Latest news with #JohnFarnham
News.com.au
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- News.com.au
The Voice coach Richard Marx on his Aussie mate Hugh Jackman and how he avoided '80s drug excess
Grammy-winning rocker Richard Marx has a long history with Australia. He first visited the country at the age of 12, when his Down Under fascinated dad brought him here for a month-long holiday and he was completely smitten with the place. 'That was it,' he says over Zoom call from Sydney, half way through production of this year's season of The Voice. 'That was the beginning of my love affair.' Once he hit the big time in his native US courtesy of hits including What About Me?, Crazy, Hazard and Right Here Waiting, he ensured that Australia was part of his schedule and he's been coming back ever since. Along his journey of selling 30 million albums, winning the Song Of the Year Grammy Award in 2003 and producing artists from Barbra Streisand to NSYNC, he's also made plenty of Aussie musical mates. He became 'obsessed' with John Farnham in the '80s, is touring this year with Rick Springfield, has written and produced songs with Keith Urban and counts Hugh Jackman as one of his best friends. But he reserves his deepest love and admiration for the late, great Olivia Newton-John, who took the young Marx under her wing when he was still a struggling musician. Her act of kindness in taking him to a fancy Los Angeles restaurant to celebrate his 20th birthday has stayed with him decades later and getting to perform a spontaneous version of Right Here Waiting with her when she came to see one of his shows in Florida in 2011 remains one of the highlights of his life. 'I was so madly in love with her from a distance and then when I got to know her, I genuinely was crushing on her,' says Marx. 'When I would be around her, I would just stare at her and she would walk by me and I would just smell the air. We were friends to the end. I miss her and I think about her all the time. 'We had some really beautiful conversations about life and family and what it's all about and she was just gracious and elegant and generous.' As for Jackman, who he calls his 'brother', the pair performed the same signature song together at Radio City Music Hall in June and Marx says sometimes 'it's just annoying' how nice the Aussie A-lister can be. 'Sometimes even to his detriment,' says Marx. 'I've seen him put himself in situations that he didn't need to be in because he just didn't want to hurt anybody's feelings. He's such a lovely guy and a wicked sense of humour. 'We've been friends for 20 years and we call each other brother. We've gone through a bunch of ups and downs together. We've helped each other through life's circumstances and he's a really, really amazing guy.' It's little wonder then, that when the opportunity presented itself to be a coach alongside Melanie 'Sporty Spice' Chisolm, ARIA-winning Aussie artist Kate Miller-Heidke and former Boyzone singer Ronan Keating for the 14th season of The Voice, Marx didn't need much convincing to relocate to Sydney for the duration with his wife Daisy Fuentes. 'I particularly wanted to do it in Australia for two reasons,' he says. 'One, I don't know what it is about the level of singing talent in this country. It's out of control. Everybody sings great. The butcher sings better than most people. The baristas sing better than most people. 'So I knew that the level of talent that I'd be dealing with was going to be exceptional. 'But selfishly, the idea of just being here this long and really living here for a couple months, really appealed to me. I've been here in a little clumps of time, but I've never really just had a place, rented a house and lived somewhere in Australia. We were completely sold.' But Marx wasn't always a fan of the reality TV singing format, once likening it to 'a person on a bicycle with training wheels being handed the keys to a Maserati – they are not ready'. His other beef was that some of the earlier iterations of the format – he declines to name names – revelled in the humiliation that inevitably came with bad auditions. 'That was never funny to me,' he says. 'They know going in that they're going to have these contestants humiliate themselves and that's part of the ratings, and that's part of the concept and it's just mean.' The Voice, he says, appeals to his desire to do more musical mentoring and connect with young, promising artists. He's less inclined to write and record new music because of the financial state of the music business – 'it's all just an expense at this point, you're never going to make that money back' – so he'd rather put his decades of experience to good use by helping musicians starting out. 'If I could be someone they can reach out every once in a while and go, 'hey, I just got offered this deal, what do you think of this?'' he says. 'And I can say 'you don't want to go near that because of this, this and this'. I like being a sounding board for people like that.' Marx has seen first hand how difficult it can be for aspiring musicians to make a good living in 2025 through his three sons, who he describes as 'incredibly talented singer-songwriter-musicians. He still regards his 1987 savage take-down of superficiality the music industry Don't Mean Nothing as one of his most important songs, and says: 'I could write that song today and it would be the same'. Early in his career, Marx was rejected by label after label, who told him he had the wrong look, the wrong sound and would never have a hit. 'If I were made of different stock, I would have maybe called it a day and gone and done something else,' he says. 'But it turns out all those people were wrong and they're wrong about a lot of people. Empty promises, the sharks that swim around that want to take your content, they want to take your publishing, they want to take your creative rights away – that's all still a thing.' He says he sympathises with his middle son Lucas, who is making steady progress in the music world, including co-writing a song for Katy Perry, but is all too aware of the financial realities of the streaming world in 2025 compared with when Marx was selling albums by the truckload. 'He said recently to a friend of his who is another writer 'In the heyday when my dad wrote a number one song he could buy a house and if we write a number one song now we might be able to get a case of candy bars'. That's about it.' When he's not touring, Marx says he can be found walking on the beach with his wife of nearly a decade, Cuban-American actress Fuentes and making his labour of love podcast Stories To Tell in his home bar. Marx says Fuentes has introduced him to the joys of a good martini and quality tequila and after years of clean living, he's embraced the ritual and the social aspect of the cocktail. 'My liver has had it so good for so long that I'm totally fine,' he says with a laugh. 'I'm definitely not at risk of anything.' Despite first experiencing success during the blizzard of cocaine that was the music industry in the 1980s, Marx managed to avoid the abuse and addiction that took hold of so many of his pairs. 'I was always afraid of it,' he says. 'Coke was so rampant and available and popular in the '80s when I was coming up and everyone around me was doing it. 'I was watching what was happening to the people doing it, so that was a turn off. 'And I honestly the other part of me was I was afraid I would like it too much. 'So I thought rather than risk a problem, I'm just going to not do it ever. And I still haven't.'
Daily Mail
02-08-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
John Farnham's son James shares adorable first photos of his first child with partner Tessa Effendi
James Farnham has shared the first adorable images of his newborn son, Jett. The son of iconic singer John Farnham welcomed his first child with partner Dr Tessa Effendi in June. Taking to Instagram on Friday, James shared a series of adorable photos of the precious newborn dressed in an array of cute costumes. In a nod to Jett's musical lineage, one photo showed the bub fast asleep, wearing headphones in front of a toy piano, ukulele and miniature Marshall amplifier. Another black and white photo showed Jett's tiny feet being lovingly cupped by mum and dad's hands. From A-list scandals and red carpet mishaps to exclusive pictures and viral moments, subscribe to the DailyMail's new showbiz newsletter to stay in the loop. Jett looked cute as a button in subsequent shots, dressed as a dinosaur, a snake, and swaddled snugly in a small wicker basket as a bear. Captioning the images, James shared a gushing tribute to Tessa's strength and bravery. 'Our Beautiful Baby Boy, Jett. Born 18th June 2025 at 5:26pm,' he wrote. 'Tessa, I can't thank you enough for bringing the most beautiful boy into the world. Thank you for giving your body, your mind, and your heart to start our little family. 'I thought I understood love—but watching you go through labour and bring our son into the world took that love and admiration to a whole new level. 'You are unbelievably strong, incredibly brave and already the most amazing mother. You mean the world to both me and Jett.' James rounded out the post by thanking Tessa's doctor and midwife for making the experience as smooth as possible. 'Your experience and calm meant we had the birth we hoped for, with minimal intervention and every decision made with Tessa's comfort and clarity in mind,' he added. Jett looked cute as a button in subsequent shots, dressed as a dinosaur, a snake, and swaddled snugly in a small wicker basket as a bear 'Things could've gone very differently, and we'll forever be grateful.' The post was met with a flurry of congratulations from friends and followers. 'These words from a partner/dad would be amazing for a wife/mum to hear,' one offered. 'Loved hearing your admiration for her strength in labour. You are blessed to find one another in this life.' Another chimed in with a similar: 'Oh, Jett is just divine! Congratulations to James and Tessa on this little bundle of pure joy.' Another offered: 'Jett is Gorgeous. Congratulations to you both, thank you for sharing these moments with us.' Summing up the sentiment of many, a fourth added: So adorable, a little ray of sunshine to add to your amazing family.' James revealed, in a statement shared to Instagram earlier this month, that his bundle of joy arrived earlier than expected on June 18 at St Vincent's Private Hospital in Melbourne. 'We thought we were excited to meet him—but turns out he was even more excited to meet us, arriving a little ahead of schedule,' they wrote. Jett John Farnham—whose middle name is a touching tribute to James' dad—weighed in at 3.176kg, with new parents James and Tessa revealing they were both 'smitten' and 'sleep-deprived'—and wouldn't change it for the world. James has been in a relationship with Tessa, who is a registered Doctor of Traditional Chinese Medicine, for several years. Jett is the first grandchild for the legendary You're the Voice singer, whose eldest son Robert married his long-term girlfriend Melissa Kelly in 2024.
Sydney Morning Herald
16-07-2025
- Sydney Morning Herald
Perth needs good neighbours, but is a beer a bridge too far these days?
Given Gen Xers were raised wandering the plains of quarter-acre blocks in Perth like suburban hunters and gatherers, we were mostly spared the backyard battles that can erupt between neighbours. But as urban living becomes denser, friction can become more frequent: petty disputes over fences, trees or the unresolved murderous tension of someone butchering John Farnham songs until dawn. To some degree, such front-yard feuds are harmless and ingrained in suburbia. But I'm convinced the recent brouhaha in my street went beyond the norm. After I declined to have a beer with a nearby resident, the person unleashed a series of well-executed insults that made me rustle through my bedroom drawers looking for my old therapist's number. I was impressed by their forensic examination of my personality, given they were drawing from such a narrow source of information as we rarely spoke. I wanted to inform the relentless inquisitor my lack of charisma was because I'd been sick and was on the brink of breaking my all-time insomniac record, so I had little desire to spend time with my family, let alone some stranger. But my neighbour was pointing at me like Donald Sutherland's character at the end of Invasion of the Body Snatchers, their message clear: I was un-neighbourly. And unbeknownst to me, I'd been that way for years. While I have no urge to become the next Neighbourhood Watch captain, I've always tried to keep the small-scale interactions with people in my street blissfully simple. Wave. Nod. Smile. I felt this was being a dutiful fellow-dweller.
The Age
16-07-2025
- The Age
Perth needs good neighbours, but is a beer a bridge too far these days?
Given Gen Xers were raised wandering the plains of quarter-acre blocks in Perth like suburban hunters and gatherers, we were mostly spared the backyard battles that can erupt between neighbours. But as urban living becomes denser, friction can become more frequent: petty disputes over fences, trees or the unresolved murderous tension of someone butchering John Farnham songs until dawn. To some degree, such front-yard feuds are harmless and ingrained in suburbia. But I'm convinced the recent brouhaha in my street went beyond the norm. After I declined to have a beer with a nearby resident, the person unleashed a series of well-executed insults that made me rustle through my bedroom drawers looking for my old therapist's number. I was impressed by their forensic examination of my personality, given they were drawing from such a narrow source of information as we rarely spoke. I wanted to inform the relentless inquisitor my lack of charisma was because I'd been sick and was on the brink of breaking my all-time insomniac record, so I had little desire to spend time with my family, let alone some stranger. But my neighbour was pointing at me like Donald Sutherland's character at the end of Invasion of the Body Snatchers, their message clear: I was un-neighbourly. And unbeknownst to me, I'd been that way for years. While I have no urge to become the next Neighbourhood Watch captain, I've always tried to keep the small-scale interactions with people in my street blissfully simple. Wave. Nod. Smile. I felt this was being a dutiful fellow-dweller.
Daily Mail
16-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
John Farnham's youngest son James reveals his secret health battle after his famous father's cancer scare
John Farnham 's youngest son James has revealed his secret health battle after undergoing three surgeries in one year. In a lengthy Instagram post on Wednesday, the 36-year-old revealed he's finally 'loving life' after having multiple surgeries to reverse his colostomy - a procedure that reroutes the colon (part of the large intestine) to an opening in the abdominal wall. He posted a series of graphic photos taken from the hospital and wrote: 'Wow, what a difference a year makes. 'Exactly 12 months ago today, I was going in for my third surgery, hoping to finally reverse my colostomy/ileostomy. It worked. 'I stayed quiet about it all year because, to be honest, I was scared it would go wrong again. It always seemed to. But this time, I healed properly and there were no complications.' From A-list scandals and red carpet mishaps to exclusive pictures and viral moments, subscribe to the DailyMail's new showbiz newsletter to stay in the loop. James said he's rebuilt himself 'physically, mentally and emotionally' since his procedure and has returned to the gym. 'I even got to work with one of my favourite music artists from my teenage years. And most importantly… I became a dad. My biggest dream,' he continued. 'Two years ago, I couldn't imagine feeling this way. I was angry, lost, didn't want to go anywhere or see anyone. Life felt like a dead end. 'Today, I can finally say, I love my life. I'm genuinely happy. If you're struggling, just hang in there. 'Check in on your mates. Be kind to yourself. Life's weird and unpredictable, but it can surprise you in the best ways.' James' health battle comes after his father John was recovering from his own surgery to treat his oral cancer and remove a mouth tumour. Last August, John revealed he was cancer-free 12 months after having mouth surgery. In his first personal statement since the procedure, the music superstar said he was finally in the comfort of his own home surrounded by his loving family and felt like 'the luckiest man I know'. 'It's been a year since my first surgery and to be honest I've lost count as to how many other procedures there's been since then,' he said. 'I'm sure someone's kept track of them all - let's just say, there's been a few.' 'But, I'm home now and I'm a very grateful and happy man. I'm sitting here in my living room lapping up the attention from my beautiful wife, Jill, my boys Rob and James and my mini Schnauzer, Edmund.' The You're The Voice singer thanked his fans for the well-wishes and support and said he was looking forward to his first celebratory meal - a pizza. 'It's only now that I can start to appreciate and comprehend, for myself, how many messages of love and support have been sent to me over the past year,' he added. 'I don't know what to say, other than thank you so very much. 'It honestly means the world to me. Thank you to everyone who took the time to write and send a message.' 'Today is a special day. And I'm going to mark it by having a pizza - because I can! I can't wait to see what might be next on the menu. Bring on 2024.'
