Групата издава първия си сингъл "When You Gonna Learn?" през 1992 г. През 1993 г. Излиза и първият им албум "Emergency on Planet Earth". Третият им албум "Travelling Without Moving" излиза през 1997 г. като едно от парчетата става световен хит "Virtual Insanity". През същата година клипът към "Virtual Insanity" спечелва четири награди на MTV видео музикалните награди. През следващата година излиза и друг техен сингъл "Deeper Underground" който е саундтрак към филма "Годзила". Въпреки първоначалното acid-jazz звучене стиловете са различни, клонят към джаз и сходни на него по звучене.

Formation

The band name is a portmanteau of Jam session and "iroquai", based on the Iroquois, a Native American tribe.[2] The original band was Jay Kay (vocals), Toby Smith (keys) Stuart Zender (bass), Nick Van Gelder (drums), Wallis Buchanan (didgeridoo). These are the founding members of the Jamiroquai and were involved in the writing and production of the first albums. 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). 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. He 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.

[edit] Sony Music

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 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, including 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 early in 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 fucking picture." [3]

[edit] Post-Sony

Shoot The Moon (Montreux jazz festival, 2003) 30-second snippet of the only recorded live performance of "Shoot the Moon", a song which was dropped in the early days of the A Funk Odyssey recording sessions.
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

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;[4] 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.[5]

During February in 2007 Jamiroquai performed the record breaking Gig in the Sky in association with Sony Ericsson.

After leaving Sony, the band began work on their seventh project, and several collaborations and side-projects. In a very short mid-2007 interview with Jamirotalk, drummer Derrick 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.[6]

[edit] 7th Album and Beyond

On 11 January 2008, Jay Kay himself posted a news item in which he thanked everyone who wished him the best for his birthday, and announced that the writing process for the new album has just begun.[7] Only a day earlier, drummer Derrick McKenzie posted an article on his MySpace weblog that the recording process for the same record has also begun.[8]

On 15 January 2008, the band confirmed that the recording process begun. According to the news item, eleven tracks have already been written for the new album, with more to come. As of now, none of the tracks' names are known. [9]

On 13 February 2008, the band announced from their website that it will perform at the World Stage of the Rock in Rio — Madrid festival, being held in Arganda del Rey, Madrid with others artists who have (then) yet to be announced.[10]

On 28 February 2008, Jamiroquai performed at the Khodynka Arena in Moscow, Russia at the launch of the new Audi A4 car.

On 22 June 2008, Jamiroquai performed at the Wianki Festival in Kraków, Poland.

On 4 July 2008, the band performed in front of a 75,000 people audience in the Rock in Rio Madrid festival. Tour dates were planned for July and August of 2008.

On 5 April 2009, Jamiroquai performed at the closing concert of Malaysian F1 Grand Prix in Sepang International Circuit Malaysia, and on the 9th of April Jamiroquai played at the Sentul International Convention Centre in Jakarta, Indonesia.[11]

On 24 August 2009, Derrick McKenzie was interviewed on playvybz.com and talked about the upcoming album. He stated that Jamiroquai is now signed with Universal Records (UK) and that they have recorded more than 40 new tracks. Also the new album will be recorded live and have a style similar to the first three albums with the use of strings and horns. He claims the album will have less of a "disco sound" and will be a lot more funky and soulful. The album is uninfluenced by major record labels and will bring forth a new direction for the band.

During the first week of February 2010, Jay Kay mentioned the upcoming album on Jamiroquai's Facebook site, saying, "Hi Everybody, just wanted to say how amazing it is to have so many Friends on Facebook, half a million I believe. Therefore it feels like the right time to let you know that we are alive and kicking and in the final stages of our 8th album. I really can't wait to get out there and play it for you live in the very near future. Sending you all lots of good luck and love, Jay."[12]

[edit] Buffalo Man

Buffalo Man is the name of the silhouette character featured on most of the covers of Jamiroquai's releases.

[edit] Origins

Buffalo Man was created sometime prior to the release of their 1992 single When You Gonna Learn, allegedly it was originally sketched by the band's primary songwriter and front-man Jason Kay as Buffalo Man is seemingly a self portrait silhouette of Jason wearing a buffalo hat. The mark has been used on almost every commercial (and sometimes non-commercial) release of the band's output in some form or another; usually the unique symbol is pictured unaltered, but there have been times where it is shown in a stylised manner to suit the artwork or song.

Notable variations

Over the years, Buffalo Man has seen some temporary changes or interesting thematic uses:

"Half the Man", The Return of the Space Cowboy For the single "Half The Man", Buffalo Man is on the cover as a keyring with a heart in the clasp representing the fact it is a love song and the keyring itself is split down the middle in two halfs to represent the song title. Buffalo Man also has a silver heart.

" Space Cowboy", The Return of the Space Cowboy For the single "Space Cowboy", Buffalo Man is present on the cover as a shaped cigarette paper for a half-complete cannabis joint, in reference to the song's praise of the drug.

"Virtual Insanity", Travelling Without Moving For the single of "Virtual Insanity", Buffalo Man appears in the place of the Ferrari horse in an homage to Jason's love of sports cars. For the album cover to Travelling Without Moving, the artwork is similar, but takes on an embossed effect and is seen on a metal grille.

"Cosmic Girl", "Everyday" For these two releases, Buffalo Man is pictured with a star over his heart and two intersecting orbital rings.

Synkronized While the design remained fundamentally unaltered, Buffalo Man has been turned into a laser-cut mirror and photographed from interesting angles by Midori Tsukagoshi. On some editions, for the disc itself, no ink has been used on the character, but the same stone background found on the front cover has been used for the rest of the disc, thus allowing the consumer to recreate the photographed effect.

A Funk Odyssey For this album, the Buffalo Man was notably absent from the cover; instead, the laser lights formed an outline of the Buffalo Man logo, which could be seen much more clearly in the album's liner notes.

Dynamite Only the US release featured a gold Buffalo Man. Other releases saw a picture of Jay Kay instead.

[edit] Text logo

Just like the Buffalo Man, the Jamiroquai text logo has also had several variations depending on the theme. The oldest version of the logo is the one seen on the Acid Jazz Records release of When You Gonna Learn. In comparison to the current text logo one can see that the old Acid Jazz Records version of the logo was more angular at points, together with the letters being much thinner. Several variations of the current logo also exist. Releases of "Cosmic Girl" and the promo CD of Everyday had replaced the dots above the 'i' letters with stars. Other slight, temporary variations include a slight vertical stretch of the typeface, as seen on the cover art of A Funk Odyssey.

The current biography:

A decade and a half is a long time to be at the top of your game; no matter what that game might be. In music, it's a near impossibility. While many set off as next big things, few stay the distance to arrive as genuine international icons. After 15 years, 159 weeks on the UK singles chart, 232 weeks on the albums chart, more than 20 million album sales and five mammoth world tours - playing to 5 million people in 38 countries - it's fair to say that Jay Kay, the quick stepping 37 year-old professionally known as Jamiroquai, has finally made it.

What's more, he's got 6 multi-platinum albums, 5 MTV awards, the Grammy, the Ivor Novello and enough lurid tabloid headlines to prove it. And now, just in case there was any doubt, he's got 'High Times - The Singles 1992-2006", a singles collection which rams home the point and tracks the decade and a half journey via his irresistible rare groove and unmistakable barbed disco.

It's an album which Kay has openly resisted for the best half of his career; determined that Jamiroquai's greatest hits wasn't going to be a couple of top tens and some well chosen filler. As it is, their 6 consistently on-point albums have proved such a reliable source of danceable hits, that there wasn't enough room to fit them all on the 19 track CD. For sure, the mark of a true pop survivor.

From the vanguard of the early '90s acid jazz revolution to one of the most recognisable musicians of a generation. From a squat in Ealing, West London, to a lush green Buckinghamshire Manor. From a skateboard to a garage full of Ferrari's. The first 15 years of the Jamiroquai story has been nothing if not memorable. And, more importantly, from organic, horn-laden funk to computer-ramped glitter ball moments, every move has been soundtracked by Kay's bankable mix of sly grooves and addictive melodies.

Back in Ealing in 1992, the impact of one particular groove can't be overestimated. The minute 'When you Gonna Learn' was released on Acid Jazz, a career and a movement were born. Vintage jazz-funk, complete with sweet horn groove, string quartet and an impassioned eco-political message that was a decade ahead of its time, it rescued rare groove from the chin stroking few and introduced the world to Jay Kay, his big hat, quick feet and unique way of doing things.

The effect was instant. On the strength of that one song EMI Publishing got their cheque book out and Sony Records put their now fabled 8 album deal on the table. Not to be outdone, the music press branded him "a wannabe Stevie Wonder" - which Kay described as "flattering, misguided, but above all, boring" - and started one of the most enduring love-hate relationships in modern music.

Whatever his detractors said about the hats, the dancing, the loose-limbed funk or the save-the-planet message - in 1993 singing about pillaging their planet, ending illegal wars and cancelling third world debt got you laughed at, today it gets you a knighthood - Jamiroquai's fans had the louder voice, giving him a top ten single with unshakable anti-war anthem 'Too Young to Die' and making 'Emergency on Planet Earth' the year's biggest selling debut album as it entered the charts at Number One.

A year later, Kay & Co continued to carve their own very distinct niche with second album, 'Return of the Space Cowboy'. Through a haze of drugs and frustration its darker grind and jaded inner-city social commentary established Jamiroquai as the face of British Urban music. Still to this day the song 'Return of the Space Cowboy' is Kiss FM's most played track of all time. Enough said really.

Still, it was down to third album, 1997's 'Travelling Without Moving', some logic defying dance moves and a moving sofa, to take Jamiroquai over the top and to the masses. The album was a slotting together of the pieces, all the planets coming into alignment. Kay's dedication to sly grooves, coalescing with the refinement of both his songwriting skills and pop sensibility, resulting in party anthems 'High Times' and 'Alright', 'Cosmic Girl"s intergalactic boogie and 'Virtual Insanity', and irresistibly catchy warning against genetic engineering, accompanied by a mind-bending video which captured the imagination and took Jamiroquai global.

By the time the dust settled, the album, singles and 'Virtual Insanity' video - directed by Jonathan Grazer and based on Kay's original idea - had netted 5 MTV Awards, a Grammy and an Ivor Novello, put Jamiroquai on the cover of USA Today and sold more than a million albums in America.

Since then Jamiroquai has been a firm fixture of the charts, the headlines and music television; their stunning collection of videos causing almost as much interest as Kay's private life. The voyage hasn't always been plain sailing, nor for that matter, a flurry of awards. Despite being the UK's biggest musical export of the '90s after Oasis and the Spice Girls, recognition in official circles has, at times, been thin on the ground - Jay Kay stands as The Brits unluckiest nominee, having yet to win after 15 nominations. But the good ship Jamiroquai is, "still floating" as Kay himself puts it, "because it was made with solid great lumps of oak, not cheap fibre glass."

As well as weathering pop's ever fickle tastes, Kay's groove devotion has also survived just about every music cliche going, from departing band mates to the rigours of the rock'n'roll lifestyle and all the excesses that go with it. In  fact, Kay's positively thrived on adversity.

The (at the time) acrimonious departure of bass player Stuart Zender resulted in one of Jamiroquai's strongest albums to date, 1998's 'Synkronized', complete with singles 'Canned Heat' and UK Number 1 'Deeper Underground'. Similarly, at a time when Kay's personal life was constantly on the front pages, he delivered club classic 'Little L' and 2001's shimmering dance album, 'A Funk Odyssey', the second biggest selling of Jamiroquai's career.

And with his dark days of over-indulgence firmly behind him, Kay tackled the tricky issue of a comeback with 2005's banner-waving declaration of health, 'Dynamite', which garnered both the best reviews of Jamiroquai's career, and a second Grammy nomination, this time for the ferocious grind of lead single, 'Feels Just Like It Should'.

Which brings us up-to-date, to the here and now and the question of how to follow such a staggering catalogue of hits. Well, new tracks 'Runaway' and 'Radio' certainly live up to Kay's claim to have "plenty more cracking stuff to come."

"There's a hell of a lot of pressure to come up with two new hit singles for your greatest hits, but I think we've cracked it," said Kay of 'Runaway"s glistening disco strings and 'Radio"s salacious rock hook. "We're very pleased with them. We just went straight for the kill. I wanted to do something very instant which they both are. I love 'em."

"Radio's great fun, a cheeky little track about when you meet a lovely young lady and find out that she likes girls even more than she likes boys. I think we'll leave it at that." 'Runaway', on the other hand, like all Jay's best disco moments, comes from a slightly more poignant place. "I really like the sentiment. I think it's something everyone can relate to. 'I just want to runaway'. Sometimes you do feel that you just want out. When the pressure's on, you just want to leave all this behind."

But fans and detractors alike can relax. 'High Times - Singles 1992-2006' is very much volume one of the greatest hits, he's not ready to retire just yet.

"I like the sense of closure it has about it," says Kay. "I've closed that chapter of my career and I'm ready to start the next. We've already got tracks lined-up that are very different. Very exciting. So it makes sense to do the greatest hits now. It feels like the right time, in readiness for the next phase."

That Kay's already planning the next phase of the Jamiroquai saga is indeed, good news. Because not only is he the last of a dying breed: the genuine rock star - from the near indecent obsession with Italian sports cars to designing his own signature range for Hugo Boss - he's also a genuine character. In an era when everything's a sanitised sound bite, jay Kay is one man who can be relied upon for his full, frank and unedited opinion. For that alone he should be applauded. But most of all, as 'High Times - Singles 1992-2006' proves with every single frenetic track, music, like life, would be a hell of a lot duller without him.

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Последна редакция от lidencetoyo - 17.02.2010, 22:20