Some careers don’t fully hit peak level until a performer is close to middle age, and that is a wonderful thing. Australian singing icon John Farnham is a classic example of someone whose persistence in his career paid off in bigger dividends later on. In fact, his career blew up when he was 37 years old, something that was a bit more common back in the 1980s than it would be today. And when he did go big, he went global.
Videos by American Songwriter
Originally a member of The Mavericks and then Strings Unlimited starting in 1964, Farnham went solo in 1967 around the age of 18. While his album sales didn’t soar at first, he scored a No. 1 Aussie hit with the cover of American novelty song “Sadie (The Cleaning Lady)” in 1967. Only four of his first 10 albums broke the Top 40 in Australia—with two going Top 20—and he scored seven Top-10 singles, including a cover of The Beatles’ “Help!” and another No. 1 with a cover of Burt Bacharach and Hal David’s “Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head.” He also made various musical theater and television appearances.
Things progressed more in the ‘80s. His 11th album Uncovered (1980), his first to go Gold there, was the first billed as John Farnham and not his teen-idol name of Johnny Farnham. Between 1982 and 1987 he was the singer for the Aussie rock group Little River Band, with whom he recorded the albums The Net (1983) and Playing to Win (1985). They did not fare as well as their previous four albums, two that were Gold-certified and two that went Platinum in America, but he did get to tour the U.S. with them.
Farnham ultimately felt uncomfortable in the LRB frontman slot and wanted to recharge his solo career which he set about doing in 1986. The only recent notable hit he had was “Help!” in 1980 and before that, “Everything Is Out of Season” in 1973. He needed that all-important comeback single to return to prominence. And he found it.
The Comeback Single
The key to his breakthrough success was “You’re the Voice,” a rousing anthem about solidarity and hope amidst all the strife in the world, and the ability of people to make positive change. This was the era of the Cold War. The song was co-written by four people: Icehouse keyboardist Andy Qunta, Manfred Mann’s Earth Band vocalist/guitarist Chris Thompson, British singer/songwriter Maggie Ryder, and Procol Harum’s main lyricist Keith Reid. The song was inspired by the anti-nuclear protests in London’s Hyde Park in 1985 in which 100,000 people attended.
After allegedly scouring over 2,000 songs (including “We Built This City”) for a possible hit, Farnham was very keen to do this song. Qunta had passed a demo of the song onto him, but Thompson was not convinced because he only knew of Farnham’s original hit back in the late ‘60s. In fact, he refused Farnham permission to record the song, but the singer didn’t care. He was in a very serious state of debt, so he made a basement a demo in his basement, replacing the base in the middle section with bagpipes that ended up being one of the most distinct parts of the song. He recorded the song, but after all the majors Down Under passed on him, Farnham’s manager Glenn Wheatley remortgaged his own home and started the Wheatley label to release the song and the Whispering Jack album. That’s commitment.
The Payoff
The singer’s instincts paid off. Released in September 1986, the song gradually turned into a massive hit around the world over the next few months and into 1987, despite lack of initial Australian industry support. It went No. 1 in Australia, Sweden, and West Germany. It went Top 10 in the UK, Ireland, Austria, Denmark, and Switzerland. It went Top 20 in Canada, New Zealand, the Netherlands, and Belgium. The smash success of that song, plus the follow-up single “Pressure Down,” ultimately pushed sales of the Whispering Jack album to 24 times-Platinum in Australia. With each Platinum unit equaling 70,000 units there, that amounts to nearly 1.7 million units. In America, such certification would mean 24 million units, or one copy for every 10 citizens at the time. In Australia (population of 16 million then), that would have meant it had an equivalent cultural impact.
The video for “You’re The Voice” featured well-known Aussie names: actress Jackie Weaver, media personality Derryn Hinch, and members of Pseudo Echo and Skyhooks. None of them appeared on the song, but their presence helped the video get more attention, especially as Aussie radio was allegedly hesitant to play a new single from “Johnny Farnham.” But the singer had surpassed the teen-idol tag, and many later dubbed “You’re The Voice” the unofficial Australian national anthem. The promo clip also included black-and-white war footage and Farnham gliding past a line of people representing different backgrounds.
We have the chance to turn the pages over
We can write what we want to write
We gotta make ends meet, before we get much older
We’re all someone’s daughter
We’re all someone’s son
How long can we look at each other
Down the barrel of a gun?
You’re the voice, try and understand it
Make a noise and make it clear
Oh, whoa
We’re not gonna sit in silence
We’re not gonna live with fear
Oh, whoa
The Impact of “You’re the Voice”
In Australia, “You’re the Voice” turned Farnham into a superstar. Eight of his next nine studio albums went double-Platinum to 11-times Platinum, and all of them hit No. 1 or No. 2 on the albums chart. He has since released numerous multi-Platinum compilations and live albums there too. Farnham would later score another No. 1 Aussie hit, “Age of Reason,” and nine more Top-10 hits in the years to come. One could compare his comeback there to that of Tina Turner here. He even toured Europe.
Oddly enough, “You’re the Voice” only reached No. 82 in America in a 1990 release. Heart recorded a concert version for their Rock the House Live! album, which went to No. 20 on Billboard’s Mainstream Rock radio chart in 1991. The truth is, its message likely resonated more with Europeans and Australians who were dealing with political and even military strife far different than isolationist America, which was caught up in the thralls of Reagan-era optimism. “You’re the Voice” certainly resonates much more with America in 2024.
Song Featured in Self-Made Harris Ad; Goes Viral
In fact, a Democrat on Twitter posted a self-made ad endorsing Kamala Harris that features the song, and it has gone viral with 200,000 views. Farnham lent the song to the campaign supporting the Yes vote for the Indigenous Voice to Parliament referendum in Australia last year. It has had that immense staying power.
Farnham joined Coldplay for a great rendition of “You’re the Voice” in 2009 to an entire stadium full of young people for the Sound of Relief concert in Sydney. And, in her recent documentary, Celine Dion, who performed the song in Melbourne with him in 2018, gushed about her admiration for his vocal power. She also appeared in the recent documentary about his life, John Farnham: Finding the Voice.
Farnham has been suffering health problems in recent years and has stepped out of the public spotlight, but here is hoping he recovers soon. No doubt he’s beaming with pride at far how his inspired performance of this song has traveled nearly four decades later.
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.
Photo by Eugene Adebari/Shutterstock
Leave a Reply
Only members can comment. Become a member. Already a member? Log in.