Jamiroquai

Jay Kay of Jamiroquai performs at a concert.
Background information
Origin	England
Genre(s)	Acid Jazz, Funk, Disco, Soul, Pop, Rock, Electronica
Years active	1992–present
Label(s)	Acid Jazz, Sony BMG, Columbia
Associated acts	Brand New Heavies, Guru
Website	http://www.jamiroquai.com/
Members
Jason Kay Rob Harris Paul Turner Matt Johnson Derrick McKenzie Sola Akingbola Lorraine McIntosh Hazel Fernandez Sam Smith
Former members
Gavin Dodds Simon Katz Nick Fyffe Stuart Zender Simon Carter Toby Smith Mike Smith Nick Van Gelder Darren Galea (a.k.a. DJ D-Zire) Winston Rollins Adrian Revell Wallis Buchanan

Jamiroquai is a Grammy Award-winning English funk / soul / disco band. Jamiroquai was initially the most prominent component in the early-1990s London-based acid jazz movement, alongside groups such as Incognito, the Brand New Heavies, Galliano, and Corduroy. Subsequent albums have explored other musical directions.

Formation and history

The band name is a portmanteau of Jam and iroquai, loosely based on the native American Indian tribe the Iroquois^[1] The lineup of the band has changed several times, but the core members of the band are lead singer and songwriter Jason "Jay" Kay and drummer Derrick McKenzie (1994). Kay was the impetus behind the formation of Jamiroquai, deciding to form the band after an unsuccessful audition to become the singer of the Brand New Heavies. Their style has been described as an update of funk and soul music.

Recordings

Jamiroquai's first single, "When You Gonna Learn?", was released in 1992 on the Acid Jazz label. Following its success, Kay signed an eight-album record deal with Sony BMG Music Entertainment. The first Sony album, Emergency on Planet Earth was released in 1993. It was followed in 1994 by The Return of the Space Cowboy. The single "Space Cowboy" gained notice on the charts and in club rotation. While Jamiroquai was growing in popularity in the UK and Western Europe, they remained relatively unknown to U.S and other international audiences. The band's international breakthrough came with the third album, Travelling Without Moving in 1996, which yielded two big hits, "Virtual Insanity" and "Cosmic Girl". The success of "Virtual Insanity" was due in part to its innovative video, which featured Kay's dance moves and some gravity-defying images. At the 1997 MTV Video Music Awards, the creative videoclip for "Virtual Insanity" won four awards, including Best Video, Best Special Effects, Best Cinematography, and Breakthrough Video. The acid jazz flavours and ethnic influences of the first three albums were all but extinct by the release of Synkronized in 1999. Jay Kay's interest in funk and disco music were shifting the band's directions towards such. By their fifth album, A Funk Odyssey (2001), they had evolved so drastically, that some critics and listeners would remark they lost the 'Jamiroquai sound'. With the departure of more and more original band members, including Wallis Buchanan and his didgeridoo, Jamiroquai had become a very different band than that of 1992. In spite of the changes, the fifth album's first single, "Little L", reached #1 in many charts worldwide. Their sixth album, titled Dynamite was released on June 20, 2005. It reached #3 on the UK charts. The first single, "Feels Just Like It Should" was released early in June, the second, "Seven Days In Sunny June" released on August 15th, followed by the third, "(Don't) Give Hate A Chance" on November 7th. Jamiroquai released a greatest hits collection, High Times: Singles 1992-2006 in November 2006. The release of this album marked the end of Kay’s eight-album contract with Sony. The album reached the number 1 spot in the UK album chart after its first week of release. The album featured two new tracks, "Runaway" and "Radio". On September 18, 2006, "Runaway" was given its first play by UK radio stations. It was released as a single on October 30. In March 2006, Jamiroquai announced their switch to Columbia Records. Future releases will appear under the Columbia imprint.^[2] In October 2006, Jamiroquai recorded a live session for Live from Abbey Road at Abbey Road Studios. Their performance was shown alongside those of Damien Rice and the Goo Goo Dolls on the UK's Channel 4 in January 2007. In March 2007, the Daily Mail stated that Jay Kay planned to retire so that he could raise a family. In an interview, the 37-year-old Kay said that the only thing that mattered now was "having kids and finding a good woman." ^[3] In response to the Daily Mirror article Jay Kay wrote a statement on the official Jamiroquai site:

^[4]

Jay Kay vs. Sony

Kay expressed dissatisfaction with his longtime record label Sony Music. In a November 2006 interview with the Sydney Morning Herald, he commented that "These days it's 18% music and it's bloody 82% marketing bullshit [...] Next time I do an album, I'm gonna put it up on the internet for five fucking dollars." He also remarked that the Jamiroquai "greatest hits" album was released purely out of contractual obligation: "2006, they're out of the fucking picture." ^[5] These comments, and other recent comments in an interview with The Sun ("There are other things I want to do with my life [...] I want peace and quiet and to meet a nice girl and have some little pitter-patterers and chill out."^[6]) fueled rumours that the Dynamite tour of 2005/2006 would be cancelled.

Other projects

• In May 2006 Jamiroquai performed during the Laureus Sports Awards in Barcelona;^[7] the event was later televised by NBC in June.
• In 2003 Jamiroquai compiled and mixed a DJ mix album for the Late Night Tales series for Azuli Records. The track selection shows some of the band's funk, soul and disco influences, including tracks from The Pointer Sisters, The Commodores, Johnny "Hammond" Smith and Marvin Gaye.

Appearances in other media

• Jamiroquai's hit single "Deeper Underground" - the band's only UK #1 single to date - appeared on the soundtrack of the 1998 movie Godzilla.
• "Canned Heat" (released 1999 in the U.S.) was featured in the films Center Stage (2000) and Napoleon Dynamite (2004), the latter for its famous dance scene. It was used as well in the Nintendo DS rhythm game Elite Beat Agents and Sony PlayStation 2 camera game EyeToy: Groove.
• "Cosmic Girl" appeared in the European release of Nintendo Gamecube game Donkey Konga.
• Also, "Feels Just Like It Should" is included in the soundtrack for the game FIFA 06 and a Timo Maas Remix was featured in Need For Speed: Most Wanted.
• The song "Virtual Insanity" was featured in Konami's rhythm game Dance Dance Revolution Ultramix 3 for the Xbox as well as party game Karaoke Revolution 2 for the Playstation 2, also by Konami.
• Jamiroquai is mentioned in an Achewood comic strip on January 2nd, 2008.

The song "Cosmic Girl" appears in the 1997 film, Love Jones

• The soundtrack for the 2000 film "Center Stage" features "Canned Heat" and "Cosmic Girl"

Discography

Main article: Jamiroquai discography

Band members

Current Members

• Jason Kay - Vocals (1992 - present)
• Rob Harris - Guitar (2001 - present)
• Derrick McKenzie - Drums (1993 - present)
• Paul Turner - Bass (2004 - present)
• Sola Akingbola - Percussion (1996 - present)
• Matt Johnson - Keyboards (2002 - present)
• Lorraine McIntosh - Backing Vocals
• Hazel Fernandez - Backing Vocals
• Sam Smith - Backing Vocals

Former members

• Toby Smith - Keyboards (1992-2002)
• Wallis Buchanan - Didgeridoo (1992-2001)
• Gavin Dodds - Guitar (1993-1994)
• Simon Katz - Guitar (1995-2000)
• Stuart Zender - Bass (1993-1998)
• Nick Fyffe - Bass (1998-2003)
• Nick Van Gelder - Drums (1993)
• Darren Galea aka DJ D-Zire - Turntables (1993-2001)
• Adrian Revell - Flute, Saxophone
• Winston Rollins - Trombone
• John Thirkell - Trumpet (1993-1998)
• Simon Carter - Keyboards (1999-2002)
• Maurizio Ravalico - Percussion (1993)
• Dee Lewis - Backing Vocals

Guest appearances

• Andrew Levy - Bass (1992)
• Simon Bartholomew - Guitar (1992)
• Kofi Kari Kari - Percussion (1992)
• Vanessa Simon - Backing Vocals
• Martin Shaw - Trumpet
• Beverley Knight - Vocals (2001)
• Beverlei Brown - Backing Vocals (2006)

Samples

See also

• List of number-one dance hits (United States)
• List of artists who reached number one on the U.S. Dance chart
• Buffalo Man, the name of the character featured on all but one of Jamiroquai's album covers.

References

External links

• Official website
• Jamiroquai at MySpace
• Jamiroquai at Last.fm