Keane were first established in Battle, East Susses, in 1995, and took their current name in 1997. Founding members Tim Rice-Oxley (composer, pianist) met Dominic Scott (guitarist) at Tonbridge School, and they formed a rock band, The Lotus Eaters, whilst studying at University College, London, inviting Richard Hughes to play drums. After listening to Rice-Oxley's piano playing during a weekend at Virginia Water, Surrey in 1997, Chris Martin invited him to join his newly formed band Coldplay, but Rice-Oxley declined as he didn’t want to leave The Lotus Eaters. Due to Martin's offer, and although Hughes and Scott were originally opposed to it, Tom Chaplin joined the band in 1997, taking Rice-Oxley's place as vocalist and adding himself as the acoustic guitarist. Chaplin's recruitment also marked a change of name from The Lotus Eaters to Keane (initially the band changed to Cherry Keane, after a late friend of Chaplin's mother, whom Rice-Oxley and Chaplin knew when they were young amd who took care of them and would tell them to go for their dreams, but the name was ultimately shortened to Keane). In summer 1997, Chaplin went to work as a volunteer in South Africa, and on his return a year later, Hughes's first words when the band picked him up at the airport were "we've got a gig in 10 days". With original material, Keane made their debut live appearance at the Hope & Anchor pub in July 1998. However, Chaplin was off again, this time to Edinburgh University to study for a degree in art history, but he later quit and moved to London to pursue music full time. Keane begun touring London's pub gig circuit throughout 1998 and 1999.

In late 1999, Keane recorded their first promotional single, "Call Me What You Like", released it on CD format through their own label, Zoomorphic, and sold it after live performances on the pub circuit (only 500 copies were produced). 4 months later, second single, "Wolf at the Door" was released, with only 50 hand made copies made (this has subsequently been known to fetch over 1,000 pounds on eBay). Due to the limited success Keane were having, Scott decided to leave the group a month after this single was released in order to continue his studies at the LSE. In late 2001 they signed to BMG to publish their music, but a recording contract remained elusive. The band stopped all recording and live performances in 2002, with Scott's feelings of going nowhere beginning to ring true with Rice-Oxley and Chaplin. However, in December 2002, Keane returned to performing live, and at a gig at the Betsey Trotwood in London, Simon Williams of Fierce Panda Records (the man who had discovered Coldplay years previously) offered to release the first commercial single by the band. This was "Everybody’s Changing", released in May 2003, the success of which caused a bidding war for the band, and they decided to sign with Island Records in summer 2003. Keane released "This Is the Last Time", the final release on Fierce Panda, in October 2003. Their first release on Island, in early 2004, was "Somewhere Only We Know", which reached number 3 on the UK Singles Chart, and in May, a re-release of "Everybody’s Changing" reached number 4 on the same chart. Debut album "Hopes and Fears", also released in May 2004, debuted at number 1 on the UK Albums chart, remaining in the Top 75 for 72 weeks, and going on to become the second biggest selling album of the year in the UK (losing top spot to Scissor Sisters on the last day of the year). Keane won 2 of the 2005 BRIT Awards, “Best British Album” (for "Hopes and Fears") and “British Breakthrough Act”. Also in 2005, Rice-Oxley received the Ivor Novello award for songwriter of the year. "Hopes and Fears" has sold over 5.5 million copies worldwide. The group were also nominated for a 2005 Grammy in the “Best New Artist” category along with Sugarland, John Legend, Ciara, and Fall Out Boy (with Legend winning the award).

Second album "Under The Iron Sea", produced by Andy Green (who had worked on "Hopes and Fears") and mixed by Mark "Spike" Stent, was mainly recorded at Helioscentric Studios, Rye, East Sussex (where "Hopes and Fears" was recorded) with additional recording at The Magic Shop Studios in New York City. The album's release was preceded by the release of lead single "Is It Any Wonder?", which reached number 3 on the UK Singles chart. "Under The Iron Sea" was revealed in June 2006, selling over 220,000 copies in it’s first week, and occupying number 1 spot on the UK Albums chart for the first 2 weeks of its release. Other singles include "Crystal Ball" (August 2006) which made number 20 on the UK singles charts, and "Nothing in My Way" (October 2006) was a hit on Mexican commercial radio, making the Top 3 in January 2007 and staying a month on that chart. "Under The Iron Sea" has sold more than 2.2 million copies.

In other work, Keane are patrons of War Child, and have recorded a cover of the Walker Brothers' "The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore" (which was available as a download-only track from the War Child website) and also a cover of Elton John's "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" (for the charity album “Help: a Day in the Life”). In October 2006, Rice-Oxley collaborated with Gwen Stefani as a co-writer of the song "Early Winter" (a single from her album, “The Sweet Escape”).

The band's third studio album, “Perfect Symmetry”, was released in October 2008.