1. James Dixon Barnes is a Scottish-born Australian rock singer.
66 Facts About Jimmy Barnes
1. 2.
Jimmy Barnes has won many awards, and been nominated for many more.
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Jimmy Barnes has four siblings: John, Dorothy, Linda, and Alan.
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Jimmy Barnes has said that he recalls living in the slums of Glasgow "vividly".
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Jimmy Barnes' father was an alcoholic, and the children endured violence, abuse, and trauma growing up.
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Jimmy Barnes later said "Jim Swan was my father, but Reg Jimmy Barnes was my dad".
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Jimmy Barnes has expressed anger towards his mother, who deserted the family, leaving Reg to bring up the children.
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Jimmy Barnes took up an apprenticeship in a foundry with the South Australian Railways in 1973, but the love he and his brother had for music led him to join a band.
9.
Jimmy Barnes took over the role but his tenure with the band was brief and, in December 1975, he joined a harder-edged band called Orange, with the organist and songwriter Don Walker, guitarist Ian Moss, drummer Steve Prestwich, and bass guitarist Les Kaczmarek.
10.
Jimmy Barnes later said that Walker had had a profound influence on him, because "he was someone who really cared about what he was doing, and who seemed to have a plan".
11.
Jimmy Barnes moved to Armidale, New South Wales with the band while Walker completed his masters there, In May 1976 Cold Chisel relocated to Melbourne, but, "frustrated by their lack of progress", they moved on to Sydney in early 1977.
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Since then Jimmy Barnes has continued to perform on and off with the band while pursuing a solo career.
13.
Jimmy Barnes launched his solo career less than a month after Cold Chisel's Last Stand tour came to an end in December 1983.
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Jimmy Barnes assembled a band that included Arnott, the former Fraternity bass guitar player Bruce Howe and guitarists Mal Eastick and Chris Stockley and began touring and writing for a solo album.
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In 1986, Jimmy Barnes recorded two songs with INXS, a cover version of the Easybeats' "Good Times" and "Laying Down The Law", which he co-wrote with INXS members Andrew Farriss and Michael Hutchence.
16.
In October 1987, Jimmy Barnes released "Too Much Ain't Enough Love", which became his first solo number-one single.
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In 1990, Jimmy Barnes recorded his fourth studio album, which featured songwriting contributions from the likes of Desmond Child, Diane Warren and Holly Knight.
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In November 1991, Jimmy Barnes released his fifth studio album, Soul Deep, an album of soul covers.
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Jimmy Barnes had long fostered a love for soul and for black music, naming his children after influential black artists and including songs by Sam Cooke and Percy Sledge on previous albums.
20.
In March 1993, Jimmy Barnes released Heat, which was influenced by the then-current grunge trend and by the music of the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
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Also in 1993, Jimmy Barnes teamed up with Tina Turner for a duet version of "The Best" in the form of a TV promotion for rugby league's Winfield Cup.
22.
Jimmy Barnes faced financial ruin as his music-publishing company Dirty Sheet Music and his wife's children's fashion label both went broke.
23.
The family sold their property in Bowral, in the Southern Highlands of NSW, and settled for some time in Aix-en-Provence, France, attracting some adverse publicity when Jimmy Barnes assaulted a television crew from Channel 7.
24.
In June 1995, Jimmy Barnes released his eighth studio album, Psyclone, which peaked at number 2 in Australia and featured the top-twenty single "Change of Heart".
25.
In September 1996, Jimmy Barnes released "Lover Lover", which peaked at number 6 on the singles chart.
26.
In 1998, Cold Chisel reformed and Jimmy Barnes returned to Australia with his family after three years in France.
27.
In March 1999 Jimmy Barnes performed the 1978 Sylvester hit "You Make Me Feel " live onstage at the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras annual party.
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Later that year Jimmy Barnes released the heavy-rock single "Love and Hate", followed by its parent album Love and Fear.
29.
In October 2000, Jimmy Barnes performed at the closing ceremony of the Sydney Olympics.
30.
In November 2000, Jimmy Barnes released a second album of soul tunes, titled Soul Deeper.
31.
In 2004, Jimmy Barnes recorded an album with Deep Purple guitarist Steve Morse, Uriah Heep drummer Lee Kerslake, bass player Bob Daisley and keyboard player Don Airey under the name Living Loud.
32.
In July 2005, Jimmy Barnes released his eleventh studio album, Double Happiness, which debuted at number one on the ARIA Charts.
33.
In March 2008, Jimmy Barnes appeared as a special guest during soul singer Guy Sebastian's tour.
34.
In September 2009, Jimmy Barnes released his thirteenth studio album The Rhythm and the Blues which became Jimmy Barnes's ninth Australian number one album; thus giving him more No 1 albums than any other Australian artist.
35.
Jimmy Barnes stated that the ideas for most of the lyrics and song themes came from a journal he kept during a period in his life when he struggled with drug and alcohol addiction.
36.
Jimmy Barnes headlined at Celebrate in the Park, playing a 90-minute set which included his solo hits and some Cold Chisel greats.
37.
Jimmy Barnes was joined by daughter Mahalia in a soulful rendition of "When the War Is Over", which he dedicated to the memory of Steve Prestwich.
38.
In 2015, Jimmy Barnes asked the Reclaim Australia Political Party to stop playing his music at their rallies.
39.
In January 2019, Jimmy Barnes announced his forthcoming eighteenth solo studio album, My Criminal Record.
40.
In 2021, Jimmy Barnes stated that he formed a rockabilly band with Slim Jim Phantom and Chris Cheney.
41.
In November 2022, Jimmy Barnes released his first Christmas album, Blue Christmas.
42.
In 1992 Jimmy Barnes worked with his friend Mandawuy Yunupingu, frontman of Yothu Yindi, on a project called "Sister Schools", the aim of which was to ensure that "schools with few or no Aboriginal children will forge educational and social links with schools with large numbers of Aboriginal children, in an attempt to foster tolerance and understanding".
43.
In late 2006, Jimmy Barnes became patron of the Choir of Hard Knocks, a choral group formed by Jonathon Welch and consisting of homeless and disadvantaged people in Melbourne.
44.
Jimmy Barnes has regularly performed "Flame Trees" with the choir at their concerts.
45.
Jimmy Barnes guest-starred in episode 2 of season 2 of the television comedy series These New South Whales in 2018.
46.
In November 1979, Jimmy Barnes met Jane Mahoney, the stepdaughter of an Australian diplomat whose mother was Thai.
47.
Jimmy Barnes's grandfather was a rich businessman who had left two Chinese wives behind when he moved from China to Thailand just before the Communist Revolution of China.
48.
Jimmy Barnes met and married Thai man Suvit Dejakasaya, and the couple had three children before divorcing four years later.
49.
Jimmy Barnes has eight children: four with his wife Jane.
50.
Jimmy Barnes has said about his relationship with David's mother Kim that they were just two scared kids who were being beaten and abused at home, and not ready to bring up a child.
51.
David's grandmother raised him, although Jimmy Barnes was at first told that he had been adopted.
52.
Jimmy Barnes has three daughters from three other relationships.
53.
Jimmy Barnes met Katy Lee Carroll around 2019, publishing a post about her on social media for the first time in December 2024.
54.
Jimmy Barnes has got to know the rest of the family since, and posted about it herself.
55.
Jimmy Barnes is brother-in-law to fellow musician and long-time collaborator Diesel, who married Jane Jimmy Barnes's sister Jep in 1989.
56.
On 7 July 2007 Jimmy Barnes was a presenter at the Australian leg of Live Earth.
57.
On 28 November 2023, Jimmy Barnes announced via Instagram that he was being treated in hospital for a bacterial infection.
58.
In 2016, Jimmy Barnes published his autobiography, Working Class Boy, which explored his traumatic childhood experiences.
59.
In November 2017, Jimmy Barnes published a second memoir; a sequel to Working Class Boy titled Working Class Man.
60.
On 3 May 2018, Jimmy Barnes won the biography of the year award at the Australian Book Industry Awards for the second year in a row.
61.
Jimmy Barnes's autobiography Working Class Boy was adapted into a film by Universal Pictures.
62.
Jimmy Barnes is a practising Buddhist, and describes himself as a socialist.
63.
Jimmy Barnes is a supporter of the Australian Labor Party, as well as the Port Adelaide Football Club.
64.
Jimmy Barnes is the only author to win back-to-back Australian Book Industry Awards for a non-fiction title.
65.
In 2017 Jimmy Barnes was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia for distinguished service to the performing arts as a musician, singer and songwriter, and through support for not-for-profit organisations, particularly to children with a disability.
66.
Jimmy Barnes has won seven Australian Recording Industry Association Awards, including his induction into their Hall of Fame in 2005.