Collection: Jamiroquai

Jamiroquai formed in London in 1992 around singer Jay Kay, whose mother Karen was a professional jazz vocalist with her own television show in the 1970s, and whose early demos caught the attention of Acid Jazz Records quickly enough to produce a debut single, "When You Gonna Learn?", before the year was out. Sony signed the band soon after, and "Emergency on Planet Earth" (1993), which hit number one on the UK Albums Chart, announced a group who had absorbed Stevie Wonder, Sly Stone, Roy Ayers, and Gil Scott-Heron without sounding derivative of any of them. The early lineup, which included bassist Stuart Zender, keyboardist Toby Smith, drummer Derrick McKenzie, and didgeridoo player Wallis Buchanan, gave the first three albums a live, organic quality that the later records largely traded away for studio polish. "The Return of the Space Cowboy" (1994) consolidated the sound and remains the most consistent album in the catalogue, while "Travelling Without Moving" (1996), driven by "Virtual Insanity" and "Cosmic Girl", broke the band internationally and holds a Guinness World Record as the best-selling funk album of all time. The acid jazz credentials are most audible on those first three records; "Synkronized" (1999) and "A Funk Odyssey" (2001) shifted progressively toward dance and disco without losing the groove, and the original pressings of the early Sony albums are increasingly sought after on vinyl.