John Farnham

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John Farnham

John Peter Farnham was born in Essex, England on 1 July 1949 and spent the first ten years of his life in the town of Dagenahm. In 1959 his family migrated to Australia and settled in Melbourne. He was still in high school when he joined his first band, The Mavericks, which playing mostly at school socials.

In late 1965, during a gig at a 21st birthday party, Nick Fernander from Melbourne beat group Strings Unlimited approached John and asked if he would like to be their lead singer. After about 18 months, John left the band and began a punishing round of gigs through Victoria and South Australia to establish himself as a solo artist.

Before he left the group, John and Strings Unlimited had cut an EP, which came to attention of EMI house David Mackay in early 1967. Mackay was sufficiently impressed with John's performance to contact and offer him a job singing the lead on a commercial jingle that he was producing for TAA. The success of the ad soon led to John being signed to a contract with the prestigious EMI label.

As John's first single, Mackay selected an American novelty track he had come across, 'Sadie, the cleaning lady'. In November 1967, 'Sadie' was released but most radio stations refused to play it. With some clever “reverse psychology” marketing tactics by the label, the public began requesting the song. 'Sadie' roared up the charts and was the biggest selling Australian single of the 60s.

John recorded a string of top-selling singles, EPs and LPs. John's early career was helped along by his boy-next-door good looks and his winning personality. He was a hugely popular concert attraction, and his rapidly developing stagecraft enabled him to branch out into TV series and specials and stage musicals like Charlie Girl and Pippin.

But by this time popular music tastes had changed radically, heavy rock and progressive styles were on the ascendant, and glam rock ruled the charts. Meanwhile, John's pop career was slowly unravelling as Sambell doggedly tried to steer towards the "adult" market and mould him as an “all-round' variety entertainer. In 1974 he had his last (minor) hit for EMI and soon after he lost his contract.

After years in the club entertainment wilderness in 1978 John had ran into a major financial crisis. He was hit with a huge bill for unpaid tax bill from the previous nine years. By the end of the 70s John's pop career was languishing; he had been relegated to the club circuit and variety TV.

In 1979, after agonising for almost six months he left Finley and signed with musician-turned-manager Glenn Wheatley, the former bassist with The Master Apprentices, who had taken Little River Band (LRB) to enormous success in the United States.

At the end of 1980 John recorded a new album Uncovered, which included 'Help!' Released as a single, it sold 55,000 copies and gave him his first top ten hit in more than five years. Although the next few years would not be plain sailing by any means, John was definitely on his way back.

In 1982, John replaced Glenn Shorrock as the lead singer in LRB. Although it was an important step forward for his image and career it had negative impact on the LRB fan base until they split in 1985.

After leaving LRB, John set to work on the single 'You're the voice'. The album failed to get interest from any major label, and it was only through the support and unwavering belief of Glenn Wheatley -- who mortgaged his house to help pay for the recording it was produced.

Wheatley took the album to every company in the country, but RCA was the only label interested, so Farnham signed with them. The album Whispering Jack shot to number one on its release in October 86, holding the top slot for 18 weeks, and it went on to become the biggest-selling Australian-made album in the history of Australian music (a position it still holds). He also scored three huge hits with the singles from the LP -- his number one smash 'You're the voice', 'Pressure down' and 'Touch of paradise'. He scooped the pool in the 1987 ARIA awards, and his Jack's Back tour became the biggest grossing local tour ever mounted up to that time. His comeback was topped off when he was named Australian Of The Year in 1988.

His next two albums were just as successful. Chain Reaction (1988), John's first major outing as a songwriter and Age of reason (1990) were both number one hits. He added to his huge solo success with a starring role in Harry M. Miller's arena revival of Jesus Christ Superstar in 1992, and the soundtrack album from the show became the biggest selling album of that year.

In 2002, to the dismay of his many fans, John announced that he was retiring from full-time performance and through the end of 2002 and into early 2003 John embarked on a farewell tour. These 2002-2003 tours were titled The Last Time however John has not retired from music entirely and he will continue to play the occasional live show in future years, as well as making more recordings.