Jimmy Barnes
Jimmy Barnes
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 fifteen #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.
In 2016, Jimmy’s self-penned childhood memoir, Working Class Boy, was a #1 bestseller and won the Australian Book Industry Award (ABIA). His 2017 sequel, Working Class Man, also topped the charts and won the ABIA making him the first person to ever win Biography Of The Year twice. The two books have sold over 500,000 copies so far, making them the most successful biographical series in local publishing history. His Stories & Songs live production based on these memoirs sold out over 100 shows and attracted unanimous critical acclaim, as did the related documentary film Working Class Boy, which topped the box office in late 2018. Clearly, Jimmy’s life story holds a unique fascination for Australians of all ages.
His new album My Criminal Record picks up on many of the themes in his books, and is his first new original release in almost decade. The album was written by Jimmy, with significant assistance from his oldest sparring partner, Cold Chisel’s Don Walker, whose name appears on six of the thirteen tracks. Outstanding contributions also come from close friends Troy Cassar-Daley, Mark Lizotte (aka Diesel) and The Living End’s Chris Cheney, as well as Benjamin Rodgers, Harley Webster and Jade MacRae. It’s Barnes, by his own estimation, still revealing himself. “There’s a lot of stuff I don’t know about me yet,” he says.