The history of the Jamiroquai group - from early years before the dazzling breakthrough ...
Jamiroquai - Jazz Funk Group of London, formed in 1992 by vocalist Jeide Keem. This Band occupied an important place in the London Funk Jazz Tusovka of the 90s: the work of Jamirquai has a unique sound, which was based on black music and brave lyrics ... At a later time, the group experimented a lot, because of which their late releases contain characteristic shades. Rock, disco and even Latin American music ... In general, the global circulation of their albums is about 30 million copies! Yes, the discography of Jamiroquai (like their song repertoire) includes a lot of truly masterpieces ... But why did it all start? We will talk about it today and talk ...
The beginning of the way…
The founder of the group - Ja Kay - always experienced a passion for music ... In the 80s, he recorded his first tracks: Kay was under the strong influence of the American Indians and their philosophy ... It all started when Kay recorded the song WHEN YOU GONNA LEARN: He quarreled with producer, Which removed the decent part of the text due to the fact that she did not like "Classic Hits in Charter" ... This situation pushed Jay Kay to the idea that for success he needs his own team of musicians with lively sound ... later Kay signed a contract with Acid Jazz Records. Gradually, he gained the participants that Jamiroquai will soon receive ...
His climbing Jamiroquai began with speeches in clubs. Later, "WHEN YOU GONNA LEARN" - their debut single, which entered the National Top 50! So, for several years, Jamirquai has accumulated the flow of hits in their native Britain and achieved success in charts in almost all other regions of the world! Their irresistible mixture of House Rhythms and Soul / Funky 70s delighted both the public and critics ... and despite the fact that the group has undergone several changes in the composition, throughout this time, Jay Kay remained by their leader: actually, It would be unforgivable not to tell about it in more detail!
Ja Kay (he JK) - a British singer and songwriter, founder and soloist Jamiroquai. Kay was born on December 30, 1969 in Stretford, Manchester. His mother - Karen - was a jazz singer who regularly performed in the nightclubs, and in the 70s he had his own television show! Jay left the house aged 15 years: then he was essentially homeless and had a problem with the law (he had to make small crimes to survive). After almost fatal experience (when they attacked him and hit the knife), he was arrested for the crime he did not commit. Then Kay decided to return home where he decided to continue to develop a legitimate musical career and tie finally with crimes. At Kay did not have a group that would support him, but he quickly came up with the name of his future project: Jamiroquai. Well, a further story you already know!
The main stages of creativity ...
Is it all started with the single "WHEN YOU GONNA LEARN?": This is a debut single Jamirquai, released by Acrin Jazz's sound recording company. Soon the track was widely successful, and a long-term and profitable contract with Sony followed him. So, in 1993, Jamiroquai released Emergency on Planet Earth - her full-length debut, which became the main hit in his native English (reaching the position of the number one in charts)! The album spawned such hit tracks as "Too Young to Die" and "Blow Your Mind" (both are in the top ten!)
The second release, The Return of The Space Cowboy, was able to protect Jamirquai from the so-called "curse of sophomons", which suffers so many novice groups: he exceeded the sale of his predecessor in Europe and became a big hit in Japan!
Already by 1996, most of the world danced under Jamiroquai Rhythms ... And here, the third album released this year, Traveling Without Moving conquered America! The album also gave rise to the World Hit "Virtual Insanity", for which the music video was shot by award-winning (in many respects, it was whether it helped the album to achieve platinum status in the States by the end of the year).
But despite a breakthrough success, Basist Zender decides to leave the group right during the sessions ... Nick Faiff comes to his place. By the way: at that time Kay refused new tracks to start from scratch with a new bassist ... however - already in 1998, "Deeper Underground" came out, the track from the soundtrack to the cult film "Godzilla".
The long pause between the albums seemed to kill the Impulse Jamirquai in the United States, weakened noticeably in a few years: their new Synkronized album was largely ignored by American listeners (although in the homeland and around the world it was another major commercial success!) Subsequently, it seemed that most of the attention of the US media regards to Jamiroquai was focused on the events not related to music: such as a group failure from a million dollar proposal to perform a concert on the eve of 1999, and when Kay was accused of attacking the photographer-tabloid (afterwards The charges were removed) ...
Jamiroquai did not need a lot of time to release another album: A Funk Odyssey entered the market two years later, in 2001. After that, the Group spent the next two years, collecting material for the sixth studio album Dynamite, which was finally released in 2005! As for the seventh Studio Rock Dust Light Star, he obediently connected the disco and the electronic music of the previous release with an organic, based on the root of the intonation of the debut of the 1993 release ...
In 2013, Jamiroquai celebrated its 20th anniversary by reprinting the remand versions of their first three albums. At about the same time, they announced that they began working on a new album and played several short European tours. In 2017, they returned with their eighth Automaton, which included the Singles "Automaton" and "Cloud 9".
Kei's spirroined with Matt Johnson keyboard player, the album showed that the Group explores the topics of technology development and deterioration of human interaction, although with all the attributes of electro funky, which Jamirquai is so well known ...
Musical style, influence, legacy ...
As for the Jamiroquai musical style, he unites House, Soul, Disco, Funk, Eisid Jazz and even R & B! Their unique sound is the result of bold experiments that allow the group to be open to everything new ... In the work of this team, the atmosphere of the 70s prevails, which makes their music unusually gentle and magical ... We can say - that they combined the funk old school, Stroken Soul Philadelphia , clear sound of the keyboard 70s and even hints on a jazz fusion ... The main author of the tracks from the very beginning, Jay Kay remains. By the way: some critics argue the group that she brazenly copies the style of black artists. But Keia has its own opinion on this score:
Speaking about lyrics, it is worth noting that Kay always seeks to touch on some global question ... For example - in the debut Emergency on Planet Earth, it is an ecology and war, in The Return of the Space Cowboy is homelessness and protests, and in Traveling without moving - Development of technologies before humanity will soon be able to reproduce life and simulate it ...
The group also has a bright visual style, which many critics are described as "science fiction and futuristic." When to wait from jamiroquai new studio works? It all depends only on the inspiration of Kay ... In one of his interviews, the musician stated: