The group Air Supply is no stranger to Jamaica and it may come as a definite surprise that the group's appearance at the 2006 Air Jamaica Jazz and Blues Festival on January 27 will actually be their first visit to the island.

Air Supply

After all, saying that everybody has a favourite Air Supply song wouldn't be too far off the mark.

Over the years many a romantic alliance have been made and hearts won over with a little Air Supply lyrics setting the mood.
"We are looking forward to the Jamaican performance as we have heard of the large fan base in the island," says lead singer Russell Hitchcock, adding that the group has toured practically every country in the world getting overwhelming acceptance and admirable crowd response.

"Last year we went to Havanna (Cuba) and it was fantastic, over 175,000 people attended the performance," he tells the Observer.
Air Supply started as a duo in 1975 with keyboardist/vocalist English-born Graham Russell and lead vocalist Australian Russell Hitchcock after both met at a musical production.

Soon after Air Supply became a five-member band that churned out a succession of smooth soft-rock ballads gaining numerous hits worldwide throughout the late1970s to mid 1980s.
The group's first hit Love and Other Bruises, in 1977 reached number two in their native Australia where the group quickly became a household name early in their career.

Now, with thirty years, 31 albums and twelve gold singles behind them, Hitchcock says their greatest achievement is being able to survive for so long in the business. "How many bands from then are still around today? he muses.

But throughout the band's long and prolific life, the best years have undoubtedly been between 1980 and 1985, agrees Hitchcock. That's the Air Supply that most Jamaicans know and love.
Their 1980 album Lost in Love fully unleashed their music on the US market for the first time, resulting in three top five singles, including the title track. Romantic staples Every Woman in The World and All Out of Love made this album a collectors item.

The song Lost in Love, reputed to be written by Russell in fifteen minutes and first released in Australia, caught the attention of music mogul Clive Davis US who remixed the song and released it as a single in America on the Arista label. Then the Air Supply storm really over took the world.
Three more hit albums followed - The One That You Love, Now and Forever, and Greatest Hits.

In 1983 Making Love Out of Nothing at All continued Air Supply's romantic discourse with the fans. Other memorable hits during the mid-1980s include Just as I Am, The Power of Love and Lonely Is the Night.
During that five-year spell Air Supply simply blew the world away with their infectious music. "We were constantly on tour during those days," Hitchcock recalls.

The high flying Air Supply was not as dominant, at least not in Jamaica and the US during the1990s, but they were still producing hit singles and recieving gold and platinum awards internationally.
And the group's biggest hit? "All out of Love is our biggest hit where record sales are concerned," says Hitchcock of the song that sold multi-platinum worldwide.

Russell is credited with writing almost all of the songs done by the group ever since they begun in 1975.
"They are all my songs except one or two," he says.
Despite the years of success Air Supply is by no means resting on their lyrics and in March of this year, Russell reveals that the group plans to release yet another CD.

Russell and Hitchcock are the only members of the original quintet, and if anything else has changed it's that they have gotten better over time, says Russell.

Visitors to the Cinnamon Hill venue of this Jazz and Blues Festival will see, on pianos, Jed Moss who has been with the group since 1991; Mike Zerbe on drums, who joined two years ago and on bass, Jonnie Lightfoot with five Air Supply years under his belt.

"These guys say they grew up on our music.we love working together and apart from what you may hear on the albums, we are a great live band," says Russell.

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