Jimmy Barnes AO

Jimmy Barnes is the heart and soul of Australian rock and roll. For more than four decades, he has been one of the nation’s most powerful, enduring and beloved performers. Fierce, soulful and unmistakable, “Barnesy” has delivered some of the most intense and iconic live performances in Australian music history.

Rising to prominence in the 1970s and 1980s as the frontman of Cold Chisel, Jimmy Barnes became the loudest, wildest and most compelling rock singer of his era. Cold Chisel’s reputation was forged in pubs and venues across Australia, where their raw energy and uncompromising sound redefined Australian rock. Their debut single Khe Sanh was famously banned from commercial radio, yet fans flocked to see the band, knowing that no rules applied once Jimmy Barnes took the stage.

Cold Chisel came to an end in December 1983 following the largest concert tour ever undertaken by an Australian band—a record that stood for decades.

Within weeks of the band’s farewell, Jimmy Barnes launched his solo career. In October 1984, he released his debut album Bodyswerve, beginning one of the most successful solo runs in Australian music history. Throughout the late 1980s and 1990s, he achieved mega stardom with consecutive number-one albums across both rock and soul genres, cementing his reputation as a uniquely versatile and emotionally charged performer.

Jimmy Barnes has sold more records in Australia than any other local rock and roll artist. He has achieved an extraordinary seventeen number-one albums—more than The Beatles—and continues to draw sell-out crowds more than 40 years into his career.

A defining moment in Australian music came with the Australian Made tour, which united Jimmy Barnes with INXS, Divinyls, Models, The Saints and The Triffids. To mark the tour, Jimmy recorded Good Times with INXS—a song that topped the Australian charts, featured on The Lost Boys soundtrack, and went on to chart in both the United States and the United Kingdom.

In the 1990s, Jimmy lived and toured in Europe, releasing the album Psyclone, before returning to Australia and reuniting with Cold Chisel for a hugely successful revival that reaffirmed the band’s legendary status.

In 2002, Jimmy began his journey to sobriety. A creative collaboration with international rock musicians led to the formation of Living Loud and the release of a self-titled album in 2004. The following year, his album Double Happiness reached number one on the ARIA Charts—his fifteenth chart-topping release and his first in almost a decade.

In 2005, Jimmy Barnes was inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame in his own right, having already been inducted as a member of Cold Chisel in 1993.

The challenges of the 21st century nearly cost Jimmy everything. In 2007, facing life-threatening health issues and undergoing open-heart surgery, he experienced a profound turning point. Forced into months of recovery, sober and reflective, he channelled his experiences into songwriting, resulting in the album Out in the Blue.

Jimmy emerged renewed, creating music that was more honest, melodic and emotionally open than ever before. His twentieth studio album, Flesh and Blood, released in 2021, was shaped by the isolation of the pandemic and featured contributions from across his family, including his children and granddaughter. The album stood as a powerful statement of resilience, connection and creativity.

Never slowing down, Jimmy Barnes continues to perform, record and create. In 2021, he also released two books: the children’s book Rosie the Rhinoceros and a cookbook co-authored with his wife Jane, Where the River Bends.

From pub stages to stadiums, from chaos to clarity, Jimmy Barnes has lived it all—and lived to tell the tale. He remains one of Australia’s most authentic voices, a symbol of endurance, passion and the unbreakable spirit of rock and roll.