Jimmy Barnes is the heart and the soul of Australian rock & roll. His nickname, “Barnesy”, conjures up thoughts of rock music at an ear-splitting volume, and of soul standards given a unique reading.
Jimmy has been through it all, and literally lived to tell the tales. He has sold more records in Australia than any other local rock & roll artist. He has enjoyed seventeen #1 albums here – more than The Beatles – and for over 40 years he has delivered some of our most intense and iconic live performances. He is truly in a league of his own.
Despite the restrictions COVID has enforced on us all in 2020, it isn’t in Jimmy’s nature to slow down for long and the year saw him enthral fans with his nightly Iso-songs with his wife, Jane, and family and friends.
Listeners also got a first-hand accounts of tales of adventure, misadventure, love and loss on his first podcast, Story Time with Jimmy Barnes. Fans were treated to episodes featuring Jimmy’s old tour manager, Peter “Sneaky” McFee and his good mates, The Living End’s Chris Cheney and golf legend, Peter Lonard, award-winning film, television and stage writer, Debra Oswald his girls – Jane and Mahalia Barnes and MasterChef extraordinaire, Jock Zonfrillo.
Rounding out his year, Bloodlines released a new single, Killing Time feat. The Australian Chamber Orchestra. Written by Jimmy and Don Walker, the track appeared on the last Cold Chisel album, and is the final piece of the Killing Time puzzle. This relentless drive has also been channelled into supporting numerous causes and charities. As a result in January 2017, Jimmy Barnes was appointed as an Officer of the General Division of the Order of Australia for ‘distinguished service to the performing arts as a musician, singer and songwriter, and through support for not-for-profit organisations, particularly to children with a disability’.
Few Australian lives have been bigger than Jimmy Barnes. His story filled two books. His music has been our national soundtrack for forty years and his iconic status in the history of Australian rock’n’roll is reflected in the fact that he’s been inducted into the ARIA Hall Of Fame… twice. Lots of things have changed over his decades in the public eye but the one constant is his powerful connection with live audiences across more than 10,000 gigs. Night after night. Year after year. It’s enough to make anyone scream but these days it’s the wildness of it all that keeps Jimmy Barnes grounded.
“My job,” he says, “is to turn every night of the week into Saturday night for people. It’s the best job there is.”
