Tuff formed in 1985 in Phoenix, Arizona by guitarist Jorge DeSaint and bassist Todd Chase. Tuff played some local gigs and opened for the L.A. based superstars, Poison. Poison told Tuff to head to Hollywood if they wanted to make it big and in the fall of 1986 they did with their new vocalist Jimmy "L'mour" Gillette. Jim decided to leave the band to do a solo album, along with his very successful vocal lesson tapes and eventually form Nitro.

In 1987, Stevie Rachelle answered an add from a Tuff flyer to become the new singer. Rachelle’s first show as Tuff vocalist was with Warrant at the Roxy. Tuff played many of the sunset strip clubs and soon became known as the biggest unsigned band in the world, and the biggest unsigned act in California since Poison or Mötley Crüe

Tuff then toured the US in 1989 and 1990, including a short east coast stint with Britny Fox. The band signed in summer 1990 with Titanium/Atlantic records. After success on MTV and the release of their second album "Religious Fix", Tuff were set to blow up, big time, until a band from Seattle released the hit “Smells Like Teen Spirit” which destroyed Tuff and many other Glam Metal bands, in 2000 Tuff released the hit “American Hair Band”, which gained some radio play. Who knows what the future holds for Tuff, possibly even a new album.