Jamiroquai (A portmanteau
of Jam
and iroquai, loosely based on the native American Indian tribe the Iroquois) 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.
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Contents
- 1 Formation
and history
- 2 Recordings
- 3 Other
projects
- 4 Discography
- 5 Band
members
- 6 Samples
- 6.1 Album
songs, B-sides, remixes
- 6.2 Live
performances
- 7 See
also
- 8 References
- 9 External
links
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Formation and history
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. 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 a an update of
funk 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.
Jay Kay in Jamiroquai's "Virtual Insanity" music video
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 song was also featured in Konami's rhythm game Dance Dance Revolution
Ultramix 3 for the Xbox
video game system
Their hit single "Deeper Underground" - the band's
only UK #1 single to date - appeared on the soundtrack of the 1998
movie Godzilla.
Another single, "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, as well as the Nintendo DS rhythm game Elite
Beat Agents and Sony PlayStation
2 camera game EyeToy: Groove.
Also, "Feels Just Like It Should"
features on the soundtrack for the game FIFA 06
and a Timo Maas Remix was featured in Need For Speed: Most
Wanted.
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.
In October 2007, Jamiroquai recorded a live session for Live From
Abbey Road at Abbey Road Studios. His
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, Jay Kay stated that he plans to retire so that
he can raise a family. In an interview with the Daily Mirror, the
37-year-old Kay said that the only thing that mattered now was "having
kids and finding a good woman."
In response to the Daily Mirror article Jay Kay wrote a statement on
the official Jamiroquai site:
| “ |
As
usual they got it wrong for a cheap headline! All I said was that we’re
taking a bit of time out to get the studio refurbished and we’ll be
back making music in a few months time. There’s no way I’m quitting the
music business - now I am out of my long contract with SonyBMG we have
so many options open to us we’re just going to take our time and get it
right - it's just getting interesting! |
” |
At the Intel gig in March 2007 Jay said he will take a
vacation in Jamaica before starting the recording process of the next
album.
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."
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 [children] and chill out.")
had fueled rumours that the Dynamite tour of
2005/2006 would have been cancelled.
Other projects
- In May
2006 Jamiroquai performed during the Laureus
Sports Awards in Barcelona; 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.
Discography
-
Main article: Jamiroquai discography
Band 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 - Percussions
(1993)
Guest appearances:
- Andrew Levy - Bass (1992)
- Simon Bartholomew - Guitar (1992)
- Martin Shaw - Trumpet
- Beverley Knight - Vocals
(2001)
Samples
Album songs, B-sides, remixes
