Andrew Farriss
AM
Farriss performing at the Gympie Muster in 2019
Farriss performing at the Gympie Muster in 2019
Background information
Birth nameAndrew Charles Farriss
Born (1959-03-27) 27 March 1959
Perth, Western Australia
Genres
Occupation(s)Musician
Instrument(s)
  • Keyboards
  • guitar
  • harmonica
  • vocals
Years active1977–present
LabelsVarious labels
Formerly ofINXS

Andrew Charles Farriss AM (born 27 March 1959) 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.

Career

Andrew Charles Farriss was born on 27 March 1959 in Perth, Western Australia, to Dennis and Jill Farriss, and is the second oldest of four children: he has two brothers, Tim (born 1957) and Jon (born 1961), and a sister, Alison.[3] At the age of five years, Farriss, and his family had a holiday in London where they saw a performance by The Beatles.[3] In 1971 the Farriss family relocated to Sydney, where he attended Davidson High School. With Tim taking up guitar lessons, Farriss "had instinctively taken to playing piano", and Jon played drums.[3] At school Farriss met Michael Hutchence after preventing a fight with another student.[3] The two became friends and in 1976 Hutchence, on lead vocals, joined his band, Doctor Dolphin.[3][4] The line up included two other classmates, Kent Kerny and Neil Sanders and, from the nearby Forest High School a bass guitarist, Garry Beers, and Geoff Kennely.[4]

Farriss is credited solely with keyboards on the band's earliest albums, but by 1984's The Swing, he was listed as playing guitar as well. On stage, he also plays harmonica and various hand-held percussion instruments.

While INXS' early albums credit the band as songwriters, by their third album, Shabooh Shoobah, the team of Farriss as composer and Hutchence as lyricist was well established for most of the band's material. While there were some INXS songs written by other members of the group, or by Farriss alone, it was this Farriss-Hutchence duo that brought INXS the majority of their international success in the 1980s and 1990s. In fact, Farriss co-wrote all but one of the band's top-40 hits in the US.

Despite extensive writing, recording and touring commitments with INXS, Farriss collaborated with many other Australian artists in a songwriting or production capacity. His most significant early collaboration was with Jenny Morris, a New Zealand singer who had sung back-up vocals on INXS' 1985 hit album, Listen Like Thieves. Farriss has also co-written and produced with the Australian Aboriginal band Yothu Yindi, Australian country singer Tania Kernaghan and Scottish rockers Gun. At the ARIA Music Awards of 1990 he won Producer of the Year for his work on the Jenny Morris album Shiver.[5][6]

In 2005, INXS launched a reality TV show, Rock Star: INXS, a worldwide search for a new lead singer. While all of INXS knew it would be impossible to replace Michael Hutchence, who died in 1997, they wished to carry on bringing their music to the world.

In 2016, Farriss was inducted into the Australian Songwriters Hall of Fame.[7]

In 2019, Farriss released his debut solo single "Come Midnight".[8] In January 2020 he released his second single "Good Momma Bad".[9] He has performed solo at the Hay Mate drought relief concert, the Gympie Muster, the Tamworth Country Music Festival, and the Bluebird Cafe in Nashville. On 28 August 2020 Farriss released his single "All the Stars Are Mine" and announced his EP Love Makes the World, which was released on 2 October 2020.

On 26 January 2020 Farriss was awarded with the Member of the Order of Australia.[10]

Farriss released his debut, self-titled album in March 2021.

Personal life

Farriss married Shelley Blanks on 22 April 1989 (divorced 2012). The couple have three children.

In the official INXS autobiography Story to Story, Farriss describes his dislike of touring and being away from his family.

Farriss married Marlina Neeley in October 2013. The couple live on a cattle farm in the Tamworth Region of New South Wales.[11]

Discography

Albums

Title Details Peak chart positions
AUS
country
[12]
Andrew Farriss
  • Released: 19 March 2021[13]
  • Label: Rockingham Holdings, BMG Australia
 5[14]

Extended plays

Title Details
Love Makes the World
  • Released: 2 October 2020[15]
  • Label: Rockingham Holdings, BMG Australia

Singles

Title Year Album
"Come Midnight"[8] 2019 Andrew Farriss
"Good Momma Bad"[16] 2020
"All the Stars are Mine"[17] Love Makes the World
"Love Makes the World"[18]
"Run Baby Run"[19] 2021 Andrew Farriss

Awards and nominations

APRA Awards

The APRA Awards are presented annually from 1982 by the Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA), "honouring composers and songwriters". They commenced in 1982.[20]

Year Nominee / work Award Result Ref.
2021 "Break My Heart" by Dua Lipa (Andrew Farriss, Michael Hutchence, Dua Lipa, Jordan Johnson, Stefan Johnson, Ali Tamposi, Andrew Watt) Song of the Year Shortlisted [21]
Most Performed Pop Work Nominated [22]
Most Performed Australian Work Nominated

ARIA Music Awards

The ARIA Music Awards is an annual awards ceremony that recognises excellence, innovation, and achievement across all genres of Australian music.

Year Nominee / work Award Result
1990 Andrew Farriss for Shiver by Jenny Morris ARIA Award for Producer of the Year Won

Australian Songwriter's Hall of Fame

The Australian Songwriters Hall of Fame was established in 2004 to honour the lifetime achievements of some of Australia's greatest songwriters.[23]

Year Nominee / work Award Result
2016 Himself Australian Songwriter's Hall of Fame inducted

Countdown Australian Music Awards

Countdown was an Australian pop music TV series on national broadcaster ABC-TV from 1974 to 1987, it presented music awards from 1979 to 1987, initially in conjunction with magazine TV Week. The TV Week / Countdown Awards were a combination of popular-voted and peer-voted awards.[24]

Year Nominee / work Award Result
1984 Himself (with Michael Hutchence) Best Songwriter Won

West Australian Music Industry Awards

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).[25]

Year Nominee / work Award Result
2008 The Farriss Brothers (Andrew, Tim and Jon) Hall of Fame inducted

References

  1. ↑ "Bio". andrewfarriss. Retrieved 5 March 2021.
  2. ↑ "New Single "All the Stars are Mine"". therockpit. 2020. Retrieved 5 March 2021.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Nimmervoll, Ed. "INXS". Howlspace – The Living History of Our Music. White Room Electronic Publishing Pty Ltd (Ed Nimmervoll). Archived from the original on 26 July 2012. Retrieved 29 September 2014.
  4. 1 2 St John, Ed (1998). Burn : The life and times of Michael Hutchence and INXS. Sydney: Bantam Books. ISBN 0-7338-0182-X.
  5. ↑ "Winners by Award – Producer of the Year". Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA). Retrieved 5 November 2016.
  6. ↑ "17th Annual ARIA Awards". Australian Recording Industry Association. Archived from the original on 22 February 2004. Retrieved 5 November 2016. Note: User may be required to access archived information by selecting 'The History', then 'By Award', 'Producer of the Year' and 'Option Show Nominations'.
  7. ↑ "ASA Hall of Fame | Australian Songwriters Association".
  8. 1 2 "Andrew Farriss To Release Country Album for his Solo Debut". noise11. 1 August 2019. Retrieved 13 August 2019.
  9. ↑ "Andrew Farriss' Second Single Released Today and Yes Sir, He's Two from Two".
  10. ↑ "INXS Legend Andrew Farriss on his Recent Australia Day Honour". Noise11. 30 January 2020. Retrieved 5 March 2021.
  11. ↑ "Andrew Farriss releases the western-flavoured 'Come Midnight' music video". 12 August 2019.
  12. ↑ "ARIA Country Albums Chart" (PDF). 29 March 2021. Retrieved 26 March 2021.
  13. ↑ "Andrew Farriss (DD)". Apple Music. Retrieved 5 March 2021.
  14. ↑ "ARIA Australian Country Albums Chart".
  15. ↑ "Love Makes the World (EP)". Apple Music. Retrieved 31 August 2020.
  16. ↑ "Songwriter Andrew Farriss releases second single 'Come Midnight'". Voxy. 17 January 2020. Retrieved 17 January 2020.
  17. ↑ "Andrew Farriss releases new single "All The Stars Are Mine"". The Rock Pit. 28 August 2020. Retrieved 31 August 2020.
  18. ↑ "Andrew Farriss releases "Love Makes the World"; the second single from his EP, Love Makes the World, out now". YouTube. 20 November 2020. Archived from the original on 19 December 2021. Retrieved 5 March 2021.
  19. ↑ "So happy to share the first single off my upcoming self-titled album "Run Baby Run" is out Now". Twitter. 5 March 2021. Retrieved 5 March 2021.
  20. ↑ "APRA History". Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA) | Australasian Mechanical Copyright Owners Society (AMCOS). Retrieved 25 April 2022.
  21. ↑ "One of these songs will be the Peer-Voted APRA Song of the Year!". APRA AMCOS. 3 February 2021. Retrieved 26 April 2022.
  22. ↑ "Nominees announced for the 2021 APRA Music Awards". APRA AMCOS. 2021. Retrieved 31 March 2021.
  23. ↑ "Hall of Fame". asai. Retrieved 17 September 2020.
  24. ↑ "Countdown to the Awards" (Portable document format (PDF)). Countdown Magazine. Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). March 1987. Retrieved 16 December 2010.
  25. ↑ 2007 West Australian Music Industry Award Winners Archived 2008-07-22 at the Wayback Machine
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