Species Deceases is an extended play by Australian rock band Midnight Oil, released on 26 November 1985 under the CBS record label. Species Deceases debuted at No. 1 on the Australian Kent Music Report Singles Chart for six weeks from December 1985 to January 1986. It was the first Australian single and/or EP to reach the number-one spot on its chart appearance and remains Midnight Oil's only No. 1 on the national singles chart.
John Peter Farnham AO is a British-born Australian singer. Farnham was a teen pop idol from 1967 until 1979, billed until then as Johnny Farnham. He has since forged a career as an adult contemporary singer. His career has mostly been as a solo artist, although he replaced Glenn Shorrock as lead singer of Little River Band from 1982 to 1985.
Ross Andrew Wilson is an Australian singer-songwriter, musician and producer. He is the co-founder and frontman of the long-standing rock groups Daddy Cool and Mondo Rock, as well as a number of other former bands, in addition to performing solo. He has produced records for bands such as Skyhooks and Jo Jo Zep & the Falcons, as well as for those of his own bands. He appeared as a judge on celebrity singing TV series It Takes Two from 2005. Wilson was individually inducted into the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) Hall of Fame in 1989 and again as a member of Daddy Cool in 2006. Ross currently resides in the Melbourne suburb of Port Melbourne.
Noiseworks are an Australian hard rock band formed in Sydney in 1986 with bass guitarist Steve Balbi, guitarist Stuart Fraser, drummer Kevin Nicol, keyboardist Justin Stanley and lead vocalist Jon Stevens. They had four Australian Top 10 albums, Noiseworks (1987), Touch (1988), Love Versus Money (1991) and Greatest Hits (1992). They produced three Top 10 singles, "Take Me Back", "Touch" and "Hot Chilli Woman" before disbanding in 1992. Reunion tours occurred in 1999, 2004, 2007–2008, 2011, 2013. The band later reformed in 2016 and in August 2022, released "Heart & Soul"; their first new song in 30 years. Noiseworks' fourth studio album, Evolution was released in November 2022.
Mondo Rock are an Australian rock band, formed in November 1976 in Melbourne, Victoria. Singer-songwriter Ross Wilson founded the band, following the split of his previous band Daddy Cool. Guitarist Eric McCusker, who joined in 1980, wrote many of the band's hits, and along with Wilson formed the core of the group. They are best known for their second album, Chemistry, which was released in July 1981 and peaked at number 2 on the Australian Kent Music Report. Their song "Come Said the Boy" peaked at number 2 in Australia in 1983.
"You're the Voice" is a song recorded by the Australian singer John Farnham released in 1986, which became an immediate hit in Australia as well as several European countries, the United Kingdom, and Ireland. It was released as a single in September 1986 ahead of his album Whispering Jack, and was written by Andy Qunta, Keith Reid, Maggie Ryder, and Chris Thompson.
"Before Too Long" is a song by Australian rock group Paul Kelly and the Coloured Girls, released as the first single from their debut double album, Gossip. It was released in June 1986 on the original White Label Records, a subsidiary of Mushroom Records. It reached No. 15 on the Australian Kent Music Report Singles Chart, remaining for 19 weeks. The track was a surprise hit for Kelly at a time when chart success had eluded him and provided increased interest for the release of Gossip, which would become his biggest mainstream success to that date.
John Archibold Dixon Swan, better known as Swanee, is an Australian rock singer.
Whispering Jack is the twelfth studio album by Australian adult contemporary pop singer John Farnham. It was produced by Ross Fraser and released on 29 September 1986, peaking at No. 1 on the Australian Kent Music Report albums chart. Whispering Jack became the second-best-selling album in Australia, behind only Meat Loaf's album Bat Out of Hell, and the highest-selling album in Australia by an Australian artist―24× platinum, indicating over 1.68 million copies sold; it remains the third-best-selling album of all time in Australia, as Shania Twain's Come On Over eventually eclipsed it. It spent 25 weeks at the No. 1 spot on the albums chart during 1986–1987, it was awarded the 1987 ARIA Award for Album of the Year, and it was the best-charting album for the decade of the 1980s in Australia. It was the first Australian-made album to be released on compact disc within Australia. One of Farnham's biggest hits, "You're the Voice", was issued as the lead single from the album and peaked at No. 1 on the Kent Music Report singles chart.
"Too Much Ain't Enough Love" is a song by Australian rock singer, Jimmy Barnes. It was released in October 1987 as the first single from Barnes' 1987 album, Freight Train Heart. It was his first Australian No. 1 hit single and reached No. 4 on the New Zealand Singles Chart. In the United States it was issued in the following year, which peaked at No. 91 on the Billboard Hot 100 in July 1988. It featured back-up vocals by Venetta Fields, as well as Wendy Matthews, who later found acclaim as a solo singer.
David Hirschfelder is an Australian musician, film score composer and performer. As a musician he has been a member of Little River Band and John Farnham Band. He has composed film scores for many films, including Strictly Ballroom, Australia, The Railway Man, The Water Diviner and The Dressmaker. He was nominated for Academy Awards for his scores for Shine and Elizabeth.
John Farnham, billed under stage name Johnny Farnham from 1964 until 1979, is a British-born Australian pop singer who has released 21 studio albums, 6 live albums, 3 soundtracks, 19 compilation albums, 13 video albums, 3 extended plays and 74 singles.
Looking Through A Tear is the third studio album by Australian pop singer Johnny Farnham, the title of which relates to a song on the album, which is a cover of an Aretha Franklin number. it was released in Australia by EMI Records in July 1970. Farnham's covers of Harry Nilsson's penned "One" which became a hit for Three Dog Night and a cover B. J. Thomas' single "Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head" were released as singles, and helped to propel the album to No. 11 on the Australian Kent Music Report Album Charts. "One"/"Mr. Whippy" was released as a double A-side in July 1969 and peaked at No. 4 on the Go-Set National Singles Charts. "Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head" was released in November and peaked at No. 1 for seven weeks in January–March 1970. Farnham wrote two songs for the album.
Johnny is the fifth studio album by Australian pop singer John Farnham, which was released on HMV for EMI Records in August 1971. It peaked at No. 24 on the Australian Kent Music Report Albums Charts. Farnham had earlier No. 1 singles with "Sadie " in 1968 and his cover of "Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head" in 1970; a non-album single, "Acapulco Sun" was released in May 1971 but there were no charting singles from Johnny. The album features compositions from artists as diverse as George Harrison, Elton John, Stevie Wonder, Joe South and George Gershwin and Ira Gershwin.
Together is a studio album of duets by Australian pop singers John Farnham and Allison Durbin, which was released on HMV for EMI Records in September 1971. It peaked at No. 20 on the Australian Go-Set's Albums Chart.
"Just Like Fire Would" is a song by Australian alternative rock band, the Saints, which is written by the band's lead singer, Chris Bailey, and was released as a single in March 1986. It was the lead single from their seventh studio album, All Fools Day, and peaked at No. 29 on the Kent Music Report Singles Chart. It was produced by Hugh Jones, who had co-produced the album with Bailey. AllMusic's John Dougan reviewed All Fools Day and opined, "One listen to songs as grabbing as 'Celtic Ballad' or the great 'Just Like Fire Would' will convince you that despite the differences, the new Saints were a good band for completely different reasons than the old Saints."
Kevin Gullifer Hopkins-Smith, who performed as Little Gulliver and Gulliver Smith, was an Australian singer and songwriter from the early 1960s to mid-2000s. He was the front man and founding mainstay vocalist of Company Caine. In 1976 he and Ross Wilson co-wrote "A Touch of Paradise" for Wilson's group, Mondo Rock, which appeared on their third album, Nuovo Mondo. It was covered by John Farnham on his album, Whispering Jack, and was issued as its third single in February 1987, which reached the top 30 on the Kent Music Report Singles Chart.
"Pressure Down" is a song written by Harry Bogdanovs, recorded by Australian singer John Farnham. The song was released as the second single from his 1986 album Whispering Jack.
"Reasons" is a song written by Sam See recorded by Australian singer John Farnham. The song was released as the fourth and final single from his album Whispering Jack (1986).
"Come Said the Boy" is a song by Australian rock band Mondo Rock, released in November 1983 as the lead single from the band's fourth studio album The Modern Bop (1984). The song became the band's highest-charting single, peaking at number 2 on the Kent Music Report. It was written by the group's lead guitarist, Eric McCusker, and was co-produced by John Sayers and the band.
