page_title: Jamiroquai
section_title: 1993–2000: International breakthrough
hierarchical_section_title: Jamiroquai / History / 1993–2000: International breakthrough
caption_attribution_description: English: Jamiroquai in concert
context_page_description: Jamiroquai are an English funk and acid jazz band from London, formed in 1992. Fronted by singer-songwriter Jay Kay, the band were a prominent component of the London-based funk/jazz movement of the 1990s. Influenced by black music of the 1970s, the group additionally drew from rock, electronica and Latin music and their lyrics have dealt with social and environmental idealism. Over the years, Kay has consistently remained as the leader through several line-up changes.
  The band debuted with the single "When You Gonna Learn", released on Acid Jazz records, which lead to Kay signing a record deal with Sony Soho². While with this label, the group released a series of million-selling albums. All eight of the band's albums have entered the UK top 10. Three of them, Emergency on Planet Earth, Synkronized, A Funk Odyssey, along with their greatest hits compilation, charted at number one. The single "Deeper Underground" also topped in the UK chart.
  Although Jamiroquai had only moderate success in America, they have sold more than 26 million albums worldwide as of 2017.
context_section_description: Following the success of "When You Gonna Learn", Kay was offered multiple major-label contracts and settled for a one-million-dollar, 8-album record deal with Sony Soho². He was the only member who signed under the contract as Jamiroquai, but he would share his royalties with his band members in accordance to their contributions. Under Sony, the band released their début album, Emergency on Planet Earth, and it entered the UK albums chart at number 1 with 1.3 million copies sold worldwide. It was described by an AllMusic reviewer as "a psychedelic melange of tight funky rhythms, acid rock intimations, and '70s soul melodies." The album "laid the foundations for an acid-jazz sound that the band would continue to build upon for the next decade and a half", according to a critic for BBC Music. With the album having an ecologically charged concept, the music video for "When You Gonna Learn" was banned in America for using footage of a Nazi party.
  The band's drummer, Nick van Gelder, was absent for longer than expected, and he was replaced by Derrick McKenzie, who recorded with the group in one take for his audition. While writing songs for the group's second album The Return of the Space Cowboy, Kay fell into a creative block worsened by his increasing drug use at the time. And the complex nature of the production and songwriting caused Sony to tell Jamiroquai that "none of [the songs] sounded like singles". The band soon found their turning point when they wrote the lead single "Space Cowboy", released in September 1994 and becoming the group's first number 1 in the US Dance Club Songs Chart. The Return of the Space Cowboy was issued a month later and ranked at number 2 in the UK chart. A Rolling Stone reviewer described the group "[parlaying] jazzy soul pop so tight, it crackles." The instrumentation of the album was said to be "played by humans, not samplers", according to Josef Woodard from Entertainment Weekly. In a 1996 report by Billboard, The Return of the Space Cowboy sold 1.3 million copies worldwide.
  Released in 1996, Travelling Without Moving reached number 24 in the Billboard 200 and peaked at number 2 in the UK albums chart; selling 8 million copies overall. It listed in the Guinness World Records as the best-selling funk album in history. Containing symphonic and jungle elements, Kay aimed for an accessible sound unlike the previous record. A review from Q magazine stated that Travelling Without Moving is "tighter and more compact in its production", while critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine commented that it did not have "the uniform consistency of its predecessor." The album's lead single "Virtual Insanity" gained popularity for its music video, where it heavily played on MTV, and won two Video Music Awards for Breakthrough Video and Video of the Year in 1997.
  The group were preparing their fourth album, Synkronized (1999), in Kay's Chillington studio complex, built in his Buckinghamshire country house. During its production, Zender left Jamiroquai due to conflicts with Kay. While Zender had not been involved in the album's songwriting, the group chose to scrap his recorded tracks to avoid lawsuits and Nick Fyffe was recruited for new sessions. This resulted in what journalist Lisa Markwell thought was a "tighter, more angry collection of songs" for Synkronized, while Prasad Bidaye of Exclaim! commented that tracks such as  "'Canned Heat,' 'Planet Home' and 'Where Do We Go From Here?' sound more like hi-NRG and house than acid jazz, while slower tempos on 'Falling' and 'Butterfly' ease the pressure for [Kay's] more romantic musings." The 1998 single titled, "Deeper Underground" was listed in the Godzilla soundtrack and was their first and only UK number 1. Synkronized sold 3 million copies and ranked number 1 in the UK albums chart and number 28 in the US Billboard 200.
caption: Jay Kay performing with Jamiroquai in the mid-1990s
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