Jimmy Barnes

Biography

Jimmy Barnes has been there and back. He’s tasted glory as the most successful Australian rock & roll singer. He’s also struggled with the pressures of being a tall poppy and he’s wrestled his own demons.

As lead singer for Cold Chisel, he fronted Australia’s most successful rock band.

Within a month of Cold Chisel finishing, Jimmy Barnes was on the road with a new band (1984) and soon released his first solo album, Bodyswerve, and it entered the charts at #1.

The next year he recorded 1987’s Freight Train Heart – another #1 debut. Around this time, to celebrate the massive tour Australian Made, Jimmy and INXS recorded an Easybeats song “Good Times”. The single topped the Australian charts and subsequently was a Top 40 hit in the US and a Top 10 hit in the UK.

Two Fires – released in 1990 and yet another #1 album was Jimmy’s most sophisticated set yet. And later that year, on little more than a whim, Jimmy and producer Don Gehman cut an album of soul classics – The Soul Deep album was a massive success with sales to date close to a million copies.

Jimmy’s next album, Heat, was his toughest yet. Straight up, hard rock with a nod to funk. The album was also a success – that same year Jimmy put together the Flesh & Wood project that featured acoustic duets and collaborations. Jimmy took part in the 1998 reformation of Cold Chisel. In October 2005, Jimmy Barnes was inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame in his own right (Cold Chisel had already been inducted in 1993).

In 2007, Jimmy underwent open-heart surgery. The recovery from the surgery necessitated several months of bed rest. It was during this time that Jimmy began writing for his platinum selling 14th solo album, Out In The Blue. 2010 was the release of Jimmy’s 16th solo album – a rock record again produced by Don Gehman with the working title ‘Rage And Ruin’.

Based in NSW, travels Australia wide (extra fees involved).