Jimmy Barnes

Jimmy Barnes 2006 in Sydney

Jimmy Barnes (born April 28, 1956 in Glasgow , Scotland; born James Dixon Swan ), nicknamed Barnesy , is an Australian rock musician. With 12 number one albums, he is the most successful musician in the Australian charts .

Career

When Jimmy Barnes was four years old, his family emigrated from Scotland to Australia and settled in Adelaide . His original name was James Swan, but he got his new surname from his stepfather from his mother's second marriage.

As a teenager he first played in a band called Tarkus , before joining the musicians who became known beyond Australia as Cold Chisel as a singer when he was 17 years old . At the height of their success, the band split and Barnes immediately embarked on a solo career. Just a few months after the last band album in April 1984 at number one had landed in Australia, he released his solo debut Bodyswerve that it back to the chart peak brought back.

After his second album Working Class Man again landed at number one the following year , he tried to build on the international success he had had with the band. In the USA a new compilation of his first two albums was released under his name as a title and it barely missed the top 100 of the album charts, as did the following album Freight Train Heart , which became its third number one in Australia. For this he was able to place two songs in the Hot 100 in the USA . In Europe, the compilation was released under the title A Week Away from Paradise , but was only able to achieve isolated successes, for example in Sweden, where this and the follow-up album came into the top 25.

In Great Britain Jimmy Barnes had only one hit, a cover version of the Easybeats song Good Times recorded with the band INXS , which also comes from the soundtrack of the film The Lost Boys . It hit the UK charts in 1987 and was even a number one hit in New Zealand. In the same year he also had his only number one hit in Australia with Too Much Ain't Enough Love among his twelve top 10 hits to date. In the US, it was a number 3 hit on the mainstream rock charts.

While he could not maintain international success, the series of his top albums continued. With the live LP Barnestorming , Two Fires and Soul Deep , he continued his series of number one albums until 1991. The latter album is reminiscent of the soul and R&B of the 60s and contains cover versions of old hits, some together with other artists. With John Farnham , for example, he recorded When Something Is Wrong with My Baby , which reached number three as a single. With Tina Turner he recorded their old hit River Deep, Mountain High , which appeared on single together with a joint recording of Turner's then current hit Simply the Best . With over 600,000 copies sold, Soul Deep was Barnes' most successful album and the best-selling album of the year in Australia.

Although the success continued through the entire 90s and the following three albums again all landed at number two on the Australian charts, his careless handling of money and his lavish productions and tours brought him into financial difficulties, so that he owned his property in the mid-90s had to sell and temporarily move abroad.

Throughout his solo time there were repeated rumors of a reunion of Cold Chisel and again and again old recordings and compilations of the band had success in the charts. And in 1997 there was actually a new edition that led to the number one album The Last Wave of Summer . After that there was always one or the other joint appearance with the old bandmates, but in 1999 Jimmy Barnes continued his solo career with the album Love and Fear . The following year he followed up on the 1991 soul album with Soul Deeper . Internationally he was seen in 2000 with an appearance at the closing ceremony of the Olympic Games in Sydney. This was followed by his first long break.

It wasn't until 2005 that his next album, Double Happiness , was released, which only contains songs sung in duets, some of them with his own children. In the album charts, he reached number one for the eighth time after the best-of album Hits in 1996. And after joining Cold Chisel in 1993, he was inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame as a solo artist that year .

Despite a heart operation, a new album was released in 2007, Out in the Blue , and The Rhythm and the Blues followed two years later . This was the ninth time he reached number one in the Australian album charts, making him the sole record holder among local artists.

Discography

Albums

Studio albums

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)			Remarks
		AU	NZ	US
1984	Bodyswerve	AU1 × 2 Double platinum AU	-	-
1985	For the Working Class Man	AU1 × 7 Seven times platinum AU	-	-
1986	Jimmy Barnes / A Week Away from Paradise	-	-	US109 (16 weeks) US	in the US as Jimmy Barnes , in Europe as A Week Away from Paradise published
1987	Freight Train Heart	AU1 × 5 Quintuple platinum (… Where.)AU	NZ5 platinum (28 weeks)NZ	US104 (15 weeks) US
1990	Two fires	AU1 × 6 Six-fold platinum (60 weeks)AU	NZ1 platinum (49 weeks)NZ	-
1991	Soul deep	AU1 × 10 Tenfold platinum (36 weeks)AU	NZ3 platinum (33 weeks)NZ	-
1993	Heat	AU2 (24 weeks) AU	NZ3 gold (13 weeks)NZ	-
	Flesh and Wood	AU2 × 3 Triple platinum (16 weeks)AU	NZ9 gold (8 weeks)NZ	-
1995	Psyclone	AU2 (5 weeks) AU	NZ38 (6 weeks) NZ	-
1999	Love and Fear	AU22nd gold (3 weeks)AU	-	-
2000	Soul Deeper… Songs from the Deep South	AU3 platinum (11 weeks)AU	NZ15th platinum (4 weeks)NZ	-
2005	Double happiness	AU1 platinum (16 weeks)AU	NZ29 (2 weeks) NZ	-
2007	Out in the blue	AU3 platinum (8 weeks)AU	-	-
2009	The rhythm and the blues	AU1 platinum (15 weeks)AU	-	-
2010	Rage and Ruin	AU3 gold (9 weeks)AU	NZ20 (2 weeks) NZ	-
2014	30:30 Hindsight	AU1 platinum (24 weeks)AU	NZ20 (5 weeks) NZ	-
2016	Soul searchin '	AU1 (14 weeks) AU	-	-
2017	Oh Aye the G'nu	AU34 (1 week) AU	-	-	with The Wiggles
2019	My Criminal Record	AU1 (9 weeks) AU	-	-

Live albums

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)			Remarks
		AU	NZ	US
1988	Barnestorming	AU1 × 5 Quintuple platinum (19 weeks)AU	NZ1 platinum (12 weeks)NZ	-
2019	My Criminal Record / Modus Operandi	AU48 (1 week) AU	-	-

More live albums

• 1995: Euro Summer '94
• 2001: Raw / Raw - Live in Concert
• 2001: Double Jeopardy
• 2002: Live at the Chapel (Unplugged)
• 2003: Soul Deeper Live at the Basement
• 2004: Ride the Night Away - Live Shepherds Bush Empire 2001
• 2006: Live at Lizottes
• 2006: Live in London !! August '06
• 2006: Live in Concert !!
• 2008: Live at the Sydney Opera House - Max Sessions
• 2008: Live at the Playroom '84
• 2009: Live at the Enmore

Compilation albums

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)			Remarks
		AU	NZ	US
1996	Hits	AU1 × 6 Six-fold platinum (27 weeks)AU	-	-
	Barnes Hits Anthology	-	NZ3 (22 weeks) NZ	-
2003	The Soul Sessions	AU23 (4 weeks) AU	-	-
2015	The Best of the Soul Years	AU3 (6 weeks) AU	-	-
2018	Working Class Boy - The Soundtracks	AU3 (5 weeks) AU	-	-

More compilation albums

• 2006: In the Heat of the Night
• 2007: 50
• 2016: Soul Searchin: 7in Singles Box

Singles

year	Title album	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes)				Remarks
		AU	NZ	UK	US
1984	No Second Prize Bodyswerve	AU11?AU	NZ49 (1 week) NZ	-	-
1985	Daylight	AU14thAU	-	-	-
	I'd Die to Be with You Tonight Jimmy Barnes	AU4thAU	NZ16 (12 weeks) NZ	-	-
1986	Working Class Man Jimmy Barnes	AU7thAU	NZ36 (7 weeks) NZ	-	US74 (8 weeks) US
	Ride the Night Away Jimmy Barnes	AU40AU	-	-	-
1987	Good Times The Lost Boys Soundtrack	AU2AU	NZ1 (17 weeks) NZ	UK18 (8 weeks) UK	US47 (13 weeks) US	with INXS , cover version of The Easybeats - Good Times
	Too Much Ain't Enough Love Freight Train Heart	AU1AU	NZ4 (13 weeks) NZ	-	US91 (2 weeks) US
1988	Driving Wheels Freight Train Heart	AU4thAU	NZ19 (15 weeks) NZ	-	-
	Waitin 'for the Heartache Freight Train Heart	AU33 (6 weeks) AU	-	-	-
	When a Man Loves a Woman Barnestorming	AU3 (12 weeks) AU	NZ11 (11 weeks) NZ	-	-	Cover version of Percy Sledge - When a Man Loves a Woman
1989	Last Frontier Barnestorming	AU31 (4 weeks) AU	-	-	-
1990	Lay Down Your Guns Two Fires	AU4 (18 weeks) AU	NZ12 (16 weeks) NZ	-	-
	Let's Make It Last All Night Two Fires	AU12 (11 weeks) AU	-	-	-
1991	Little Darling Two Fires	AU39 (6 weeks) AU	-	-	-
	When Your Love Is Gone Two Fires	AU7 (18 weeks) AU	NZ17 (11 weeks) NZ	-	-
	Love Is Enough Two Fires	AU48 (2 weeks) AU	NZ42 (3 weeks) NZ	-	-
	I gotcha soul deep	AU6 (13 weeks) AU	NZ27 (6 weeks) NZ	-	-
	When Something Is Wrong with My Baby Soul Deep	AU3 (12 weeks) AU	NZ6th gold (10 weeks)NZ	-	-	with John Farnham
1992	Ain't No Mountain High Enough Soul Deep	AU28 (10 weeks) AU	NZ45 (3 weeks) NZ	-	-
	Simply the best hits	AU14 (9 weeks) AU	NZ11 (10 weeks) NZ	-	-	with Tina Turner , cover version of Bonnie Tyler - The Best
1993	Sweat It Out Heat	AU11 (5 weeks) AU	NZ30 (5 weeks) NZ	-	-
	Stand up heat	AU41 (3 weeks) AU	-	-	-
	Stone Cold Heat	AU4 (16 weeks) AU	NZ14 (6 weeks) NZ	-	-
	Right by Your Side Heat	AU43 (3 weeks) AU	-	-	-
	The Weight Flesh and Wood	AU6 (11 weeks) AU	NZ41 (3 weeks) NZ	-	-	with the badloves
1995	Change of Heart Psyclone	AU17 (8 weeks) AU	NZ31 (4 weeks) NZ	-	-
1996	Lover lover hits	AU6 (10 weeks) AU	NZ13 (6 weeks) NZ	-	-
1997	Never give you up	AU33 (3 weeks) AU	-	-	-
2000	Chain of Fools Soul Deeper ... Songs from the Deep South	AU15 (4 weeks) AU	-	-	-
2005	Twelve Days of Christmas	AU26 (4 weeks) AU	-	-	-	as part of the Dreamtime Christmas All-Stars
	Sit on My Knee Double Happiness	AU14 (5 weeks) AU	-	-	-	with Dallas Crane
	Gonna Take Some Time Double Happiness	AU31 (5 weeks) AU	-	-	-	with Mahalia Barnes
2006	Out of Time Double Happiness	AU50 (1 week) AU	-	-	-	with Tim Rogers

More singles

• 1984: Promise Me You'll Call
• 1995: Come Undone

Awards for music sales

Note: Awards in countries from the chart tables or chart boxes can be found in these.

Country / Region	gold	platinum	Sales	swell
Awards for music sales (country / region, awards, sales, sources)
Australia (ARIA)	2 × gold2	49 × platinum49	3,500,000	aria.com.au
New Zealand (RMNZ)	3 × gold3	5 × platinum5	97,500	Individual evidence
All in all	5 × gold5	54 × platinum54

swell

1. ↑ The Border Mail: Barnesy back to the Border
2. ↑ My Criminal Record Gives Jimmy Barnes Record-Breaking 12th # 1 Album , Aria, June 8, 2019
3. ↑ Jimmy Barnes in the Swedish charts on Swedishcharts.com
4. ^ ARIA Hall of Fame
5. ↑ Kathy McCabe: Jimmy Barnes' The Rhythm And The Blues album debts at No. 1 - his ninth number one. In: The Daily Telegraph . September 8, 2009. Retrieved May 8, 2017 . 
6. ↑ ^{a b c d} chart sources:
   • Jimmy Barnes in the Australian charts on Australian-Charts.com (from June 1988)
   • Jimmy Barnes in the New Zealand charts on Charts.org.nz (from 1994)
   • Jimmy Barnes in the Official UK Charts (English)
   • Jimmy Barnes on Billboard 's US charts
7. ^ Good Times in The Lost Boys Soundtrack in the Internet Movie Database

Web links

• official website (English)
• Biography at ICMI (English) ( Memento from 1 November 2011 at the Internet Archive )
• Jimmy Barnes at Allmusic (English)