Jamiroquai recently returned with their album "Automaton". Band leader Jay Kay, who is also an intergalactic car fan, has been training hard for the tour. He and his entourage are stopping off in Switzerland for several gigs.
"I love cars. They're bitchy and fast. Just like a sly woman you have to watch out for all the time. They like to bite back," says Jason Luís (Jay Kay) Cheetham, the head of Jamiroquai, about his second great passion, fast speedsters.
Lots of horsepower, lots of love: singer Jamiroquai likes to show off his car collection
This is how the British jazz musician has been passing the time since his last CD in 2010. His XXL garage at "Horsenden Manor", his estate around an hour from London, is packed with his four-wheeled toys. These include models that would make even Formula 1 drivers turn pale. His favorites have names like Aston Martin, Lamborghini, Lotus Mercedes, Porsche and Ferrari. Among them is the only Ferrari ever built in green. As befits such a fleet of vehicles, it is located in a noble and historic setting: Jay Kay's empire covers 290,000 square meters. It was built back in 1086, when the Norman conquerors conquered Great Britain. The gardens are looked after by one of England's most renowned landscape architects - as befits a multi-millionaire record holder. This paradise includes a mega pool, its own pub and a heliport - Jay Kay naturally has a helicopter license. The most important thing, a high-tech recording studio, is housed in a converted barn.
Despite these state-of-the-art facilities, "Horsenden Manor" remains as idyllic as a tourist postcard. It is home to swans, birds of all kinds, the cats Fritz and Tigger and his faithful sheepdogs Titan and Kruger.
"I find it incredibly difficult to take my foot off the gas."
Jay Kay is so proud of his powerful cars that he doesn't hide them from the public at all. He uses them purposefully in his clips, for example in the hit video "Cosmic Girl" from the 1996 album "Travelling without Moving", where a black Ferrari F355 Berlinetta, an F40 and a purple Lamborghini Diablo SE30 Jota engage in a turbulent race in the desert and on mountain roads. A surreally beautiful music trailer. Jay Kay remembers: "Lamborghini produced three special editions for the Diablo's thirtieth birthday, one of which was a Jota 600 brake car, not suitable for the road. I told the film crew: don't touch it until I get there. We can't afford any damage!" But he fell on deaf ears. The mishap occurred during a test drive: the driver steered the car into a camera and demolished the front windshield. This caused quite a stir.
In the end, Jay Kay drove the damaged Diablo himself, albeit with narrowed eyes, true to the motto: The show must go on. His love of hot cars got the 47-year-old into a lot of trouble early on. He had to surrender his driver's license several times. "I find it incredibly difficult to take my foot off the accelerator," he says and adds: "The justice system here in England really drives me up the wall. Sometimes a rapist gets away with four years in prison, while a petty burglar gets six years. If I drive 30 km/h too fast without endangering anyone, my ID is taken away for three years and I have to go to prison for three months. That's not right at all!"
Despite fines and trouble, Jay Kay can't keep his hands off his toys. One of his latest acquisitions is a hybrid Porsche 918 Spider: "What a super car. I once owned the very first Porsche ever built, a very old 356, and now I have the very latest one!" says the Brit proudly. "Nothing against my Ferraris, I'm still in love with them, but they often don't start. You sit in the Porsche - and drive off."
"Over the past few weeks, we've been working our asses off to make sure everything runs smoothly."
Hot grooves: The song "Cloud 9" from "Automaton" is the perfect soundtrack for the first summer party or a leisurely Sunday drive.
At the moment, the eccentric singer has little time for his Ferraris, Porsches and co. The music machinery is running, his eighth studio album "Automaton" has been released. He remains true to his futuristic style with jazzy elements on this one too. A laid-back work for dreamers, night owls and disco dancers. One hundred percent Jamiroquai feeling. It was no easy feat for the man spoiled by success. His debut album "Emergency On Planet Earth" hit like a bomb in 1993, landing at number one in the English charts and going platinum. In 1996, he scored a major coup with "Traveling Without Moving". It is still the best-selling CD of all time. The band took off in the USA and won the MTV Music Awards. The lean hitmaker then continued to live life in the fast lane. 1999 saw the release of the album "Synkronized", 2001 the mega-seller "A Funk Odyssey", 2005 "Dynamite", 2010 "Rock Dust Light Star". Despite his success, Jay Kay's life is as adventurous as a rollercoaster ride. Shortly after the release of "A Funk Odyssey", he came out of the closet and spoke about his drug problems: "Cocaine is omnipresent in show business. It's hard to get away from it. My doctor, who I went to for a sore throat, said that if I wanted to destroy my career, I should just carry on like this." Despite this, his life did not slow down, on the contrary, at the end of 2007 the British media wrote that Jay Kay was bored with show business and was burnt out. He wanted to retire and start a family.
A delighted boy on tour
A sabbatical brings him out of his slump. In the meantime, things are looking up again. Together with his long-time bandmate and songwriter Matt Johnson, the father of two children, Paula and Talullah, releases his eighth, long-awaited studio album "Automaton". He is traveling the world with the new material. To ensure that everything runs smoothly on stage, the 47-year-old has been very busy in advance: "We've been working our asses off over the past few weeks to make sure that everything runs smoothly. We've got a few new guys in the band and lots of new songs, so we're pretty nervous. And what else can I say? I'm a very happy old boy!"
