The Animals were a crucial part of the 1960s British Invasion, bringing blues-based rock and roll to a highly receptive United States. Members Eric Burdon, Alan Price, John Steel, Chas Chandler and Hilton Valentine met in Newcastle-on-Tyne, a working-class port city. Unforgettable hits like "We Gotta Get Out of This Place" and "House of the Rising Sun" topped both British and American charts in their heyday, and Burdon's blues-inspired howls shook audiences to their core at the band's live performances. A prominent band of the '60s, members of the Animals went their separate ways by the end of the decade, leaving behind a trail of chart-toppers and a sound much emulated but rarely reproduced.