INXS (pronounced “in excess”) was originally formed in 1977 in Sydney, Australia as the Farriss Brothers. The lineup included the three Farris brothers: Andrew
(songwriter/keyboards); Tim (guitar); and Jon (drums), along with Michael Hutchence (lead vocals/songwriter); Kirk Pengilly (guitar/saxophone) and Garry Gary Beers (bass). They began gaining popularity playing in pubs before moving on to support other local Australian bands, including Midnight Oil.

In 1979, they changed their name to INXS and released their first single “Simple Simon” in 1980. They went on to release their debut self-titled album INXS in 1980, closely followed by their second album, Underneath the Colours, in 1981. Neither album gained much attention outside of Australia, however, in July of 1982 INXS released their single “The One Thing” ahead of their next studio album. The song began to climb the U.S. and international charts, thanks in part to music video’s heavy rotation on MTV.

Their third studio album, Shabooh Shoobah, was released in October 1982. Along with “The One Thing”, Shabooh Shoobah also featured the single “Don’t Change”, which became the band’s eternal anthem, closing nearly every single INXS show throughout their career.

In 1984, INXS released their fourth studio album, The Swing. The first single off the album “Original Sin” was produced by Nile Rodgers. The single reached No. 1 in Australia and charted internationally in Europe as well as in the U.S.

Listen Like Thieves was the band’s fifth album and was released in August of 1985. It featured the single “What You Need”, which was INXS first Top 5 single in the United States. The video for the song was directed by Richard Lowenstein and featured an animation technique called rotoscope, where animation was traced over live action footage of the band. The video went on the win the award for Best Video in 1985 at the Countdown Music and Video Awards.

In October 1987, INXS released their most commercially successful album, Kick. The album produced four Top 10 US singles: “Devil Inside”, “New Sensation”, “Never Tear Us Apart” and No. 1 “Need You Tonight” and went on to sell over 10,000,000 copies in the US alone. In 1988, INXS took home 5 MTV Music Awards for the video “Need You Tonight/Mediate”.

In 1989 the band took a break to focus on side projects. Andrew Farriss worked with Jenny Morris and produced her second solo album, Shiver, while Michael Hutchence went on to collaborate with Ollie Olsen of Whirlywind on Max Q. INXS soon reconvened to work on their next studio album.

X was the band’s seventh studio album and was released in September 1990. The album featured the singles: “By My Side”, “Bitter Tears”, and “The Stairs”, as well as two U.S. Top 10 singles: “Suicide Blonde” and “Disappear”.

INXS went on to release their eighth album, Welcome to Wherever You Are, in 1992. The album entered the UK charts at No. 1 and charted well throughout Europe, Australia and North America. Six singles were released including “Heaven Sent”, “Baby Don’t Cry”, “Not Enough Time”, “Taste It”, and “Beautiful Girl”, however with grunge having moved into the forefront of US music, none of the singles reached the US Top 10 of the Hot 100.

November of 1993 saw the release of INXS’ ninth studio album, Full Moon, Dirty Hearts. The album featured 2 duets “Please (You Got That…)" with Ray Charles and the title track with Chrissy Hynde of The Pretenders. Despite the two duets and 4 singles (“The Gift”, “Please (You Got That…), “Time”, and “Freedom Deep”), the album received mixed reviews and suffered a marked decline in sales.

After Full Moon, Dirty Hearts, INXS took some time off. In 1995 Hutchence went to work with Andy Gill of Gang of Four and Danny Saber to record vocals for would eventually be Hutchence’s posthumously released debut solo album, Michael Hutchence.

INXS released their tenth studio album, Elegantly Wasted, in April of 1997. Four singles were released from the album (“Elegantly Wasted”, “Everything”, “Don’t Lose Your Head” and “Searching”) and INXS embarked on their world-wide 20th Anniversary tour. The band then returned to Sydney in November of 1997 to prepare and rehearse for the Australian leg of their tour.

Sadly, Michael Hutchence died of an apparent suicide on November 22, 1997.

INXS didn’t perform publicly for a year after Huchence’s death, but went on later to perform with various guest vocalists including Jimmy Barnes, Terence Trent D’Arby and Jon Stevens. Stevens continued with the band until 2003, when left to pursue his solo career.

In 2005 INXS participated in a new reality TV program called Rock Star: INXS, wherein the contestants would compete to be the new lead vocalist for INXS. J.D. Fortune was the eventual winner and in November 2005, INXS released their eleventh studio album Switch and their single “Pretty Vegas”. The single enjoyed moderate success reaching No. 5 on the iTunes Store daily most downloaded.
Fortune continued to tour and perform with the band through 2010, including a performance at the Olympic Games in Vancouver in 2010.

In 2010 INXS released Original Sin in Canada and Australia. It was billed as a tribute album and featured guest vocalists on various re-invented INXS tracks. Tracks included were: “Drum Opera”, “Mediate” feat. Tricky, “Original Sin” feat. Rob Thomas & DJ Yaleidys, “Never Tear Us Apart” feat. Ben Harper & Mylène Farmer, “Beautiful Girl” feat. Pat Monahan, “New Sensation" feat. Deborah De Corral, “Just Keep Walking” feat. Dan Sultan, “Mystify” feat. Loane & John Mayer, “To Look at You” feat. Kav Temperley, “Kick” feat. Nikka Costa, “Don’t Change” (feat. Andrew Farriss & Kirk Pengilly) and “The Stairs” (featuring J.D. Fortune).

From 2011 – 2012, J.D. Fortune rejoined INXS on tour in support of Original Sin. He departed the band again in September of 2011 and Ciaran Gribbin joined INXS as their front-man for upcoming tour dates. INXS recorded some demo tracks with Gribbin and released them exclusively on their website, but did not go on to produce another studio album or release any new official singles.

After selling over 50 million albums throughout their career, INXS announced they would no longer be touring on November 11, 2012 at a show at the Perth Arena. INXS released an official statement on November 12, 2012:

We understand that this must come as a blow to everybody, but all things must eventually come to an end. We have been performing as a band for 35 years, it’s time to step away from the touring arena.

Our music will of course live on and we will always be a part of that.

We would like to express our heartfelt thanks to all the friends and family that have supported us throughout our extensive career. Our lives have been enriched by having you all as a part of the journey.