INXS (pronounced "In Excess") is an Australian rock group. The band was formed in 1977 and comprised Michael Hutchence (lead vocals), Andrew Farriss (guitar and keyboards), Tim Farriss (lead guitar), Jon Farriss (drums), Garry Beers (bass), and Kirk Pengilly (saxophone and guitar). On September 20, 2005, Canadian singer J.D. Fortune became the band's new lead vocalist after a twelve-week competition on the CBS reality show Rock Star: INXS.
INXS began under the name The Farriss Brothers but the band changed it in 1979, just prior to the release of their self-titled debut album in 1980, INXS, which featured one of their best songs, "Just Keep Walking". Its follow-up, 1981's Underneath the Colours (produced by Richard Clapton) became a hit-album in their native country. In 1983, their third album titled Shabooh Shoobah was released successfully worldwide. The single "The One Thing" brought them their first top 30 hit in America, while "Don't Change" became a staple in the set list of college rock bands who played the frat circuit. The album itself entered the US top 50. With the Nick Launay-produced fourth album, The Swing in 1984, the band received more significant attention all around the world, as "Original Sin" became their first #1 single and an international big hit. Indeed, during all this year, the song was, for example, #1 in their native Australia as well as in Argentina and in France, #23 in Switzerland, #31 in the Netherlands and #58 in the US, where this single was partially censored for its anti-racism and political content. But, strangely, despite its musical and commercial potential, "Original Sin" was totally ignored in the UK where INXS didn't have any success in the charts until 1986 with the album Listen Like Thieves. In the same way, the band's charismatic singer Michael Hutchence gained attention for his MTV-ready looks. INXS, which had started out as a New Wave act featuring more synthesizers than guitar, gradually moved in a more straight-ahead Rock oriented direction through the first half of the 1980s. By 1985's breakthrough album Listen Like Thieves the band had perfected a matured sound influenced by The Rolling Stones and Chic but true to the band's original roots in the Aussie pubs. Listen Like Thieves was loved by the critics, except song, "Kiss The Dirt (Falling Down The Mountain)", which INXS publicly appoligised for releasing on MTV in December 1985. In the US, the first single, "This Time" stalled at #81 in late 1985, but the band roared out of nowhere with the second, "What You Need", which in early 1986 became a top five hit, bringing INXS their first breakout U.S. hit.
The band's worldwide peak of popularity came with 1987's Kick, a punchy, confident set of pop-rock gems that yielded four top-ten US singles and several international hits ("New Sensation", "Never Tear Us Apart", "Devil Inside", etc.), including the #1 "Need You Tonight". They toured heavily behind the album throughout 1987 and 1988. Afterwards, the band took a break and Hutchence released a side project of sorts called Max Q, which received decent reviews, but at best attained a cult status.
However, the band had a lot of pressure on their shoulders as fans and critics alike having high expectations about their follow-up album to Kick. In 1990, INXS released X. "X" continued the same type of punchy rock tunes that "Kick" so easily did. INXS also incorporated the harmonica into some of the songs on "X" but not all the songs "delivered" and the fans and critics were disappointed as some of tracks just wasn't good enough "in their eyes", especially compared to "Kick". Nevertheless, "X" did put out some memorable hits such as "Suicide Blonde" and "Disappear" (both top ten in the US).
INXS performed at Wembley Stadium on July 13, 1991, during their "Summer XS" tour of London to a sold out audience of 72,000 fans. During this show, INXS organised a film crew to shoot their show onto video to come out simultaneously as their live album "Live Baby Live" (the video was also called "Live Baby Live").
1992's Welcome to Wherever You Are was an experimental album consisting of sitars, a 60-piece orchestra and a much more "raw" sound to their music. It received mixed reviews but it certainly didn't go well commercially and found them struggling to stay relevant as alternative rock began to dominate the airwaves and more traditional rockers like INXS fell out of favor. 1993's Full Moon, Dirty Hearts was their attempt to capitalize on the grunge movement, and while it received mixed reviews, it plunged the band further into obscurity, despite the track "Please (You Got That)" featuring the legendary Ray Charles. 1994 brought the first of many 'Greatest Hits' compilations.
Hutchence, meanwhile, remained in the public eye, dabbling in modeling and film acting and dating several models and public personalities including Kylie Minogue, Helena Christensen and Paula Yates.
Throughout the 1980s and into the 1990s, INXS was a major force in Australian popular music, leading the way into worldwide popularity for several Australian bands. The band worked closely with several other Australian artists, such as The Models and Jenny Morris, helping to establish their careers. By the mid-nineties, however, their popularity had waned, especially in the US, where their "Greatest Hits" compilation failed to reach the top 100. In 1997, the group released a comeback album titled Elegantly Wasted, which garnered mixed reviews. It fared respectably in Australia, Canada and Great Britain (where INXS, ironically, had more gratitude and success in the 90s than in the 80s...), but floundered in the US.
On November 22, 1997, Hutchence was found dead in a Sydney hotel room, an apparent victim of suicide. Some speculate his death was actually an accident, the result of autoerotic asphyxiation. Since Hutchence's death, INXS has continued, using Terence Trent D'Arby, Suze DeMarchi and Jimmy Barnes as temporary lead singers. New Zealander Jon Stevens began singing with INXS in 2000 and was officially named a member of the band in 2002. However, he left INXS in 2003 to pursue a solo career, only recording a contractual obligation song called I Get Up, released as a single (which charted in the top 100 on the Australian ARIAnet Singles Chart) in the same year, and it was used in the Rugby Union World Cup 2003 and the EA Sports Rugby 2004 video game.
NXS returned to the news in 2004 when it was announced that a new reality television program titled Rock Star: INXS would feature a contest to find a new lead vocalist for the band. The show, which debuted on the CBS network July 11, 2005, (and on VH1 in the UK and on FOX 8 in Australia), featured 15 contestants vying for the position of lead singer. The show was executive produced by Survivor's Mark Burnett and hosted by Brooke Burke and former Jane's Addiction and Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist Dave Navarro.
On September 20, 2005, J.D. Fortune (born Jason Dean Bennison, uses his mother's maiden name Fortune) of Oakville, Ontario, Canada won the eleven week competition, which culminated in his singing the Rolling Stones's "You Can't Always Get What You Want" and INXS' "What You Need" in the finale of the show to become the new lead singer of INXS. He has recorded the new album with producer Guy Chambers and will go on a world tour with INXS in 2006. Runner-up Marty Casey will also join the world tour as the opening act, along with his band, The Lovehammers.
During the Rock Star: INXS competition, the contestants were challenged to write the lyrics and melody to music written by Andrew Farriss. Originally this challenge was divided up into two teams. When Fortune did not see eye-to-eye with his team (that included Casey), he decided to venture out on his own and write his own lyrics. At first Fortune's move seemed to have doomed his chances to win the competition (because it was perceived he couldn't work in a team), but it was this move that resulted in his creation of the lyrics to "Pretty Vegas". This song became a favorite of both fans and INXS and played a major role in Fortune being able to win the competition. This single was released October 4, 2005, and reached #5 on the iTunes Music Store ranking of top downloaded songs on its first day, and debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 chart at #37.
On November 29, 2005, the band's first album in eight years was released, titled Switch.
