Heckstall-Smith was an active member of the London jazz scene from the late 1950s. He joined Blues Incorporated, Alexis Korner's groundbreaking blues group, in 1962, recording the album R&B from the Marquee. The following year, he was a founding member of that band's breakaway unit, The Graham Bond Organization. (The lineup also included two future members of the blues-rock supergroup Cream: bassist Jack Bruce and drummer Ginger Baker.)
The idea of this Aussie project, based in Melbourne, was conceived by producer Peter Dawkins, who gathered a line-up of rock veterans and session musicians to play music inspired by the four elements of the Zodiac:Spectrum and Ariel's Mike Rudd on guitars, keyboardist Tony Esterman, New Zealander Rod Coe on bass, Folk singer Mike McClellan on acoustic guitar and drummer Doug Gallacher, later of Madden & Harris…
TNT follows up their excellent debut with the more commercially leaning Tell No Tales. Although the album's leadoff single, "10,000 Lovers," gave TNT some limited attention in commercial radio and on MTV, American audiences never really warmed up to the band's pristine Euro-metal. Underneath the slick, soulless-sounding production sheen and sometimes clichéd songwriting lies a very talented band that is hungry for mainstream acceptance. With a level of musicianship higher than the average hair metal band, Norway's TNT offered a prog-tinged take on pop-metal due largely to the stunning vocal range of lead singer Tony Harnell and the guitar technique of Ronni Le Tekrø.