Jamiroquai is a British jazz funk and acid jazz band formed in 1992. Jamiroquai were initially the most prominent component in the early-1990s London-based acid jazz movement, alongside groups such as Incognito, the James Taylor Quartet, and the Brand New Heavies.
Other Acid Jazz artists such as 'Moses Mayes' and Groove Collective are popular comparisons. Subsequent albums have explored other musical directions such as pop, rock and electronica. Jamiroquai have sold more than 40 million albums worldwide and won a Grammy Award in 1998.
The band name is a portmanteau of "jam session" and "iroquai", based on the Iroquois, a Native American tribe. The original band was Jay Kay (vocals), Toby Smith (keyboard), Stuart Zender (bass), Nick Van Gelder (drums), Wallis Buchanan (didgeridoo) and Alec Moran (pipeau). These are the founding members of Jamiroquai and were involved in the writing and production of the first album. The lineup of the band has changed several times, and the longest serving and now 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 bandafter an unsuccessful audition to become the singer of the Brand New Heavies. Despite his self-professed attempts to treat Jamiroquai as a band, Kay has always been at the forefront of how the group is marketed, and has therefore always had the lion's share of media attention, to the point where he is viewed as almost a solo artist.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 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, Western Europe, Australia, New Zealand and Japan, they remained relatively unknown to U.S and other international audiences. The band's American 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 Jonathan Glazer-directed video, which featured Kay's dance moves and some physics-defying images. At the 1997 MTV Video Music Awards, the creative music video for "Virtual Insanity" won four awards Best Video, Best Special Effects, Best Cinematography, and Breakthrough Video.
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 Johnny "Guitar" Watson.
The acid jazz flavours and ethnic influences of the first three albums continued with 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 20 June 2005. It reached #3 on the UK charts. The first single, "Feels Just Like It Should" was released earlyin June, the second, "Seven Days in Sunny June" released on 15 August 2005, followed by the third, "(Don't) Give Hate A Chance" on 7 November 2005.
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 18 September 2006, "Runaway" was given its first play by UK radio stations.It was released as a single on 30 October 2006. Kay remarked that compilation was released purely out of contractual obligation: "2006, they're out of the picture." Jamiroquai have had 13 nominations for The Brit Awards, and have yet to win one.
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 May 2006 Jamiroquai performed during the Laureus Sports Awards in Barcelona; the event was later televised by NBC in June. In March 2006, Jamiroquai announced their switch to Columbia Records. Future releases will appear under the Columbia imprint.
After leaving Sony, the band began to work on their seventh project, and several collaborations and side-projects. In a very short mid-2007 interview with Jamirotalk, drummer Derick McKenzie expressed his satisfaction with leaving Sony as the beginning of a period in which the band will have more creative control over their own work, together with plenty of room for experimentation and lack of pressure from a record company.
On 15 January 2008, the band confirmed that the recording process had begun. According to the news item, eleven tracks had already been written for the new album, with more to come. As of 25 July 2010, the only known track name for the 7th album is "Rock Dust Light Star" which has been performed live and confirmed by Kay himself to be on the new album.
On November 1, 2010, they released their long anticipated seventh album, Rock Dust Light Star. Recorded in Jay Kay's home studio in Buckinghamshire, it saw a return to their earlier, less pop-like sound. Despite both singles, Blue Skies and White Knuckle Ride reaching into Top 100 charts worldwide, the album sold a mere 34,378 copies on its debut, around half the amount sold of the previous album Dynamite.
