16 Facts About Cold Chisel

Cold Chisel are an Australian pub rock band, which formed in Adelaide in 1973 by mainstay members Ian Moss on guitar and vocals, Steve Prestwich on drums and Don Walker on piano and keyboards.

Cold Chisel's popularity is largely restricted to Australia and New Zealand, with their songs and musicianship highlighting working class life.

Cold Chisel originally formed as Orange in Adelaide in 1973 as a heavy metal band by Ted Broniecki on keyboards, Les Kaczmarek on bass guitar, Ian Moss on guitar and vocals, Steve Prestwich on drums and Don Walker on piano.

In May 1976 Cold Chisel relocated to Melbourne, but "frustrated by their lack of progress, " they moved on to Sydney in early 1977.

Cold Chisel had gained national chart success and increased popularity of their fans without significant commercial radio airplay.

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In late 1979, severing their relationship with Batchens, Cold Chisel chose Mark Opitz to produce the next single, "Choirgirl".

Cold Chisel's request was refused as there was a standing arrangement that any advance to one band member had to be paid to all the others.

Cold Chisel has recorded with INXS, Tina Turner, Joe Cocker and John Farnham to become one of the country's most popular male rock singers.

The 1991 compilation album, Cold Chisel, was re-issued and re-packaged several times, once with the long-deleted 1978 EP as a bonus disc and a second time in 2001 as a double album.

Cold Chisel reunited in October 1997, with the line-up of Barnes, Moss, Prestwich, Small and Walker.

On 10 September 2009 Cold Chisel announced they would reform for a one-off performance at the Sydney 500 V8 Supercars event on 5 December.

Cold Chisel's songs were about distinctly Australian experiences, a factor often cited as a major reason for the band's lack of international appeal.

Alongside contemporaries like The Angels and Midnight Oil, Cold Chisel was renowned as one of the most dynamic live acts of their day and from early in their career concerts routinely became sell-out events.

Cold Chisel remained hugely popular however and by the mid-1990s they continued to sell records at such a consistent rate they became the first Australian band to achieve higher sales after their split than during their active years.

Cold Chisel were one of the first Australian acts to have become the subject of a major tribute album.

In 2007, Standing on the Outside: The Songs of Cold Chisel was released, featuring a collection of the band's songs as performed by artists including The Living End, Evermore, Something for Kate, Pete Murray, Katie Noonan, You Am I, Paul Kelly, Alex Lloyd, Thirsty Merc and Ben Lee, many of whom were children when Cold Chisel first disbanded and some, like the members of Evermore, had not even been born.