Originally formed as The Lovemen, the trio—lead singer Jasper "Jabbo" Phillips, whose powerful falsetto featured on most of their recordings, Harold "Scotty" Scott and Deljuan "Del" Calvin—met in the mid-1960s, when they were in junior high school, along with Larry Dodson, future lead singer of The Bar-Kays. The group was first signed to Stax Records in 1970 by producer Josephine "Jo" Bridges on her 'We Produce' Stax subsidiary. Later, with the collapse of Stax, they moved briefly in 1976 to Epic Records, a subsidiary of CBS, for two singles.

The band released three albums, Lovemen, Love Maze, and Temprees 3 on We Produce, mainly produced by Bridges, Stax executive/producer and former Motown engineer Tom Nixon and arranger-producer Lester Snell, a regular collaborator with Isaac Hayes. Their catalog was later re-released on CD, along with a greatest hits compilation entitled, The Best of the Temprees.

The trio's last hit was 1976's "I Found Love On A Disco Floor," their first release on Epic, again produced by Jo Bridges. .