Inner Circle was formed in 1968 by brothers Ian (bass) and Roger Lewis (guitar), in Kingston. In 1974, they released their first album, Rock The Boat, under the Trojan Records label. The band's initial lineup was: Funky Brown (vocals), Prilly (vocals), Stephen Cat Core (guitar), Ibo Cooper (keyboard), as well as the Lewis brothers. In 1976, Jacob Miller would take over the vocals for Inner Circle and the band would begin to be successful.
Shortly afterwards, the brass were incorporated into the ensemble, through Llewellyn Chang (alto sax) and Leighton Johnson (trumpet), both formed in the Excelsior High School band. At the end of a tour to the United States and Bermuda, Ibo Cooper and Stephen Cat Core leave Inner Circle to create their own band.
The group was also joined by guitarist Joe Ortiz, who added a touch of hard rock, jazz and blues to the group's sound. The band's style was decisively marked by the car accident that took the life of lead singer Jacob Miller, on March 23, 1980.
After Jacob Miller's death, the band split up, but in 1982, they released an album called "Something So Good". In 1986, the Lewis brothers definitively reactivated Inner Circle, with a new vocalist: Calton Coffie, with whom they recorded "Black Roses".
In 1987, Inner Circle released the album "One Way", which contains the song "Bad Boys", which was a huge success and was turned into a soundtrack for the television series COPS. Since then, the band has called themselves "The Bad Boys of Reggae".
In 1993, the single "Sweat (A La La La La Long)" would reach TOP 3 on the UK charts (the song "Bad Boys" had only reached 52nd place) and sixteenth position on the Billboard Hot 100. Also in 1993, the album "Bad Boys" won a Grammy in the reggae category.
In 1995, vocalist Calton Coffie fell ill and was inactive for a long period. Upon recovering from the illness, he decided to leave the band to pursue a solo career. His place is then taken by Kris Bentley. In 2008, Kris left and the current vocalist, Junior Jazz, entered.