Switch

Switch is the eleventh studio album by the Australian rock band INXS, and their last to be composed of entirely new material. It was released on 29 November 2005 and produced by Guy Chambers. It was their first full-length studio album since the 1997 death of vocalist Michael Hutchence, and the only album to feature singer J.D. Fortune. The album received mixed critical reviews. The album's songwriting and quality from song to song was found to be inconsistent and varied by critics such as Matt Collar of Allmusic. However, some reviewers also complimented frontman J.D. Fortune's singing as well as the inclusion of guest vocalists such as Suzie McNeil, who had starred with Fortune in the program Rock Star: INXS. The album was also commercially successful, reaching the top 20 in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United States. Background INXS co-founder and original lead singer, Michael Hutchence, died on 22 November 1997, reportedly of suicide. The band went through numerous lead singers following Hutchence's death, and performed irregularly, including a showing at the 2000 Summer Olympics closing ceremony alongside Men at Work. INXS were inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame in 2001, as they faded out of the public spotlight. In 2005, the remaining members of INXS – Andrew Farriss, Garry Gary Beers, Tim Farriss, Kirk Pengilly, and Jon Farriss – joined forces with Mark Burnett to be the subjects of the first series of Rock Star; Rock Star: INXS. Tim Farriss told Entertainment Weekly "after Michael died, we wanted to search the world for a new singer but didn't know how we could effectively do that ... By having Mark ... embrace the concept, we've now found a fantastic way to make that happen." J.D. Fortune ultimately won the competition, with Tim Farriss declaring the band chose him because of his "slightly dangerous edge" and "star quality".