John Farnham

Born on July 1, 1949, in Dagenham, Essex, England, John Farnham has become one of Australia’s most iconic and beloved rock and pop vocalists. He is the only Australian artist to have a Number 1 hit in five consecutive decades. Born in England, his family emigrated to Australia in 1959 when he was 10 years old. He spent time in several bands in the early to mid-1960s, but by 1967, he was being billed as Johnny Farnham and became a teen pop idol. Scoring hits with singles such as “Sadie (The Cleaning Lady)” (1967), “Underneath the Arches” (1968), “I Don’t Want to Love You” (1968), “One” (1969), “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head” (1969), “Comic Conversations” (1970), “Rock Me Baby” (1972), and many others. He won many teen-oriented polls and was referred to as the ‘King of Pop’. Johnny Farnham broke into acting and appeared on television and in stage musicals. By 1979, he had outgrown the ‘teen idol’ tag and he changed his stage name to John Farnham. Beginning in 1980, he pursued a career that was closer to adult contemporary than the music he had previously recorded. After two years, he had managed to change his image and was offered the lead vocalist job in Little River Band, who had just lost their original vocalist (Glenn Shorrock). Between 1982 and 1985, John Farnham fronted LRB and released several albums, although they were not as successful as the band’s earlier work. After leaving the band, he began recording his next solo album, Whispering Jack, which was released in 1986. The album’s single, “You’re the Voice,” was a massive hit single and sailed to the Number 1 position on the Australian Singles chart. The Whispering Jack album spent 25 weeks at the top of the Australian Albums chart and remains the second highest-selling album in Australian history. The album achieved success in several countries but was largely overlooked in the US. Subsequent albums – including Age of Reason (1988), Chain Reaction (1990), Then Again… (1993), and Romeo’s Heart (1996) – were also successful, although they didn’t come close to having the commercial impact that Whispering Jack did. Still a popular live performer, John Farnham’s recorded output slowed down beginning in 2000. He also collaborated with several artists including Tom Jones and Olivia Newton-John. Over the course of his career, he has been honored with many awards including 19 ARIA Awards, He was also inducted into the ARIA Awards Hall of Fame.

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