Michael Hutchence, lead singer of the Australian rock band INXS: biography

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

January 22, 1960 in the Australian city of Sydney was born the future musician Michael Hutchence. The boy's parents did not live in luxury, his mother Patricia worked as a make-up artist, and Kelland's father made a living selling clothes. The boy's full name was Michael Kelland John Hutchence.

Childhood and adolescence

From Australia, the Hutchence family moved to Hong Kong when their son was only four years old. The boy's entire childhood passed here. He studied at the school of King George V.

Growing up Hutchence was in Hong Kong for the first time on the music scene, this first performance took place as part of a folk group. The band played compositions by Peter, Paul and Mary. Speaking of Michael's very first public performance, it must have been at the age of eight in a toy store.

Coming home, forming The Farriss Brothers

1972 was marked for the young Hutchence by the fact that he returned to his homeland, to his hometown. There he went to study at a local school (Davidson High School), where on the very first day he got into a fight with school bullies. As Michael Hutchence later recalled, he lacked wisdom at the time.in order not to get involved in a fight with the strongest student in the school. At that school, Michael met Andrew Farris. At that time, no one could have imagined that this guy would become one of the few successful musicians in a rock band. Foreign singers, especially rock musicians from Britain and the USA, were then in vogue, perhaps that is why Michael began to work in this direction.

At the age of fifteen, Hutchence moved with his mother to sunny California, Los Angeles. His parents had already divorced by that time. The brother of the future rocker stayed with his father, and Michael, deciding that his mother needed his support, stayed with her. However, Michael did not stay long in Los Angeles, having earned the necessary amount, he returned to his hometown a year later, where he met with E. Farris, whom he persuaded to create a musical group.

In 1977, young musicians invite Gary Beers to their place, they call their new line-up Dolphin Doctors. A little later, Kirk Pengilly and brothers Tim and John Farris join the rockers. August 16, 1977 is officially considered the formation day of the rock band The Farriss Brothers, which coincided with the day of the death of the king of rock and roll E. Presley.

Michael's voice was developed through endless performances at venues, bars, tours and clubs.

INXS

INXS was formed by renaming The Farriss Brothers in 1980. In the same year, the original album of the Australian team was released. The stage image of Michael Hutchence was somewhat reminiscent of Mick Jagger from RollingStones, and Jimmy Morrison of the Doors.

Followed by the recording of the Kick album, with which the rockers in full force embarked on an international tour. The album was really successful, the Australian singers got quite a decent income from it. Quite tired after such a long tour, the rockers decided to take a break for a year. However, Hutchence continued to work.

It's no surprise that Michael Kelland John Hutchence has been tacitly named leader of the Australian rock team. He had extraordinary charisma, as well as sexuality. Perhaps due to these qualities, Michael was very often invited to shoot by local TV channels, including MTV.

Shooting in a motion picture

In 1986, Hutchence starred in the film Dogs in Space. For this role, he even sacrificed for some time his participation in a rock band. In the feature film, the musician plays a hero who wants to become a pop star. The rocker was so captivated by the film that he even created the single Rooms For The Memory for him, which later entered the top ten of the hit parade.

It is noteworthy that critics spoke quite well about Michael's acting data after the release of the movie with his participation.

Later, the musician used his acting talent, again starring in the film Frankenstein Unbound in Italy.

Working with Olsen

He had the opportunity to work on his solo career. At that time he recorded a joint album with Ollie Olsen. Hutchence suggested to a friendcall their joint project Ollie, to which the latter agreed, despite the fact that the group began to bear such a name in honor of a deaf shepherd dog. Olsen's authoring abilities allowed Michael not to write lyrics, but to improve his musical skills, including singing. In parallel, he studied music and production.

Private life

In 1989, the group INXS, once again gathered together, released their new album called X, which became a well-known hit at the world level. Rocker work becomes the best-selling in Britain.

This success contributed to the rise in Michael's personal life. Each newspaper considered it their duty to write an article about the musician. Particularly attracted the attention of the press, some of his novels with famous female personalities. The headlines of many publications screamed: "Michael Hutchence and Kylie Minogue!" or "Hutchence and Helena Christensen!".

1994 introduced the already famous musician to Paula Yates, later the couple would have a daughter named Heavenly's parents Hiraani Tiger Lily.

The mid-nineties were somewhat difficult for the group, their popularity dropped noticeably. However, this did not apply to Hutchence, who was still chased by journalists, and perhaps even more actively. Unable to withstand such an onslaught, the singer once got into a fight with a photojournalist.

Death of a singer

Recent years rock musicians spend first on world tours, and then on tour in their native country. ATIn April 1997, the album Elegantly Wasted was recorded. It was dedicated to twenty years of rockers.

November 22, 1997 Michael Hutchence was found dead in his own room at the Ritz-Carlton in Sydney. An investigation into the case found that death was the result of suicide. Until now, no one knows the reason for this act.

According to some people around Michael, he was in a severe depression. The reason for this was the previous events. So, Michael almost got into a traffic accident, escaping by a miracle. He later lost his sense of taste and smell as a result of a fight. There were other unpleasant incidents, which, taken together, may have led the singer to a serious condition.

After some time, Michael's wife, who could not stoically accept the grief that fell on her, began to use drugs. And just two years later, having taken a large dose of drugs, Paula died.

Michael Hutchence is currently ranked among the greatest rock artists, putting him on a par with such rock celebrities as Freddie Mercury, Ian Gillan, Mark Knopfler and others. Many well-known performers of this genre: rock bands, foreign singers and musicians spoke very flatteringly about Hutchence's work, but millions of fans and fans still remain the main criterion for evaluating his work.