Jimmy Barnes was born April, 28 1956 in Glasgow, Scotland. His original name was 'James Dixon Swan' and his father was a featherweight
boxing champion in Glasgow. In 1961/62 his family moved to Australia. After playing in a school band (I think it was called 'Orange') he replaced Bon Scott (who joined AC/DC) as lead vocalist in the band Fraternity.
Then, aged 16 and a half, he joined Cold Chisel in 1973. First they played the pubs of Adelaide, then they played the pubs of Australia and
finally they got a record contract in 1976. Now, Cold Chisel are
Australian history. One of the best bands Australia ever had.
They split up in 1983 because they thought they weren´t playing good
music anymore and they didn´t want to rip their fans off with another
album. Can you imagine the Rolling Stones splitting up on the peak
of their success and telling their fans "Sorry, folks, we´re to
bad for you"??? And I´d say they were playing damn good! Anyway,
Jimmy started his solo career and his first album'Bodyswerve', produced by
Mark Opitz, was published in 1984. It included the hit singles 'No
Second Price'and 'Daylight' and went straight to number one of the
Australian album chart. In 1985 Jimmy recorded a few new songs and
recut some of the tracks from 'Bodyswerve' for his American debut
'For The Working Class Man'.
The title track was used for Ron
Howard´s movie 'Gung Ho', the album was mixed for American audience
and recorded with American musicians. It sold very good in Australia
(several times platinum, one of the biggest selling albums down under).
In America it didn´t sell at all. In 1987 Jimmy recorded 'Freight
Train Heart' and Australia loved it. America, well, maybe the managers
of Jimmy´s American record lable were right. If you want to be a
rockstar in America, you have to demolish the furniture of every motel
you visit, you have to fuck every groupie you see and you´ve got to
beat up a journatist once in a while. And last but not least you´ve
got to be nice to Mister Important and tell him that you´ve waited
you´re whole life to meet him. What Jimmy did was absolutly wrong.
He toured with his family, didn´t break anything in his motel rooms
and told Mister Important that he doesn´t know him and that there
was no reason for him to change this fact.
Jimmy left his
wild years behind when he left Chisel and married Jane Mahoney (he
says she saved his life). He became a responsible family man and in
his life was no place for such rockstar nonsense. In other words:
'Freight Train Heart' was a flop in the US. He recorded two
songs ('Good Times', 'Laying Down The Law') together with
INXS for the'Lost Boys' soundtrack and in 1988 his first live
album 'Barnestorming' was published (and it sold several times platinum down under).
Then, in 1990, he recorded 'Two Fires', his fourth studio album. I
guess I don´t need to mention that it was a big success down under,
do I? In 1991 he recorded a cover album containing his favourite soul
classics ('Soul Deep') and in 1992 he went into a studio together
with Tina Turner and Diesel to record a great new version of 'The Best'.
In 1993 'Heat' was another brilliant Barnes album that went straight
to the number one of the Australian album chart. An acoustic album,
called 'Flesh And Wood', was recorded in the same year. On
this record Barnes was supported by The Badloves, Joe Cocker,
Ross Wilson, Tommy Emmanuel, Diesel , Don Walker, Deborah Conway
and Archie Roach. His last album, 'Psyclone', was published in
1995. It contains the song 'Come Undone' that was written by Diesel ,
Jimmy´s brother in law (he married Janes sister Jep Mahoney).
Jimmy recorded a different version of this song with the Dutch
band 'The Pilgrims',the new version was published in the
Netherlands a few weeks ago.
Jimmy Barnes is an Australian
folk hero, he is the 'working class man' and if you ever have the
chance to see him live you´ll know why. Rock music is his profession
and because he´s well payed, Jimmy gives his best. On stage,he
'works' like a madman. I´ve never seen anybody sweat like Jimmy
Barnes on stage. Jimmy lived in France for a while but he went back
to Australia. A "best of" including a bonus album full of rare
stuff was published in October 1996 and there are in December 1998 Jimmy
toured with some good old "friends" of the Chisel days.
