Inner Circle

EVENT DETAILS To anyone who’s familiar with the band’s 50-year-plus history in the reggae field and their immense popularity around the world-there’s much more to Inner Circle than what meets the eye. Indeed, this Jamaican-bred, Grammy winning quintet is one of the world’s most respected reggae groups with a long string of successes stretching back to the mid-70s ′s. Inner Circle’s special brand of pop-oriented Jamaican beats and energy -filled live performances have allowed the band to transcend the traditional reggae niche and enjoy widespread crossover appeal. A testament to this is the fact that Inner Circle plays at many of the world’s largest music festivals-headlining alongside such towering pop and rock music icons as Elton John, Peter Gabriel, Van Morrison, Sinead O’Conner, The Black Crowes, Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, Carlos Santana, and many others. Along the way, the group has withstood five and a half decades of triumph and tragedy, thanks to a shared belief in music’s power to unite and heal, and to the intensely loyal sense of family that’s kept the band vital through some turbulent times.” In 1978, while playing for the now infamous Reggae Peace Concert (a historic event in the film Heartland Reggae, which featured Bob Marley and Peter Tosh), the band achieved a major breakthrough when Chris Blackwell signed the group to Island Records. That same year, they achieved substantial commercial success with the Island album Everything Is Great, which became a Top 20 hit in the U.K and a Top 10 smash in France, and produced the popular singles “Mary, Mary” and “Music Machine.” During this period, Inner Circle also became one of the first Jamaican groups to tour in the U.S. The band’s burgeoning fortunes were shattered in 1980, however, when vocalist Jacob Miller was killed in a car crash. Devastated by Miller’s loss, the band did not return to the studio until six years later. The regrouped combo was completed with the addition of drummer Lancelot Hall in 1985. Inner Circle achieved new levels of international success in the 1990s.