Mu was founded in 1969 in Los Angeles, CA, by Merrell Fankhauser and Jeff Cotton. The two had previously played together in Merrell & The Exiles.

Cotton had just left Captain Beefheart's Magic Band, after participating on two records (the second of which being [m=463963]). In 1971, Mu's eponymous debut album was released and became a radio hit. Increasingly fascinated by legends of the lost continent of Mu, Fankhauser then relocated to the Hawaiian island of Maui in February 1973. Material for a second Mu album was recorded in Maui in 1974, but not released until the 1980s on two LPs: The Last Album (1981) and Children Of The Rainbow (1985).

Mu disbanded in 1975.