The band used its new material to audition for the record producer Joe Meek, who immediately saw their potential. They recorded “Have I the Right?” in Mr. Meek’s studio.

Featuring twanging guitars and thumping drums augmented by stomping feet, the song was released as a single by Pye Records, whose managing director suggested that Ms. Lantree go by Honey and that the group become the Honeycombs.

The Honeycombs appeared on television and released their first album, called simply “The Honeycombs,” in 1964. Some journalists accused the group of using Ms. Lantree, who dressed stylishly and sported a beehive hairdo, as a gimmick. Some even questioned whether she had actually played the drums on “Have I the Right?”

“We couldn’t do nothing about it,” Mr. Murray said, “just deny it, which is the truth.”

In late 1964, Peter Pye replaced Mr. Murray, and in 1965 the Honeycombs set off on a tour of Scandinavia, Australia and parts of Asia. That same year the group reached No. 12 on the British pop charts with “That’s the Way,” in which Ms. Lantree sang with Mr. D’Ell, and released a second album, “All Systems Go!”

But the Honeycombs’ greatest success was already behind them, and the band broke up in 1967.

“It was very traumatic,” Ms. Lantree told an Australian newspaper in 1991. “I was still living at home with my parents, and I went back to hairdressing. People still recognized me, and it was hard to get on with a new life.”

Anne Margot Lantree was born on Aug. 28, 1943, in Hayes, Middlesex, England, to John and Nora (Gould) Lantree. Her father owned a sign-making business, and her mother was a homemaker.