With a career spanning more than 30 extraordinary years, Australia's most notorious band, INXS which hailed from the pubs of Australia, has sold more than 30 million records worldwide, won countless awards from their peers and fans and has earned platinum certifications during a history peppered with outstanding achievements.

In August 1977, Michael Hutchence, Kirk Pengilly, Garry Beers, Tim Farriss, Andrew Farriss and Jon Farriss performed their first gigs in Sydney's Northern beaches as The Farriss Brothers. Success came to them in no time and they won Australian, and then soon international acclaim.

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 the band renamed itself INXS, read as (In Excess) and 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 in 1980.

Throughout the 80s and into the 90s, INXS was a consummate global rock band with a musical distillation of strength, sensitivity, unity and intelligence. At the end of the 70s, INXS propelled themselves out of the frantic, new wave indie label environment of Sydney, Australia. In less than a decade, INXS was being hailed by major music journals as being on the same lines as U2 and Guns N' Roses, one of the three biggest bands in the world.

The album that made INXS international superstars, 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 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 known for his outlandish lifestyle messed around the band even though he was primarily the one that got the hits going. He lived a jet-setting lifestyle, dating Kylir Minogue and various supermodels, which did not wear well in the wake of alternative rock's commercial breakthrough in 1992. 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).

INXS signed with PolyGram in 1994, but it took them three years to release a new album. In 1997 they came out with Elegantly Wasted that 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 their album X (1989). But tragedy struck when on November 22 1997, Hutchence was found dead in his Sydney hotel room, the victim of an apparent hanging; The death of Michael Hutchence had a profound impact on the members of INXS who were closely knit for two full decades. The future for the band was very much uncertain.

Major music stalwarts took the band forward, some of them being Terence Trent D'Arby, Jon Stephens singer including Jimmy Barnes and Suze DeMarchi. In their homeland, they received the ultimate accolade from the Australian music industry. They were inducted into the ARIA (Australian Record Industry Association) Hall Of Fame. Jon Stephens left to pursue a solo career. INXS was quiet throughout 2004, but shot back in 2005 when 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 INXS’ new lead singer.

Switch (March 2006) is INXS' first album with J.D. Fortune and first without Hutchence, hence the title.Switch has a few meanings. Clearly they’ve switched singers and switched into a whole new millennium. Although most of the material was written before he joined the band, Fortune co-wrote three of the 11 tracks on Switch including first single Pretty Vegas. The album is a mix of '80s-inspired dance rock and tender ballads dedicated to late singer Michael Hutchence and his daughter, Heavenly Hiraani Tiger Lily. Around the same time the band also released "Rock Star: INXS - The DVD," which features highlights from the show, including Fortune's versions of the Mamas and the Papas' California Dreamin', as well as his first concert with INXS, which included all the massive hits Suicide Blonde, Need You Tonight, Never Tear Us Apart, Don't Change and Pretty Vegas. It was a herculean task to pick out J.D. Fortune from the thousands who auditioned. Let's hope the switch remains and does not sadden INXS fan again.

The last information we have on the band is their 2010 album Original Sin a tribute album that features covers of their earlier songs, with each song featuring a guest singer. Fortune features lead vocals for the 1990 track ‘The Stairs’.

Discography:

INXS (1980)

Underneath the Colours (1981)

The Swing (1983)

Listen Like Thieves (1985)

Kick (1987)

X (1989)

Live album Live Baby Live (1991)

Welcome to Wherever You Are (1992)

Full Moon, Dirty Hearts (1993)

Elegantly Wasted (1997)

Switch (2006)

Original Sin (2010)

- Collated by Verus Ferreira