Jamiroquai

Jay Kay in the "Little L" videoclip

Jamiroquai is a British band led by singer Jay (Jason) Kay. The band enjoys worldwide popularity and is the best-known member of the early-1990s London-based acid jazz movement, alongside groups such as Incognito, the Brand New Heavies, Galliano, and Corduroy. Jamiroquai have since, however, moved in other musical directions.

The name "Jamiroquai" is derived from the Native American Iroquois tribe, with which Kay has said he identifies philosophically, combined with 'Jam', as in musical jamming.

History

Jamiroquai's "Virtual Insanity" music video

After Jay Kay auditioned unsuccessfully to be the singer of the Brand New Heavies, he decided to put together his own band. 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 (now Sony BMG Music), the first of which was the mercurial Emergency on Planet Earth in 1993 which was laden with soulful grooves, themes of social conciousness and flowing jazz instrumentations. The 1994 follow-up, The Return of the Space Cowboy, became a more definitive album of testimonial funk and psychedelic power. The force is strong in both albums and has set the mark for what Jamiroquai can offer.

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," establishing a strong hold in the difficult American market. 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.

Their hit single "Deeper Underground" was in the soundtrack of the 1998 movie Godzilla. Another single, "Canned Heat" was featured in the films Center Stage (2000) and Napoleon Dynamite (2004), the latter during its infamous dance scene.

The acid jazz flavours of the first three albums were less evident in 1999's Synkronized. Jay Kay's interest in funk and disco music were gradually shifting the band in other directions, and with this came further commercial success. By their fifth album, A Funk Odyssey (2001), the disco influence was especially evident. The fifth album's first single, "Little L", reached #1 in many charts worldwide.

Their latest album is titled Dynamite and was released on June 20, 2005. It reached #3 on the UK charts, with similar successes repeated around the world. It has been regarded as Jamiroquai's most diverse work to date, with danceable disco tracks such as "(Don't) Give Hate A Chance" mixed with the more laid-back jazzy sounds of "Talullah", which harks back to the much earlier Jamiroquai sound. The first single, "Feels Just Like It Should" was released early in June, with the second single "Seven Days In Sunny June" released on August 15th.

Recently Jay Kay has expressed bitter resentment with his longtime record label Sony Music. In a recent 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 a Jamiroquai "greatest hits" album will be released in 2006, purely out of contractual obligation: "2006, they're out of the fucking picture. Take your greatest hits and stick it up your fucking arse." [1] This combined with 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 [children] and chill out."[2]) have fueled rumours that he will soon retire following the Dynamite tour.

Discography

Note: All dates indicate their original UK releases.

Studio albums

1. Emergency on Planet Earth (May 17, 1993); #1 UK

2. The Return of the Space Cowboy (October 17, 1994); #2 UK

3. Travelling without Moving (September 9, 1996); #2 UK

4. Synkronized (June 14, 1999); #1 UK

5. A Funk Odyssey (September 3, 2001); #1 UK

6. Dynamite (June 20, 2005); #3 UK

- Jamiroquai also released Late Night Tales: Jamiroquai - a DJ mix album for the Late Night Tales series on Azuli Records (November 10, 2003)

Singles

From Emergency on Planet Earth:

• "When You Gonna Learn" (1992) #52 UK
• "Too Young to Die" (1993) #10 UK
• "Blow Your Mind" (1993) #12 UK
• "Emergency on Planet Earth" (1993) #32 UK
• "When You Gonna Learn" (1993 re-release) #28 UK

From The Return of the Space Cowboy:

• "Space Cowboy" (1994) #17 UK
• "Half the Man" (1994) #15 UK
• "Stillness in Time" (1995) #9 UK

Guest appearance:

• "Do You Know Where You're Coming From" (M-Beat featuring Jamiroquai) (1996) #12 UK

From Travelling Without Moving:

• "Virtual Insanity" (1996) #3 UK
• "Cosmic Girl" (1996) #6 UK
• "Alright" (1996) #6 UK
• "High Times" (1996) #20 UK

From Godzilla Soundtrack/Some editions of Synkronized:

• "Deeper Underground" (1998) #1 UK

From Synkronized:

• "Canned Heat" (1999) #4 UK
• "Supersonic" (1999) #22 UK
• "King for a Day" (1999) #20 UK

Non-album single:

• "I'm in the Mood for Love" (with Jools Holland) (2001) #29 UK

From A Funk Odyssey:

• "Little L" (2001) #5 UK
• "You Give Me Something" (2001) #16 UK
• "Love Foolosophy" (2001) #14 UK
• "Corner of the Earth" (2002) #31 UK
• "Main Vein" (2002)

From Dynamite:

• "Feels Just Like It Should" (2005) #8 UK, #1 US(6 weeks,Dance Music/Club Play)
• "Seven Days (in Sunny June)" (2005) #14 UK
• "(Don't) Give Hate a Chance" (2005) #27 UK

Band members

• Jason Kay - Vocals
• Rob Harris (guitarist) - Guitar
• Derrick McKenzie - Drums
• Paul Turner - Bass
• Sola Akingbola - Percussion
• Matt Johnson - Keyboards
• 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 (1992-1998)
• Nick Fyffe - Bass (1998-2003)
• Nick Van Gelder - Drummer (1993)
• Darren Galea aka DJ D-Zire - Turntables (1993-2001)
• Adrian Revell - Flute, Saxophone
• Winston Rollins - Trumpet
• Simon Carter - Keyboards (1999-2001)

Guest appearances:

• Andrew Levy - Bass (1992)
• Simon Bartholomew - Guitar (1992)

See also

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

External links

• Official web site
• Long running unofficial fan site
• Discussion forums about Jamiroquai and Jason Kay
• Funkyjay (Jamiroquai bootlegs site)
• Bohème Magazine Jamiroquai: The Return of the Funky Cowboy
• Jamiroquai Lyrics Index Page
• Spanish web site

• Japanese fan site