Iron Butterfly began forming it’s band in San Diego in 1966 when band leader Doug Ingle and drummer Ron Bushy got together.  Soon after the formation of Iron Butterfly, the band moved to Los Angelas California where they began playing in local clubs.  It was not very long before they secured a recording contract and in 1968 the band released their first album titled, Heavy, which went on to be a contributor to the heavy metal tag to this genre of music.

After the band was signed, they began touring with The Doors and Jefferson Airplane which gave them a lot of exposure, but soon after the release of their first album, the group was dismantled when bassist Jerry Penrod, vocalist, Darryl DeLoach and guitarist Danny Weis left the band.  Jerry Penrod was replaced by Lee Dorman and Danny  Weis was replaced by Erik Brann.

The new revamped group  recorded their most popular album “In A Gadda Da Vida” later that year.  The album went on to sell over four millionduplicates and was the first album to receive platinum certification after the RIAA instituted the award.

Iron Butterfly’s follow up album “Ball” went gold, but never reached their previous album’s popularity.  The declining popularity of Iron Butterfly was further strained when Erik Braunn left the group.  He was replaced by Mike Pinera and Larry Reinhardt.

Iron Butterfly broke up in 1971, and althoughBraunn and Bushy tried to rejuvenate the group in the mid 1970′s, they were unsuccessful.