The Shadows have placed 69 UK charted singles from the 1950s to the 2000s, 35 credited to the Shadows and 34 to Cliff Richard and the Shadows. The group, who were in the forefront of the UK beat-group boom, were the first backing band to emerge as stars. As pioneers of the four-member instrumental format, the band consisted of lead guitar, rhythm guitar, bass guitar and drums. Their range covers pop, rock, surf rock and ballads with a jazz influence.

The core members are Hank Marvin, Bruce Welch and Brian Bennett. Along with the Fender guitar, another cornerstone of the Shadows sound was the Vox amplifier. The Shadows, with Cliff Richard, dominated British popular music in the late 1950s and early 1960s in the years before the Beatles. The Shadows' number one hits included "Apache", "Wonderful Land", "Dance On!" and "Foot Tapper". Although they lost ground in the late '60s, the band had a second success from the late '70s.

On July 1, 1960, Cliff Richard's backing quartet The Shadows (Hank B. Marvin, Bruce Welch, Jet Harris, Tony Meehan released the instrumental "Apache" written by English composer Jerry Lordan. The single went to #1 in the UK. In 1961, Danish jazz guitarist Jørgen Ingmann's cover of "Apache" (which he recorded in the fall of 1960) went to #2 in the US and #2 in Canada. Guitarist Bert Weedon was first to record the instrumental but Lordan did not like his version so he gave the song to The Shadows. Lordan was inspired by the 1954 American western film Apache. 

In mid-1960 the Shadows were on tour with Lordan as a supporting act. The band discovered "Apache" when Lordan played it on a ukulele. Lordan figured the tune would fit the Shadows; the band agreed. The recording was done at the EMI Abbey Road Studio in London. Singer-guitarist Joe Brown had bought an Italian-built guitar echo chamber that he did not like and gave it to Hank Marvin, who developed a distinctive sound using it and the tremolo arm of his Fender Stratocaster. Bruce Welch borrowed an acoustic Gibson J200 guitar from Cliff Richard, the heavy melodic bass was by Jet Harris, percussion was by Tony Meehan and Cliff Richard, who played a Chinese drum at the beginning and end to provide an atmosphere of stereotypically Native American music.

The record became the first of several number ones for The Shadows who, besides serving as Cliff Richard's full time backing group also enjoyed a successful recording career on their own.