Lord Kavad and the Skaalite Orchestra were a popular music group around the time of the Clone Wars, a galaxy-spanning conflict fought between the Galactic Republic and a secessionist movement known as the Confederacy of Independent Systems. In 22 BBY, one of the group's works, Stark Memory, became the fourth best-selling single on the charts.
Despite the popularity and success of Lord Kavad and the Skaalite Orchestra, the group's prominence was not to last. With the end of the Clone Wars in 19 BBY came the rise of the Galactic Empire, an authoritarian regime founded by Supreme Chancellor Palpatine. A cultural purge was enacted over the next years, with many musicians persecuted and their works banned. The music of Lord Kavad and the Skaalite Orchestra was suppressed and recordings of the group's work were purged.
Not every recording of the works of Lord Kavad and the Skaalite Orchestra were lost. The fugitive Devaronian war criminal Kardue'sai'Malloc had a predilection for music; while on the run, Malloc retained copies of works produced by scores of musicians and groups, among them Lord Kavad and the Skaalite Orchestra. Once Malloc was finally caught by bounty hunter Boba Fett, the Devaronian made his captor promise to sell the music to a contact so that it could be distributed throughout the galaxy once again.
Lord Kavad and the Skaalite Orchestra produced Stark Memory sometime prior to the Clone Wars. The single proved popular and by 22 BBY had reached the fourth position in a chart, displayed on the HoloNet News, for best-selling songs. The works of the music group were later suppressed by the Galactic Empire, however.