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From : aarontrinidad
Added: Nov 5, 2009
John Peter Farnham was born on July 1st, 1949 in Millend Hospital, Essex, England weighing a healthy five pound one ounce. He and his family lived in Dagenham, Essex for the first ten years of his life. John always had music around him, there may have been little money in the Farnham household but there was plenty of love and sing-a-longs. John's Grandad could strike a tune on almost any instrument and his Uncle Alf would lull him to sleep playing record after record. John had pneumonia when he was six and was confined to bed. His Uncle Alf gave him a record player and one record - Jim Reeves singing 'He'll Have A Go'. John's first musical instrument followed shortly after and was a plastic, four string guitar. In 1959 John's parents John snr.,and Rose, John and his sisters Jean and Jackie emigrated to Australia. They travelled on the P&O Liner Orsova which sailed from Southampton. John also has a brother Steven who was born in Australia. When the Farnham's arrived in Australia they stayed with John's Aunt Mary in Yarraman Park in Victoria. John atended Yarraman State Scool and Lyndale Primary School. His first experience as an entertainer was a concert night at school, he performed Elvis Presley's 'Wooden Heart'. The night didn't go well, his guitar was out of tune. By the end of the performance the audience was yelling for him to get off - an interesting start to his show business career! John's first real step towards a musical career was when he and two school friends formed a band called 'The Mavericks'. They didn't know many numbers but managed to get a few gigs at school socials. They all progressed to Lyndale High School together and the group regularly played at school concerts and at the Dandenong Town Hall. During School holidays John worked with family friend Stan Foster in his plumbing business. He didn't enjoy school for several reasons and took up the opportunity to leave and begin a plumbing apprenticeship with Stan. John's mathematics score was lower than needed to grant his permit. A kind assistant in the Commission changed the score and and he was granted his apprenticeship. Eventually John would take a two year leave of absence from his plumbing job to pursue his singing career. He never returned to it. John had overwhelming success in the sixties as a pop singer. The hits and awards just kept coming. Farnham was the most popular singer in the country. He could do no wrong. The hits continued into the seventies and so did the awards. In 1971 he starring in the musical 'Charlie Girl'. Fame comes at a price. Two death threats were made against him. John met and proposed to Jillian Billman during the production of 'Charlie Girl' and they were married on April 18th, 1973 at St. Matthew's Church of England in the Melbourne suburb of Glenroy. John spent 1974 starring in the musical 'Pippin'. His popularity was still high at this time but his singles were failing to chart. Despite initial plans to go to the United States to give his career a boos, John decided that he would stay in Australia. He made several appearances on television shows. In early 1976 John and his manager Darryl Sambell split, he approached Kenn Brodziak to be his mamager. John continued in television roles and released more singles. His career was picking up again. Danny Finlay took over as John's manager in 1978. John and Colleen Hewitt purchased a restaurant in Melbourne. It led to personal and financial losses. In 1979 John and Jill's first son, Robert was born. It was at this time that Glenn Wheatley took over as John's manager. 1980 saw the release of John's 'comeback' album, Uncovered. John joined the Little River Band in 1981. LRB released 3 albums and toured the world. They received popular acclaim, but after what was four turbulent years, John announced he was leaving the band to pursue a solo career.
Category : Music

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