by Jimmy Barnes
2. Rehearsing for the NRL Grand Final, with Charley Drayton on drums. (BARNES FAMILY COLLECTION)
3. To give you an idea of how many people it takes to put together a big show, this is most of the team behind 2011’s Light the Nitro tour, onstage at the Sydney Entertainment Centre. (TONY MOTT, COURTESY OF COLD CHISEL).
4. Me and Charley, outside the Townsville Casino. (BARNES FAMILY COLLECTION).
5. The band backstage at the Sydney Entertainment Centre in December 2015, along with our co-managers John O’Donnell (far left) and John Watson (far right), and publicist Rina Ferris (centre). (BOB KING)
1. A publicity shot for the One Night Stand tour, with Charley Drayton. This is our current line-up. God, we look serious. (DAN BOUD, COURTESY OF COLD CHISEL)
2. Taking our final bows at the Sydney Entertainment Centre’s Last Stand on 18 December 2015. The band just kept playing and playing that night. We didn’t want it to end. (TONY MOTT)
1. Poor Mark Pope used to have to share a room with me on the road. Both of us obviously think this headline is about the rest of the band. (BARNES FAMILY COLLECTION)
2. Me and Big Ole Bruce (Howe) having a good ole sing together. (BOB KING)
3. Here’s me with the musicians from my first album, Bodyswerve, in 1984, after being presented with gold records by Michael Gudinski. This would be the first of seven number one albums in a row with Mushroom Records. (BARNES FAMILY COLLECTION)
1. Randy Jackson, Tony Brock, me, Jonathan Cain and Neal Schon. These amazing musicians played on many of my recordings in 1986–87. (BARNES FAMILY COLLECTION)
2. Me with Prime Minister Bob Hawke, presenting the Street Beat campaign, which aimed to stop young guys dying from drink driving. (NEWS LTD, NEWSPIX)
3. With Michael Gudinski at a Double Platinum Record presentation for For the Working Class Man. (COURTESY OF SUE GUDINSKI)
4. Me, Michael Hutchence, Chrissy Amphlett and Sean Kelly on the Australian Made Tour in 1986. I’m glad I dressed up for the shot. (BOB KING)
1. Me and my mates in a limo, around the time of the Australian Made Tour. (BOB KING)
2. My Canadian band with ZZ Top and a few of the road crew, on tour somewhere in America, 1986. (TOM LANG)
3. Can somebody get me some louder pants please? Stage designer Patrick Woodroffe came up with the set design, light show and colour scheme for the Barnestorming tour in 1988. (BOB KING)
4. Our second daughter, Eliza-Jane, is in very safe hands here with Noel Watson, my martial arts trainer and her uncle ‘Crazy Horse’. (BARNES FAMILY COLLECTION)
5. I’ve always enjoyed escaping to Thailand, and for many years we’d go to the beachhouse where Jane’s family had always taken their holidays. With us here is producer Mark Opitz. (BARNES FAMILY COLLECTION)
1. Starting work on our house near Mount Gibraltar and the town of Bowral in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales. Our little country home gradually became a mansion. (BARNES FAMILY COLLECTION)
2. The indoor–outdoor pool adjoined a gym and steam room. (BARNES FAMILY COLLECTION)
3. The completed ‘White House’ viewed from on high. That’s the way I liked to look at it. (BARNES FAMILY COLLECTION)
4. Jane bought me a Ferrari 246 Dino, circa 1975. It was a shame I was such a bad driver. (BARNES FAMILY COLLECTION)
1. Jane in the neonatal intensive care ward at Westmead Children’s Hospital with our baby Elly-May, who was born on 3 May 1989, fourteen weeks premature, and weighed just 750 grams. (BARNES FAMILY COLLECTION)
2. A very young David Campbell, with an even younger Mahalia at the White House. (BARNES FAMILY COLLECTION)
3. Myself, EJ and a very inquisitive Mahalia driving through the Scottish countryside. (BARNES FAMILY COLLECTION)
4. Our boy, Jackie, loved touring and was always ready to get on stage. (BARNES FAMILY COLLECTION)
5. The kids got in on the act, forming their own band, The Tin Lids, and making a number one album, Hey Rudolph! (BARNES FAMILY COLLECTION)
6. A top 30 chart showing The Tin Lids at number one, with yours truly and a host of big names below them. (BARNES FAMILY COLLECTION)
1. With my band and Stray Cat Brian Setzer (third from left) while promoting Two Fires. Who knew that one of these guys would not make it through the tour? (BARNES FAMILY COLLECTION)
2. A country-looking Don Gehman in the studio in California. Don produced Two Fires and became a regular collaborator. (BARNES FAMILY COLLECTION)
3. On stage during the Soul Deep tour. Taking such a big band on tour was not cheap. (BOB KING)
4. I was lucky to sing with this legend, John Farnham. Here we are sitting around having a few drinks and laughs during the filming of the ‘When Something Is Wrong With My Baby’ video. (PIERRE BARONI)
5. Celebrating the 1992 ARIA award for Best Male Artist, for Soul Deep, with Jane and Sue and Michael Gudinski. (COURTESY OF SUE GUDINSKI)
6. Working with another legend, Tina Turner, on the ‘Simply the Best’ single for the NRL. How lucky was I? (COLIN WHELAN/NRL)
1. I’ve been blessed enough to have played with the some of the best guitar players in the world. My brother-in-law Mark Lizotte is right up there. (BARNES FAMILY COLLECTION)
2. During the Heat sessions I had a Buddhist monk from the Sunnataram Forest Monastery near Bundanoon come to Festival Records in Sydney to bless the studio. (BARNES FAMILY COLLECTION)
3. Ross Wilson and myself performing a song from Flesh and Wood. I feel honoured to have worked with Ross often over the years; he’s one of the best. My friend Michael Hegerty is in the background. (BOB KING)
4. Jeff Neill and I played together for a long time, and he’s another guitarist who became a good mate. (MICK HUTSON, GETTY)
1. Our home in the south of France, at Les Granettes, near Aix-en-Provence. (BARNES FAMILY COLLECTION)
2. Painting Mont Sainte-Victoire from the backyard. My French friends said my painting was very naive. I think that meant really bad. (BARNES FAMILY COLLECTION)
3. The Cours Mirabeau in Aix-en-Provence. Jane and the kids and I walked this street all through the summer, eating ice cream. (BARNES FAMILY COLLECTION)
4. Jackie, EJ and Elly-May in the fields next to the house. (BARNES FAMILY COLLECTION)
1. Often the kids would get up on stage and join me in a number like ‘When Your Love Is Gone’. (BARNES FAMILY COLLECTION)
2. After making Psyclone I did some shows in Europe, including one at the Glasgow Barrowland. This was a sort of homecoming, playing the hall where my mum and dad used to dance. (BARNES FAMILY COLLECTION)
3. The cover of my European fan magazine. We had fans all over Europe but especially in Germany. They really liked to rock there. (BARNES FAMILY COLLECTION)
4. Singing at the 2000 Olympics. It wasn’t one of my happiest shows, but it brought me my biggest ever live audiences: 8 million watched in Australia and more than 1 billion worldwide. (SARAH REED, NEWSPIX)
1. Singing on the Soul Deeper tour. I lined up a great band for this tour, packed with seasoned soul players like James Gadson, Larry Fulcher and Johnny Lee Schell. They taught me to slow things down a bit. On stage at least. (STEVE POHLNER, NEWSPIX)
2. Australia Post produced a ‘Khe Sanh’ stamp. This photo looks like somebody stamped on my head. (JOHN HARGHEST, NEWSPIX)
3. Singing with Jon Bon Jovi at the Raw concert at the Colonial Stadium in Melbourne in 2001. The show was organised to raise money for emergency services. (MARTIN PHILBEY, GETTY)
4. I really enjoyed the Live at the Chapel show and was delighted with the recording. (MARTIN PHILBEY)
1. In 2004, our family got to travel across Australia on the annual Indian Pacific ‘Christmas Express’, singing at remote communities and helping to raise money for the Royal Flying Doctor Service. (BARNES FAMILY COLLECTION)
2. Backstage with Jane and Deepak Chopra. Jane and I went to India with Deepak to learn to meditate. (BARNES FAMILY COLLECTION)
3. They say you look like your dog, but I think Oliver looks be
tter than me. (PETER MORRIS, FAIRFAX)
4. In 2005 I was honoured to be inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame for the second time, on this occasion as a solo artist. (BOB KING)
5. Jane’s mum trying to keep out of the sun as we travel up the Mekong River on our way to visit and meditate with Buddhist monks. (BARNES FAMILY COLLECTION)
1. Just out of heart surgery in 2007. I don’t look too happy. (BARNES FAMILY COLLECTION)
2. Jane tried to cheer me up with her nurse’s uniform. It nearly killed me. (BARNES FAMILY COLLECTION)
3. My dad passed away the same year I had heart surgery. Fortunately we had worked through some of our issues before he died, and were closer at the end. (BARNES FAMILY COLLECTION)
4. As I recovered from surgery, I was devastated to hear that one of my heroes, Billy Thorpe, had died of a heart attack. (SAMM HALL)
5. One day I spent with Billy in 1998 was the most Aussie day I’ve ever had. At a barbecue at Bryan Brown’s house in Sydney I sang ‘Waltzing Matilda’ with Billy, looking out over the harbour to the Harbour Bridge. (LYNN THORPE)
1. I screamed till I was blue in the face, and my mate Richard Bailey kept taking photographs – the photo shoot for Out in the Blue. (RICHARD BAILEY)
2. Here I am with my great mate and producer Kevin Shirley, my son David and beautiful grandson Leo. (BARNES FAMILY COLLECTION)
3. In 2014, for my 30:30 Hindsight album, I got to sing with one of the greatest rock’n’roll bands that Australia has produced, The Living End. (BARNES FAMILY COLLECTION)
4. At home with Little Steven, aka Steven van Zandt from Bruce Springsteen’s legendary E Street Band. He had a day off from the Springsteen Tour and came to record with me for 30:30 Hindsight. (BARNES FAMILY COLLECTION)
5. In my flash red suit, on the 2016 Soul Searching tour. (BARNES FAMILY COLLECTION)
1. Here I am with the A Team, my dear friends Frank Stivala, Michael Gudinski and Warren Costello. (COURTESY OF FRANK STIVALA)
2. Music industry legends Eric Robinson and Ian ‘Smithy’ Smith. I miss them both. (BARNES FAMILY COLLECTION)
3. Whenever I go on tour, Snoop Dog and Oliver jump in my suitcase and try to come with me. (BARNES FAMILY COLLECTION)
4. Singing with Elly-May and David, at the Emerald Ball, Westmead Children’s Hospital’s annual charity gala. (PAT BRUNET)
5. Our gang of good friends (clockwise from left): Erica Gregan, Jep Lizotte, Paul Clarke, Jenny Morris, Neil and Sharon Finn, Jane and me. (BARNES FAMILY COLLECTION)
1. Sam Neill and me looking dapper under an umbrella at Elly-May’s wedding to Liam Conboy in 2015. (TED O’DONNELL)
2. This beautiful family shot was taken in our garden at Elly-May’s wedding. (TED O’DONNELL)
3. Sitting back and being entertained at my sixtieth birthday party at our Berrima home, Riverbend. (BARNES FAMILY COLLECTION)
4. My granddaughter Ruby sang and grandson Dylan danced. They were part of an all-star cast that evening. (BARNES FAMILY COLLECTION)
5. At home with our newest grandchildren, Zoey and Rosetta. (BARNES FAMILY COLLECTION)
6. My grandchildren sitting on my couch like angels during my sixtieth birthday celebrations. (TED O’DONNELL)
7. My beautiful daughters Amanda and Megan. (TED O’DONNELL)
1. Performing the Working Class Boy stage show in 2016. (BOB KING)
2. Mahalia and Jackie were part of my band for the show and for the Sydney Opera House performance we were joined by Elly-May and David Campbell (at left) and Mark Lizotte (second right). (STEPHANIE BARNES)
3. What better way to start the show than to have my mate Anthony Field join me on stage with a bunch of pipers. (STEPHANIE BARNES)
4. With Jane’s parents, Kusumphorn and John Mahoney, at Government House, Sydney, for my Order of Australia medal ceremony, in 2017. (BARNES FAMILY COLLECTION)
5. It was another proud day for my manager John Watson and myself when I received the 2017 ABIA (Australian Book Industry Award) for the year’s Best Biography for Working Class Boy. (BARNES FAMILY COLLECTION)
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
JIMMY BARNES is a Scottish-born rock singer-songwriter who grew up in Adelaide. His career, both as a solo performer and as the lead vocalist of the legendary band Cold Chisel, has made him one of the most successful and distinctive artists in Australian music history. A prolific songwriter and performer, Jimmy has been a storyteller for more than forty years, sharing his life and passions with Australians of all ages at over ten thousand gigs throughout his adopted homeland. In the process he has amassed more number one albums in Australia than The Beatles: four with Cold Chisel and eleven as a solo artist, including the iconic For the Working Class Man. Across his career Jimmy has sold over 12 million albums and he has been inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame twice. Jimmy lives in New South Wales, with Jane, his wife of thirty-six years, their children, grandchildren and two schnauzers.
PRAISE FOR WORKING CLASS BOY
Working Class Boy is a stunning piece of work – relentless, earnest, shockingly vivid. Barnes . . . doesn’t just have a scarifying story to tell. He has a grippingly effective way of telling it: one that does full justice to the grim facts without overcooking them . . . there are no requests for pity here, no wallowing in victimhood. Above all there is a bracing intolerance of bullshit. You can’t fake such a tone. You have to earn it.
– The Australian
Nothing will prepare you for the power of Jimmy’s memoir. A fierce, graphic, bawdy account of his working class childhood – truly harrowing, and yet often tender and funny. I couldn’t put it down because, above all, it is also a story of resilience and bravery.
– Sam Neill
Barnes’ way of addressing the reader directly, while largely ignoring his rock-star status, edges towards a unique voice.
– The Listener
This is volume one of the book [Jimmy Barnes] needed to write to expel his demons . . . It finishes as Cold Chisel starts, and I’m hanging out for the next instalment. What a life.
– Jennifer Byrne, Australian Women’s Weekly
Reading about [Barnes’s] harrowing early life gives a greater understanding of both the belting lyrics and the softer, sometimes haunting, music he has produced . . . This moving account . . . shows in grim detail the enormous effort Jimmy had to put in to become the man he is.
– Booksellers New Zealand
Visceral, brave, honest. A deep, guttural howl of a book, it speaks of the pain and hurt that haunt so many men. And it may just save lives.
– Magda Szubanski
Barnes writes with verve and style to present a fascinating story of flawed and compelling personalities, not least his own. The result is unexpectedly compelling.
– Rolling Stone
COPYRIGHT
We gratefully acknowledge the permission granted by copyright holders to reproduce the copyright material in this book. All reasonable attempts have been made to contact the copyright holders; the publisher would be interested to hear from anyone not acknowledged here, or acknowledged incorrectly.
HarperCollinsPublishers
First published in Australia in 2017
by HarperCollinsPublishers Australia Pty Limited
ABN 36 009 913 517
harpercollins.com.au
Copyright © Freight Train Music Pty Limited 2017
The right of Jimmy Barnes to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him under the Copyright Amendment (Moral Rights) Act 2000.
This work is copyright. Apart from any use as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, no part may be reproduced, copied, scanned, stored in a retrieval system, recorded, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
