Girl were formed in 1979 by vocalist Phil Lewis, guitarists Gerry Laffy and joined soon after by guitarist Phil Collen, drummer Dave Gaynor and bassist Simon Laffy.
The band were signed by Jet Records, releasing two singles prior to their debut album Sheer Greed (1980), which reached number 33 in the UK Albums Chart.
The band's profile was raised by shows opening for UFO, Pat Travers, Kiss, Ozzy Osbourne, Ted Nugent, ZZ Top. Girl recorded a pre-L.A. Guns version of the song "Hollywood Tease", which peaked at No. 50 in the UK Singles Chart in April 1980 and was a featured track on their debut album Sheer Greed. It was a No.1 record in Japan, Hong Kong and Thailand and top 50 in Germany.
Dave Gaynor left in 1981, to be replaced by former Gillan/Broken Home drummer Pete Barnacle. However, following several live dates with the band, Barnacle himself was replaced by Bryson Graham during the recording of the next album. Both Barnacle and Graham appear on Girl's second album Wasted Youth which was released in 1982 and reached number 92 in the UK. Pete Bonas replaced Phil Collen, who left to join Def Leppard towards the end of 1982, and the band broke up soon after.
Girl still have six albums available through Sanctuary Records (previously released by Don Arden's Jet Records): Sheer Greed, Wasted Youth, Killing Time, Live At The Marquee, Live At The Exposition Hall, Osaka, Japan, the 37 track anthology My Number: The Anthology, Bootleg - Live in Tokyo 1980 and Girl-Sheer Greed-Gerry Laffy - The Rare DVD Collection. 2 4 CD box sets are due for release from Cherry Red Records in 2019.
After the band's dissolution, Phil Lewis joined The London Cowboys, Torme, Airrace, The Liberators and in 1987 L.A. Guns. He and Tracii Guns reunited in 2016 and this line up of LA Guns have release 2 albums The Missing Piece in 2017 and The Devil You Know in 2019
From 1983 Gerry Laffy spent 15 years as manager to film director Russell Mulcahy and set up and ran his Le Bad Films. He was guitarist with John Taylor (Duran Duran) from 1997-2000. And also did an album with Ultravox. He is a mixed media artist (www.gerrylaffyart.com) and works in a London college with people with special educational needs.
In 1992 Gerry Laffy, Simon Laffy, and Pete Barnacle later went on to play in Sheer Greed, which also featured guest appearances from both Lewis and Collen. Sheer Greed also recorded two versions of "Hollywood Tease", one recorded in studio for the album Sublime to the Ridiculous and another live for Live in London.
Collen and Simon Laffy are currently in a band called Man Raze, along with former Sex Pistols drummer Paul Cook.
In 2019 Cherry Red Records bought Gerry Laffy's entire catalogue comprising 5 solo albums, several live Girl sets, a Gerry & Simon Laffy album (with 3 Barnacle brothers) and the Sheer Greed band studio and a live album. These are set for release on download and stream in 2020 . Cherry Red will also be releasing two Girl box sets comprising the 3 studio albums, several live shows and demos. 8 discs in all.