Frontman Donald Cumming began writing music by himself in his New York apartment. He then recruited friends to fill out the band. Almost immediately they made a five-song EP titled "The Virgins '07", compiled of the band's early recordings, and songs Donald had already recorded himself. Upon completion, Cumming passed out the EP to friends and DJs causing the music to pervade the New York club scene. Soon after, the demo came across Atlantic Records who signed Cumming before the band was fully formed. The band's debut LP came out in 2008 and the band toured for several years following its release.
2008–2011: ''The Virgins''
Their first album titled The Virgins was met with mixed success critically. To promote the record they played at the All Points West Festival, SXSW festival, Lollapalooza, Glastonbury, Leeds, Reading, and T in the Park festivals, among other major French, German, Norwegian, Swedish, Dutch, Spanish, and Italian festivals in the summer of 2009. In the fall of 2009 they were invited to perform in Moscow. The song "Rich Girls" was number 68 on Rolling Stones list of the 100 Best Songs of 2008.
2012–2013: ''Strike Gently'' and break-up
In 2012, the band announced their return with an all new line-up backing leader Donald Cumming. The band also announced that it signed with the new record label Cult Records, founded by Julian Casablancas of The Strokes. In March 2013 The band released their new album "Strike Gently" worldwide. The band supported the album with several US tours as well as touring South America and Europe. Additionally, in support of the new album, the band made their second appearance on NBC’s “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon” performing the track Wheel of Fortune. In April 2013, it was announced that The Virgins would be joining The Killers on tour in May for a series of special shows, including a date at NYC's Madison Square Garden on May 14. On November 13, 2013, Cumming announced that the band had split. In an interview that day with RollingStone, Cumming said that he will now start working on a solo record. The band's planned Europe tour for 2014 was cancelled as well. After the break up, John Eatherly and Xan Aird founded the NYC band Public Access T.V. Bass guitarist Nick Zarin-Ackerman died on March 30, 2017.
In the 2010 action comedy filmCop Out, the daughter of James "Jimmy" Monroe was planning a wedding and wanted The Virgins to play at the wedding, saying they were a little bit edgy.
