britain, Sweden, Ireland and appeared with all the major 60's and 70's acts, such as Herman's Hermits, the Searchers, the Merseybeats, Wayne Fontana, the Animals, the Yardbirds and many others. The next Dakotas album "The Beat Goes On", a mix of live and studio recordings was released in 1994.It featured the single, "Your Love Made a Man Out of Me", which did well in Europe, and was showcased on Irish national television during a tour of Ireland.

In 1995, the Dakotas went on tour with The Animals, Yardbirds and Denny Laine (ex Wings) and, in summer 1998, appeared in America for the first time since the 60's.

In 1996, the Dakotas rejoined Billy J Kramer for an appearance at the prestigious Chelmsford Festival in Britain, in front of 40,000 people. The Dakotas, based in Manchester, England, have continued to work occasionally with Billy, who now lives in New York. Pete Hilton , ex-Freddie & Dreamers, replaced Tony Bookbinder , who left to concentrate on his business interests. Shortly afterwards in 1999, the next album "Don't Look Back" was released, including several rock tracks as well as the usual pop material. The band appeared in North Carolina in April 1999, and returned in July of that year, where they performed at thr Trask Colliseum, along with the Miracles, as well as continuing to perform regularly in Europe.

In 2000 the Dakotas teamed up to do concerts backing Wayne Fontana, of "Game Of Love" fame. In addition to UK shows, the band and Wayne appeared in Holland at the Zeendam Festival (along with the Troggs and Sailor). In July, the Dakotas and Wayne were invited to perform at a "British Invasion" weekend at the prestigious Foxwoods Casino Resort in Connecticut, USA. This show was filmed by PBS Television, for national US broadcast in December 2000. Other acts on the show included Peter Noone and Eric Burdon.

The Dakotas started 2001 by playing at the President's Ball, Krakow, Poland, and then is a 56 date UK tour with Peter Noone, Wayne Fontana, Dave Berry and Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich. The tour ran from Feb.22 until the final concert, on April 29, at the London Palladium . In May 2001 the band appeared on the prestigious "Oriana" cruise ship, visiting Spain and Portugal. In June the band visited Germany, sharing the stage with Clem Curtis of the Foundations and the rest of the year performed in the UK, doing several shows with Wayne Fontana. At Christmas 2001, USA's PBS TV broadcast the "British Invasion" special nationally, including the Dakotas.

During 2002, the Dakotas were involved with recording of music for British TV's most popular comedian, Peter Kay, on the Phoenix Nights. Dakotas keyboard-player, Toni Baker, wrote and performed the music, drummer Pete Hilton acted and played drums, vocalist Eddie Mooney played and sang on the series and guitarist Mike Maxfield produced some of the recordings as well as playing guitar. There was a UK reunion with Peter Noone in June and gigs with Wayne Fontana. In August 2002 the Dakotas returned again to America, where they did successful shows in the mid-west.

The Dakotas released their fourth, and biggest selling, studio album, "Everlasting", since the band reformed in the late 80's, to co-incide with a massive 70-date "Solid Silver 60's" tour of the UK and Ireland.The tour also featured the Searchers, Wayne Fontana, Dave Dee and Barry Ryan, and ran from February until May 2003. Later that year, the band's keyboard player, Toni Baker wrote the music, and the Dakotas recorded for the immensely successful British TV comedy series "Phoenix Nights", starring Peter Kay.

In the spring of 2004 the Dakotas undertook yet another major 50 date UK theatre tour, teaming up once again with Peter Noone and Wayne Fontana, plus Bryan Hyland and John Walker (Walker Brothers). To tie in with the tour, the band released their fifth album, "Strong", named after the title track "I'm Gonna' Be Strong", originally recorded by Gene Pitney. Almost straight after the tour, the Dakotas started recording tracks for the next Peter Kay TV series "Max and Paddy", including a new version of the O'Jays classic "Love Train". Toni Baker once again wrote the theme tune for the show and the band were filmed to appear in one episode, which was broadcast in October 2004.

It was in August 2004 that tragedy struck, when guitarist Mike Maxfield suffered a stroke and had to stop performing until further notice. His replacement was Richard Benson, former guitarist with British 70s chart band the Dooleys. Richard is now a permanent member and it is hoped that Mike will rejoin when he feels well enough. Only days after joining the band, Richard's first gig was in front of 10,000 people at an open air festival near Nottingham (UK) with the Hollies, Troggs and the Tremeloes. During the latter part of 2004 the Dakotas continued touring the UK, often with Wayne Fontana, and in December reached number one in the Amazon music download chart with "Love Train" form the TV series.

In early 2005, the Dakotas version of "Eleanor Rigby", from the "Strong" album, made number one in the Amazon music downloads chart. During 2005 the band has continued touring England and Scotland and currently working on the next album.