Josie and the Pussycats are a fictitious rock band, created in 1969 by Dan DeCarlo for an Archie Comics publication of the same name. The three characters who form the band include leader Josie McCoy (vocals, guitar), Valerie Brown (vocals, bass, tambourine), and Melody Valentine (vocals, drums). "Josie and the Pussycats" evolved from DeCarlo's "She's Josie" comic, first published by Archie in 1963. The change in format came about as a result of the success of The Archies in the books, on television, and on the pop charts.