TheFeldster
Mr Kite
JOHN FARNHAM
"We're all someone's daughter,
We're all someone's son.
How long can we look at each other,
Down the barrel of a gun."
"We're all someone's daughter,
We're all someone's son.
How long can we look at each other,
Down the barrel of a gun."
John Farnham is an Australian pop/rock singer whose career has spanned the decades from his recording debut in 1967, to a present day album set for release in mid-October, all with a sustained level of success.
Farnham began his career in Melbourne, Victoria, singing for small pub bands, where he was uncovered by manager Darryl Sambell. Relocating to Adelaide, Farnham began his commercial career singing advertising jingles, but soon signed a contract with EMI records. His first recording with EMI was a novelty song, released under the name Johnny Farnham, entitled "Sadie (the Cleaning Lady)", which was disliked by Sambell.
Sambell thus contacted radio DJ Stan Rofe and instructed him to pretend to dislike the song. However, glowing praise from other well-known music gurus at the time, such as Ian "Molly" Meldrum, raced the teenaged Farnham to the top of the charts. Subsequent covers by Farnham, such as Harry Nillson's "One" and BJ Thomas' "Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head", and his albums "Sadie" and "Everybody Oughta Sing a Song" followed Sadie to the top of the charts, and Farnham became Australia's "King of Pop".
While Farnham's follow up album, "Looking Through A Tear", was less successful, Farnham began to forge a career in musical theatre, earning glowing praise from reviewers of the shows he was in. Unfortunately, the same couldn't be said for his albums, which were experiencing dwindling sales. Things were further complicated when Sambell and Farnham cut off their ties to each other and went their seperate ways. Farnham moved from manager to manager, and starred in sitcoms, narrated documentaries and began a restaurant venture (which ultimately failed), as well as working the cabaret circuit, whilst changing his image from Johnny Farnham to the more matured John Farnham in an effort to appease the older generations. Unfortunately, Farnham's career was in jeopardy, and he was in debt.
Things improved in 1980, when Farnham was signed by former Master's Apprentices bass player Glenn Wheatley to his management. Farnham returned to commercial recording, but with a more Adult Contemporary styling, releasing a reworked cover of the Beatles' classic, "Help!"
Farnham went on to record an Adult Contemporary album, "Uncovered" and has a very respected backing band, led by now legendary guitarist Tommy Emmanuel.
Meanwhile, in 1982, one of Wheatley's other acts was in a mini-crisis. The Little River Band had just lost lead singer Glenn Shorrock, and Wheatley convinced Farnham to replace him in the band. Surprisingly, despite Farnham's recent success and the high success rate of LRB, the partnership found very little in the way of success. The two original studio releases from Farnham's tenure with the band, The Net and Playing to Win were modest hits, but didn't sell enough to make a profit for the record company after they invested heavily into the albums.
The title track on Playing to Win spelled the end of Farnham's tenure in the LRB. The song was written by Farnham (although there is some ongoing ownership disputes) about the in-fighting in the band, and about Farnham wanting out.
Farnham returned to the solo scene with his biggest album to date, Whispering Jack. The album's original tracklist included current-day Farnham favourites such as "A Touch of Paradise" and "Pressure Down", but the real gem came when the record company sent Farnham demos of other song he could use, written by external writers. Among them was what Farnham described as a "once-in-a-lifetime" song, which ultimately went on to become Farnham's signature tune: "You're the Voice". Songwriters of this song include members of iconic bands such as Icehouse, Procol Harum and Manfred Mann's Earth Band.
Ironically, one of the other songs that Farnham knocked back from the record company later became one of the 80's biggest - and most ridiculed - hits: We Built This City.
Whispering Jack was the #1 album in the Australian charts for 25 weeks.
Farnham followed up with his other major success albums: "Age of Reason" and, my personal favourite, "Chain Reaction" (the title track is my favourite Farnham song).
During this time, Farnham also gained a reputation as a live showman, a reputation which has since been overshadowed by his recent reputation for having numerous "Last tours".
While Farnham has not reached the heights of Whispering Jack and the subsequent albums, he has had numerous #1 albums, including 33 1/3 and I Remember When I Was Young: Songs from the Great Australian Songbook.
but the rest was pretty good! Nice range actually! I liked the Beatles cover even though it was very melodramatic and the next song was very much like Peter Gabriel! Chain Reaction is a catchy tune as well!
You wouldn't be the first person to say that. It's a rather polarising song. Even Farnham himself isn't a fan, and if the crowd want to hear him sing it at a live gig, they have to convince him to sing it first 
