Nightingale returned to London with her husband and daughter and appeared in the West End production of Savages, after which she withdrew from professional performing.
 According to Nightingale, "I started doing session singing.
I didn't do a lot but it was easy to go out in the evening when the baby was sleeping."
Her vocalizing on the recording of Al Matthews' "Fool" caught the attention of the session's producer Pierre Tubbs, enough that he asked composer J. Vincent Edwards, who had worked with Nightingale in the West End production of Hair, to co-write a song for her, which became "Right Back Where We Started From".
Tubbs asked her to sing on the demo; as she told the story in 2013, "he took it straight to United Artists Records [in London], and they loved it too.
They paid me 100 pounds [... and after that,] they [offered] me an advance and a contract to finish recording the single."

After being released on United Artists Records (in Nightingale's true name), "Right Back Where We Started From" reached #8 in the UK in the autumn of 1975.
It was released in the US early 1976 to enthusiastic reaction, reaching #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 in May 1976.
Nightingale, who had accompanied her husband to his native Japan, was motivated by her single's US success to return to London to complete a Right Back Where We Started From album.
She then proceeded to the US, which has since remained her home base.
Nightingale returned to London with her husband and daughter and appeared in the West End production of Savages, after which she withdrew from professional performing.  According to Nightingale, "I started doing session singing. I didn't do a lot but it was easy to go out in the evening when the baby was sleeping." Her vocalizing on the recording of Al Matthews' "Fool" caught the attention of the session's producer Pierre Tubbs, enough that he asked composer J. Vincent Edwards, who had worked with Nightingale in the West End production of Hair, to co-write a song for her, which became "Right Back Where We Started From". Tubbs asked her to sing on the demo; as she told the story in 2013, "he took it straight to United Artists Records [in London], and they loved it too. They paid me 100 pounds [... and after that,] they [offered] me an advance and a contract to finish recording the single."
After being released on United Artists Records (in Nightingale's true name), "Right Back Where We Started From" reached #8 in the UK in the autumn of 1975. It was released in the US early 1976 to enthusiastic reaction, reaching #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 in May 1976. Nightingale, who had accompanied her husband to his native Japan, was motivated by her single's US success to return to London to complete a Right Back Where We Started From album. She then proceeded to the US, which has since remained her home base.
Maxine Nightingale