INXS
INXS can be booked through this site. INXS entertainment booking site. INXS
is available for public concerts and events. INXS can be booked for
private events and INXS can be booked for corporate events and
meetings through this INXS booking page.
Unlike most middle agents that would mark
up the performance or appearance fee for INXS, we act as YOUR agent in
securing INXS at the best possible price. We go over the rider for
INXS and work directly with INXS or the responsible agent for
INXS to secure the talent for your event. We become YOUR agent,
representing YOU, the buyer.
In fact, in most cases we can negotiate for
the acquisition of INXS for international dates and newer promoters
providing you meet professional requirements.
INXS Biography
INXS hailed from the pubs of Australia, which is part of the
reason they never comfortably fit in with new wave. Even when the band
branched out into synth pop on its early recordings, they were
underpinned by a hard, Stonesy beat and lead singer Michael Hutchence's
Jagger-esque strut. Ultimately, these were the very things that made
INXS into international superstars in the late '80s. By that time, the
group had harnessed their hard rock, dance, and new wave influences
into a sleek, stylish groove that made their 1987 album Kick into a
multi-million-selling hit. While that sound was their key to stardom,
it also proved to be their undoing; the group became boxed in by their
Stonesy pop-funk in the early '90s, when their audience became
entranced by harder-edged alternative rock. In spite of declining
sales, INXS soldiered on, continuing to tour and record for a dedicated
fan base into the late '90s until Hutchence's 1997 death brought the
band to a close.
Appropriately for a band that featured three brothers, INXS had its
roots in a family act, the Farriss Brothers. The group came together
while Andrew Farriss (keyboard, guitar), the middle brother, was in
high school with Michael Hutchence (vocals). The two formed a band with
Gary Beers (bass). Simultaneously, Tim Farriss (guitar) was playing in
various groups with his friend, Kirk Pengilly (guitar, saxophone).
Eventually the two groups merged in 1977, with Jon Farriss joining as
drummer. Two years later, when Jon graduated from high school, the band
renamed itself INXS, moved from Perth to Sydney, and began to play the
pub circuit. Within a year, the group landed an Australian record
contract, releasing an eponymous debut on Deluxe in 1980.
INXS and Underneath the Colours (1981) became Australasian hits,
leading the band to an American contract with Atco Records. In 1983,
they released their U.S. debut, Shabooh Shoobah, and embarked on an
extensive tour which, thanks to the hit single Don't Change, made
them minor new wave stars. For their next album, INXS recorded a few
sessions with producer Nile Rodgers, which resulted in the sleek, funky
Original Sin, the first inclination that the band was making a move
toward a fusion of Stonesy rock and dance music. Original Sin made
1984's The Swing a minor hit, yet the group didn't have a genuine
mainstream breakthrough until 1985's Listen Like Thieves, which climbed
to number 11 in the U.S. on the strength of the single What You Need.
Listen Like Thieves laid the groundwork for Kick, the album that made
INXS international superstars. Released late in 1987, Kick worked its
way to multi-platinum status over the course of 1988, as four singles
-- the number one Need You Tonight, Devil Inside, New Sensation,
and Never Tear Us Apart -- climbed into the U.S. Top Ten. In the wake
of the album's success, Hutchence was hailed in some quarters as the
heir to Jagger's throne, and the group was considered to rival U2 in
terms of international popularity. However, such success went to the
group's head. Hutchence released the experimental side project Max Q
in early 1990, and the record tanked. X, INXS' follow-up to Kick,
appeared in the fall of 1990 to mostly negative reviews. While the
album generated several hits, including Disappear and Bitter Tears,
only its first single, Suicide Blonde, reached the Top Ten in the
U.S., and the sales of X were disappointing when compared to Kick.
X hurt INXS' momentum considerably. Although the group was still quite
popular on its accompanying tour -- the 1991 live album Live Baby Live
was recorded at Wembley Stadium -- the group could no longer be
considered in the same league as U2 or R.E.M. Hutchence continued to
live a jet-setting lifestyle, dating Kylie Minogue and various
supermodels, which did not wear well in the wake of alternative rock's
commercial breakthrough in 1992. By the time INXS released Welcome to
Wherever You Are, the group's most adventurous record, they were out of
date in 1992, and even a rash of reviews that compared the record
favorably to U2's Achtung Baby couldn't make it a hit. Full Moon, Dirty
Hearts followed in 1993, and it was generally ignored. Following its
release, the group left Atlantic, releasing Greatest Hits as its last
album for the label.
INXS signed with PolyGram in 1994, yet it took them three years to
release a new album. During that time, Hutchence was involved in
several tabloid scandals, most notably his love affair with British TV
personality Paula Yates (which brought an end to her marriage to Bob
Geldof), and he hinted that he was recording a solo album. That record
didn't materialize, but INXS returned in the spring of 1997 with
Elegantly Wasted. While the album was greeted with poor reviews, its
hedonistic dance-rock was better suited to the late '90s than the early
'90s, which made the record the group's biggest hit since X. On
November 22 of that year, Hutchence was found dead in his Sydney hotel
room, the victim of an apparent hanging; his long-in-the-works solo
debut was posthumously issued in late 1999.
Though Terence Trent D'Arby took the frontman role for an abbreviated
set at the opening of Sydney's Stadium Australia in 1999, Jon Stephens
filled the spot for occasional gigs that took place through the end of
2003. The singer left to pursue a solo career. INXS was quiet
throughout the following year, but in 2005 they teamed with
reality-show maverick Mark Burnett for Rock Star: INXS, an elaborate,
globally-televised audition that resulted in J.D. Fortune -- a former
Elvis impersonator from Canada -- becoming the band's new lead singer.
~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide
Written by Stephen Thomas Erlewine