Jimmy Barnes

Jimmy Barnes initially forged his identity as the bold lead singer of the famed Australian pub rock outfit Cold Chisel, yet the triumphs of his solo path soon overshadowed the group's accomplishments and secured his standing as a rock legend. Blending blues-tinged hard rock with soul and R&B touches, he powered across the 1980s and 1990s, securing a strong run of number one albums such as 1991's Soul Deep, which gathered classic soul covers. Even while engaging in scattered Cold Chisel reunions, concert appearances, and new recordings, his fondness for vintage soul and R&B endured as a steady current through his output, seen in further sets like 2000's Soul Deeper and 2016's Soul Searchin', both focused on his versions of those songs. After the stripped-down rocker Rage and Ruin from 2010, the balance of the decade shifted toward retrospectives, one more Cold Chisel album, and personal efforts including a 2017 children's album plus two memoirs, one titled Working Class Boy that became a 2018 film. He resumed original material with My Criminal Record in 2019 and Flesh and Blood in 2021.

Born in Glasgow, Scotland, Barnes saw his family move to Adelaide in 1956 when he was four years old. His older brother John's passion for music sparked Jim to pursue the same path, which eventually placed him as lead vocalist for Cold Chisel, a band that rose to become one of Australia's top acts in the early 1980s. While the group's rock/soul/blues fusion helped draw listeners, much of its pull came from the commanding stage presence of the raw-voiced frontman, who crouched intensely while belting or shouting into the microphone with full force. After 12 years together, Cold Chisel ended with a final show in December 1983, prompting Barnes to start a solo career right away that outpaced the band's sales through six consecutive number one solo albums.

The October 1984 release of his debut solo album Bodyswerve showed the singer aiming to hold onto Cold Chisel's following and bring them along. Eager also to reach the international level that had eluded Cold Chisel, Barnes added tracks for the American edition in Los Angeles and New York, working with session players Waddy Wachtel, Billy Burnette, Charlie Sexton, Mick Fleetwood, members of Little Feat, and Journey's Jonathan Caine. Caine helped write those extra songs, among them "Working Class Man," which turned into Barnes' signature track. The American version of the album took the title For the Working Class Man and mixed the new cuts with remixed Bodyswerve material. The song "Working Class Man" appeared in Ron Howard's film Gung Ho, which Australia retitled after the Barnes track. Though Jonathan Caine considered inviting Barnes to front Journey, the Geffen release failed to expand his reach beyond Australia.

Back home he teamed with INXS on the Easybeats' "Good Times" to support a tour limited to Australian artists. Barnes then split his time between Australia and America for shows and studio work, building a songwriting partnership with Jim Vallence of Bryan Adams for the album Freight Train Heart, which Jonathan Caine produced. A double live set titled Barnestorming came next, after which Don Gehman, known for work with R.E.M. and John Mellencamp, helmed Two Fires at Chapel Studios in the San Fernando Valley. His top-selling album Soul Deep arrived in November 1991 as a tribute to the soul and R&B artists he admired from the 1960s. Gehman returned for the grunge-era Heat, followed by Flesh and Wood, an album marked by guest spots from fellow Australian performers. Over nine years Barnes completed eight albums and toured almost nonstop, driven by his enjoyment of performing and the demands of a "live now, pay later" way of life. In 1994 the strain appeared when he sold his large property to settle unpaid taxes and relocated his family to France, where he recorded 1995's Psyclone.

The reunion Cold Chisel fans had long awaited took place in 1997, bringing the band back for the eagerly received The Last Wave of Summer album and tour. Barnes issued his 11th solo album, Love and Fear, in November 1999, which reached number 16. During 2000 he assigned Don Gehman the task of assembling top R&B musicians from the United States. The result became a personal journey for Barnes to the source of the songs that formed his early tastes, issued as Soul Deeper and featuring players and singers who had shaped the original recordings. To support the album Barnes brought those musicians to Australia for a national tour. In 2005 he returned with Double Happiness, a duets collection that included Roachford, Smoky Dawson, and David Campbell and debuted at number one on the ARIAnet Albums Chart.

Heart surgery and an extended recovery shaped the more reflective tone of Barnes' 2007 album Out in the Blue, while 2009's The Rhythm and the Blues circled back to energetic and nostalgic material in the vein of Soul Deep and Soul Deeper. Rage and Ruin appeared in 2010 and featured the singles "God or Money" and "Before the Devil Knows You're Dead." His 15th solo album, 30:30 Hindsight, arrived in 2014 as a retrospective with a greatest-hits disc and newly reworked highlights from his career. Marking 30 years since his solo debut, it returned him to the number one chart position. The next year brought another release from the reunited Cold Chisel, who supported their eighth studio album, The Perfect Crime, with a sold-out tour. Soul Searchin', the fourth album in Barnes' soul series, came out in 2016. The following year saw the Wiggles-assisted Och Aye the G Nu, his first children's album.

Universal Pictures turned Barnes' memoir Working Class Boy into a 2018 feature film of the same name. Its two-disc soundtrack combined live performances of various songs and spoken-word segments with new recordings made on the film's soundstage. He followed in 2019 with his 17th studio album, My Criminal Record. When it reached the top of the ARIA charts in June of that year, Barnes set the record for the most number one albums in Australian chart history. In 2021 he broke his own mark again with the chart-topping Flesh and Blood, which included the hit singles "Til the Next Time," "Gateway to Your Heart," and the title track.