John Peter Farnham,AO (born 1 July 1949) is an English-born Australian pop singer who performed as teen pop idol, Johnny Farnham, from 1964–1979 and then as adult contemporary singer John Farnham. John Peter Farnham was born in Dagenham, Essex, UK, on 1 July 1949, to John Farnham Snr and Rose. Farnham spent his first ten years in England before his family emigrated to Australia in 1959 to live in Melbourne, Victoria. He attended school at Yarraman State School, Lyndale Primary School and Lyndale High School. In school holidays Farnham worked with a plumber and soon he began a plumbing apprenticeship and left school, in 1967 he took two years leave from his plumbing job to pursue his music career.
Farnham's first commercially successful recording was a novelty song entitled "Sadie (The Cleaning Lady)", Sambell had disliked it as the lyrics were so persistent. However, EMI's in house producer, David MacKay, insisted and so the single was released in November 1967. By arrangement with Sambell, Melbourne radio DJ Stan Rofe pretended that he disliked "Sadie" before playing it. Rofe continued the ploy on TV's Uptight and viewers responded with calls to play the song. It hit #1 on the Australian singles charts in January 1968 and remained there for 6 weeks. Selling 180 000 copies in Australia, "Sadie" was the highest selling single by an Australian artist of the decade.
When television guide, TV Week sponsored the 'King of Pop' awards, readers would forward their votes from coupons, Farnham won the most popular male award and was crowned 'King of Pop' five consecutive times from 1969–1973. He recorded a cover of the B J Thomas hit "Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head" which became his second #1 hit in December 1969 and remained at top spot for seven weeks into January 1970.
At 22, Farnham was appointed 'King of Moomba' in 1972 with Melbourne paper, The Sun, describing him as a "likeable English migrant" who is "King of Pop, King of Kids and today Johnny Farnham was King of Moomba.
Two weeks before the album was due to be recorded a demo tape arrived from London with similar material as "Pressure Down", Farnham and Fraser listened to the demo of "You're the Voice" and knew they had found a once-in-a-lifetime song. Initially, public interest in the re-branded former teen-idol was difficult to cultivate, and radio stations refused to play Farnham's album. Things however started to change after Sydney radio station 2Day FM played its first single, "You're the Voice", which was released in late 1985. Henceforth, radio stations began receiving requests for the song. "You're the Voice," peaked at #1 in Sweden and Australia, as well as being a Top Ten hit in some European countries: #3 in Switzerland, #6 in the UK, and #6 in Austria. The song was written by Andy Qunta (ex-Icehouse), Keith Reid (Procol Harum), Maggie Ryder and Chris Thompson (ex-Manfred Mann's Earth Band).
{Oh-o-o-o, Whoa-o-o-! Love this song right from the start till the end, great singing, lovely music, awesome drums & bag pipes with orchestra & back up singers, the crowd's COOOOOOL Ooohhhh Whoaaaaa Beautiful...love it..}S@n
YOU'RE THE VOICE
We have..
The chance to turn the pages over
We can write what we want to write
We gotta make ends meet, before we get much older
*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?
This time..
We know we all can stand together
With the power to be powerful
Believing, we can make it better
*
**You're the voice, try and understand it
Make a noise and make it clear
Oh-o-o-o, whoa-o-o-o!
We're not gonna sit in silence
We're not gonna live with fear
Oh-o-o-o, whoa-o-o-o!
{Instrumental[Bag Pipes(Tin Whistle)]}
*
**
You're the voice, try and understaaaand iiiittt.
Oh-o-o-o, whoa-o-oa
We're not gonna sit in silence
We're not gonna liiiive wiiiith
Fear-ear-ear-ear!
... Whoa-o-o-o!
Whispering Jack, released in October, became the highest-selling album by an Australian act in Australia, at the time, and peaked at number one on the Australian Album Charts for a total of 25 weeks. As of 2006, it was 24x platinum indicating sales of over 1.68 million units in Australia alone. The album was released internationally on RCA/BMG and peaked at #1 in Sweden, #3 in Austria, and Top 20 in Norway. In August 1988 it returned to the Australian Top Ten. Other charting Australian singles were December's "Pressure Down", which peaked at #4, March 1987's "Touch of Paradise" and October's "Reasons".
Farnham won six of the inaugural 1987 Australian Record Industry Association (ARIA) Awards for 'Album of the Year', 'Single of the Year', 'Highest Selling Album', 'Highest Selling Single', 'Best Male Artist' and 'Best Adult Contemporary Album'. On 19 July 1987, TV series Countdown broadcast its last show, the 1986 Countdown Music and Video Awards with Farnham winning the 'Best Album Award' for Whispering Jack.
In 1988, Australia's Bicentennial Year, Farnham was named 1987 Australian of the Year, although he was not yet naturalised - a hastily organised swearing-in occurred before the honour was bestowed. He was chosen due to: "his outstanding contribution to the Australian music industry over 20 years."
Farnham's July 1988 single, "Age of Reason", which peaked at #1 on the ARIA singles charts, was written by Johanna Pigott and Dragon members Todd Hunter and his brother Marc Hunter. The album, Age of Reason, produced by Ross Fraser, debuted at #1 in August and stayed on top for eight weeks. It was the highest selling album in Australia from 1988, and, as of 1997, it was 8x platinum indicating sales of over 0.56 million units. Renewed interest in Whispering Jack returned it to the Top Ten in August, nearly two years after its initial release. As of December 2008, "Age of Reason" remains Farnham's last #1 Australian single. Other charting singles from this album were, "Two Strong Hearts" which peaked at #6 and "Beyond the Call". Age of Reason had international success peaking at #4 in Sweden, and #9 in Norway.
Chain Reaction produced by Fraser, was released in October 1990, and also debuted at #1 on the Australian album charts, it provided three Top Ten hit singles, "Chain Reaction" in August, "That's Freedom" in September and "Burn for You" in December. Unlike the previous two albums, where most songs were written by outside writers, Chain Reaction saw Farnham write nine of its twelve tracks with Fraser and keyboardist/musical director David Hirschfelder (ex-Little River Band). The sound was less electronic and more acoustic, it became the biggest selling album in Australia for 1990, and was #1 on the ARIA End of Year album chart. At the 1991 ARIA Awards, Farnham won 'Best Male Artist', 'Song of the Year' for "Burn for You", and 'Highest Selling Album' for Chain Reaction.
Farnham's live album, released in November 1991, was Full House, produced by Ross Fraser and Farnham, which peaked at #2 on the ARIA album charts. It contained concert material recorded from May 1987 to October 1990. "Please Don't Ask" was released as a single, which peaked into the top 30. At #1 on the ARIA album charts was Jimmy Barnes' album, Soul Deep, it included a duet with Farnham, "When Something is Wrong with My Baby", which peaked at #3 on the singles charts.
On Australia Day, 26 January 1996, Farnham was made an Officer of the Order of Australia, "In recognition of service to the Australian music industry and to charitable and community organisations, particularly those relating to youth". His single, "Have a Little Faith (In Us)", in March peaked at #3, the associated album, Romeo's Heart, produced by Fraser, was released in June and peaked at #2. It won the 'Best Adult Contemporary Album' at the ARIA Awards in 1996. Farnham collaborated with vocal group Human Nature to record "Every Time You Cry" which peaked at #3 on the singles charts in October 1997. Also in 1997 he released a series of three compilation albums, Anthology 1 - Greatest Hits 1986–1997, Anthology 2 - Classic Hits 1967–1985 (live), and Anthology 3 - Rarities which all peaked in the top 20, with Anthology 1 reaching #1.
During July 2003, Farnham worked with Queen to produce a new version of "We Will Rock You" for the 2003 Rugby World Cup, released on his greatest hits album, "One Voice". Media reports of Queen asking Farnham to join the band were subsequently denied by both Queen's Brian May and Farnham. Farnham was inducted into the ARIA Hall Of Fame on 21 October with a performance of "You're The Voice". Farnham also won 'Best Adult Contemporary Album' for The Last Time. 2002 Hall of Fame inductee was Olivia Newton-John whilst in 2004 Little River Band was inducted.
Domestically he has remained one of Australia's best-known performers with a career spanning over 40 years, and he is the only Australian artist to have a number one record in five consecutive decades (echoing Sir Cliff Richard in the UK) with singles: "Sadie (The Cleaning Lady)" in 1967, "Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head" in 1969/1970, and "Age of Reason" in 1988; and albums: Age of Reason, Chain Reaction in 1990, Then Again in 1993, Anthology 1: Greatest Hits 1987–1997 in 1997, 33 1/3 in 2000 and The Last Time in 2002.
Farnham married Jillian Billman, a dancer he met when performing the stage musical Charlie Girl, on 18 April 1973. They have two sons, Robert Farnham and James Farnham. In 2008 Farnham was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for his lyrical achievements. [wikipedia]
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