Jamiroquai consists of Derrick Mckenzie (drums, songwriter), Jason Kay (vocals, songwriter), Nick Fyffe (bass), Rob Harris (guitar), Sola Akingbola (percussion), Toby Smith (keyboards, songwriter), Wallis Buchanan (digeridoo).
Jamiroquai is a British band led by singer Jay (Jason) Kay. The band enjoys worldwide popularity and is the best-known member of the early- 1990s London-based acid jazz movement, alongside groups such as Incognito, the Brand New Heavies, Galliano, and Corduroy. Jamiroquai have since, however, moved in other musical directions.
The name "Jamiroquai" is derived from the Native American Iroquois tribe, with which Kay has said he identifies philosophically, combined with 'Jam', as in musical jamming.
After Jay Kay auditioned unsuccessfully to be the singer of the Brand New Heavies, he decided to put together his own band. Jamiroquai's first single, "When You Gonna Learn?", was released in 1992 on the Acid Jazz label. Following its success, Kay signed a £1,000,000 eight-album record deal with Sony BMG Music Entertainment, the first of which was the mercurial Emergency on Planet Earth in 1993 which was laden with soulful grooves, themes of social consciousness and flowing jazz instrumentations. The 1994 follow-up, The Return of the Space Cowboy, became a more definitive album of testimonial funk and psychedelic power. The force is strong in both albums and has set the mark for what Jamiroquai can offer.
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," establishing a strong hold in the difficult American market. 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.