Tim Farriss | |
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 Farriss in 2014 | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Timothy William Farriss |
| Born | 16 August 1957 Perth, Australia [1] |
| Instrument(s) |
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| Years active | 1977–present |
| Formerly of | INXS |
| Website | inxs |
| Children | 2 sons |
| Relatives | |
Timothy William Farriss (born 16 August 1957) is an Australian musician, founding member and the lead guitarist of the rock band INXS.
Farriss was born in Perth, Western Australia, to Dennis and Jill Farriss, and is the oldest of four children: he has two brothers, Andrew and Jon, and a sister, Alison. He was classically trained on the guitar from the ages of eight to twelve by Peter Fredericci who played with the Australian Symphony Orchestra. [2]
As an adolescent, Farriss attended The Forest High School in Sydney. There he quickly formed a friendship with Kirk Pengilly. Farriss (lead guitar) and Pengilly (guitar and saxophone) soon formed the band "Guinness," the eventual base and bedrock to the future internationally successful group, INXS.
During Farriss' painful recovery from an operation to remove abnormal bone growths in his legs, the result of a Hereditary Multiple Exostoses (which his brother Jon also suffers from), his brother Andrew recruited school friends and "Doctor Dolphin" bandmates Garry Gary Beers (bass guitar) and Michael Hutchence (vocals).
During the Summer XS tour in 1991 INXS played Wembley Stadium in front of 73,791 people, at one point Michael Hutchence told Farriss to "play the fucking riff Timmy", which led to Farriss being nicknamed the Riff Meister, and later the Riff Sheriff. The moment was captured on film and CD for "Live Baby Live".
Farriss plays various G&L (with which INXS hold an endorsement) and Fender guitars, his favourite being a 1956 Stratocaster. [3] [4]
During the 2006 Switch tour Farriss suffered a knee injury, leading to surgery and the cancellation of several performances; after a short time recuperating he went back on stage wearing a knee support.
Farriss recorded the CD Deep Inside in 1996, which features over 1000 samples of various instruments.
He has also made a fishing video Fish in Space in 1989, the name coming as a humorous reference to bandmate Michael Hutchence's film, Dogs in Space .
Farriss wrote and performed the song "Any Day But Sunday" on the soundtrack for the 1984 film No Small Affair , starring Demi Moore and Jon Cryer. [5]
He also has his own studio, 'Montana', in which he and his sound engineer work with many up and coming Australian artists.
On 6 February 1981, Farriss married his high school sweetheart Bethany Anne (Buffy) Reefman and subsequently had two sons. INXS bandmates see Farriss as the "father figure", as he was the first to get married and to have children. [6]
Tim is like the ballast in the band...He's the one who gives the band a bit of leadership, a sense of unity, and he'll usually project a very practical, logical view of everything.
Farriss is a very private man who enjoys deep-sea fishing (tag and release), cricket, swimming, tennis, scuba diving, golf, snowboarding and working on the Kangaroo Valley family farm which he bought from his brother Andrew. He once served as president of the Manly Warringah District Cricket Club.
In January 2015, Farriss severed a finger whilst operating a winch on his boat. He underwent operations to attempt to reattach the finger, followed by physiotherapy. It was uncertain at the time whether he would be able to continue a musical career. [7] Farriss began legal action in 2019 against the owners of the boat for damages, and revealed that he is only able to play a few beginner level chords on the guitar since the accident. [8] He lost his legal case on 28 January 2022 when the Supreme Court of New South Wales handed down its judgment in favour of the defendants. [9] The Court also ordered that Farriss pay the defendants' legal costs.
The West Australian Music Industry Awards (WAMIs) are annual awards presented to the local contemporary music industry, put on annually by the Western Australian Music Industry Association Inc (WAM). [10]
| Year | Nominee / work | Award | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | The Farriss Brothers (Tim (Andrew and Jon) | Hall of Fame | inducted |
Michael Kelland John Hutchence was an Australian singer, songwriter and actor. Hutchence co-founded the rock band INXS, which sold over 50 million records worldwide and was inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame in 2001. He was the lead singer and lyricist of INXS from 1977 until his death.
INXS were an Australian rock band, formed as the Farriss Brothers in 1977 in Sydney, New South Wales. The founding members were bassist Garry Gary Beers, main composer and keyboardist Andrew Farriss, drummer Jon Farriss, guitarist Tim Farriss, lead singer and main lyricist Michael Hutchence, and guitarist and saxophonist Kirk Pengilly. For 20 years, INXS was fronted by Hutchence, whose magnetic stage presence made him the focal point of the band. Initially known for their new wave/pop style, the band later developed a harder pub rock style that included funk and dance elements.
Garry William Beers, known as Garry Gary Beers, is an Australian musician and was the bass guitarist for the new wave rock group INXS.
Listen Like Thieves is the fifth studio album by Australian rock band INXS. It was released on 14 October 1985. It spent two weeks at number one on the Australian Kent Music Report Albums Chart. Considered an international breakthrough album for the band, it peaked at No. 11 on the United States Billboard 200, No. 24 on the Canadian RPM 100 Albums and in the top 50 in the United Kingdom.
Welcome to Wherever You Are is the eighth studio album by Australian rock band INXS, which was released on 3 August 1992. With grunge and alternative music breaking into the mainstream, INXS tried to establish a new direction for itself, incorporating sitars, a 60-piece orchestra, and a much more "raw" sound to their music. In its four star review of the album, Q called it "... a far more engaging and heartfelt collection than anything the group has put out in recent memory ... It rocks," and listed it as one of the 50 Best Albums of 1992. It was the first album by an Australian artist to debut on the UK album chart at number one since AC/DC's Back in Black, released in 1980.
The Swing is the fourth studio album by Australian rock band INXS, released in April 1984. It peaked at number one on the Kent Music Report Albums Chart for five non-consecutive weeks from early April to mid-May 1984. The lead single "Original Sin" was recorded in New York City with Nile Rodgers and featured Daryl Hall on backing vocals. Overall, the album featured a slightly harder-edged sound than their previous releases.
X is the seventh studio album by Australian rock band INXS, released on 25 September 1990 through WEA in Australia, Mercury Records in Europe, and Atlantic Records in the United States and Canada. The follow-up to the massive seller Kick, X scored hits with "Suicide Blonde" and "Disappear". Both singles were later used in the soundtrack to the 1991 American teen comedy Mystery Date. Two other singles from X were "Bitter Tears" and "By My Side" but they had less chart success. A fifth single, "The Stairs", was only issued in the Netherlands to coincide with the release of the Live Baby Live album.
Shabooh Shoobah is the third studio album by Australian rock band INXS. It was released on 13 October 1982. It peaked at No. 5 on the ARIA Albums Chart and remained on the chart for 94 weeks. It was the band's first album to be released worldwide and appeared on the United States Billboard 200 and on the Hot Pop Albums Chart. The album spawned four singles, "The One Thing", "Don't Change", "To Look at You" and "Black and White". It was produced by Mark Opitz for WEA Australia with most tracks written by band members Andrew Farriss and Michael Hutchence.
INXS is the debut studio album by Australian rock band INXS. It was released on Deluxe Records in Australia on 13 October 1980. The band recorded the album in midnight to dawn sessions during 1979 to 1980 after performing, on average, two gigs a day at local pubs around Sydney. All tracks were credited to band members, Garry Gary Beers ; brothers Andrew, Jon and Tim Farriss ; Michael Hutchence ; and Kirk Pengilly. The album was co-produced by the band and Duncan McGuire. It spawned the single, "Just Keep Walking", which became their first Australian Top 40 hit. INXS peaked in the Top 30 of the related Kent Music Report Albums Chart. The album did not appear internationally until 1984.
Underneath the Colours is the second studio album by Australian rock band INXS. It was released in Australia in 19 October 1981 on the Deluxe Records label and reached No 15 on the Australian album charts.
The Best of INXS is a greatest hits album by Australian rock band INXS, released on 4 June 2002 by Atlantic Records and Rhino Entertainment. It featured digitally remastered versions of tracks from previous albums and reached #144 on the US charts, selling more than 373,000 copies since its release. The nearly identical counterpart compilation released in the same year, Definitive INXS, was a moderate chart success in the UK, peaking at #15.
Switch is the eleventh studio album by the Australian rock band INXS, and their last to be composed of entirely new material. It was released on 29 November 2005 and produced by Guy Chambers. It was their first full-length studio album since the 1997 death of vocalist Michael Hutchence, and the only album to feature singer J.D. Fortune.
Jonathan James Farriss is an Australian drummer and founding member of rock band INXS.
Andrew Charles Farriss is an Australian rock musician and multi-instrumentalist best known as the keyboardist, backing vocalist, and main composer for rock band INXS. Farriss released his debut studio album in 2021.
Kirk Pengilly is an Australian musician and member of the Australian rock group INXS. Kirk plays saxophone and guitar, and also performs as a backing vocalist.
"By My Side" is a single by Australian band INXS, the third UK single and fourth Australian single taken from their seventh studio album, X (1990). The song was written by Michael Hutchence, Kirk Pengilly, Garry Gary Beers, Andrew Farriss, Tim Farriss and Jon Farriss as part of the 1990 sessions for the X album. Record producer Chris Thomas, who produced the album, is also given songwriting credits, specifically contributing to the chorus and arrangement, as explained in the liner notes for the X album special edition in 2002. Farriss has said "By My Side" was written about missing family and friends while touring.
"Bitter Tears" is a song by Australian rock band INXS, released as the third Australian and fourth UK single from their seventh studio album, X (1990). The song was written by Michael Hutchence, Kirk Pengilly, Garry Gary Beers, Andrew Farriss, Tim Farriss and Jon Farriss as part of the sessions for the X album. It peaked at number 30 on the UK Singles Chart and number 36 in Australia. The single was released to coincide with the band headlining the SummerXS concert at Wembley Stadium in July 1991, as documented in the Live Baby Live DVD.
INXS: Never Tear Us Apart is a two-part Australian miniseries about the rock band INXS and was originally telecast on 9 February 2014, and concluded on 16 February 2014, produced by Shine Australia and airing on the Seven Network.
"Simple Simon" is the debut single by Australian rock band INXS, released in May 1980 via Deluxe Records.
"Just Keep Walking" is a song recorded by Australian rock band INXS. Deluxe released the song in October 1980 as the only single from their debute studio album INXS. The song reached the 38th place on the Top 40 list and became their first Australian Top 40 hit, earning the band international fame.
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