Jimmy Barnes

Person · Male

Jimmy Barnes

Australian rock singer-songwriter, frontman of Cold Chisel

From
Glasgow, Australia
Since
1956–present
Rating
★ 5 (1 votes)
Releases
62
  • hard rock
  • rock
  • soul

About

James Dixon Barnes (né Swan; born 28 April 1956) is an Australian rock singer. His career, both as a solo performer and as the lead vocalist with the rock band Cold Chisel, has made him one of the most popular and best-selling Australian music artists of all time. By 2022 he had achieved 16 solo number-one albums in Australia, more than any other artist. In 2005 he was inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame as a solo artist, after also having been an inductee in 1992 as a member of Cold Chisel. His music has covered many genres, including hard rock, blues rock, soul, R&B, country, country rock, and electronic.

Read more

Several of his children are musicians who have on occasion joined him on stage, including his son Jackie (a drummer), daughters Mahalia, Eliza-Jane ("EJ"), and Elly-May, and son David Campbell (all singers). His wife Jane formed the Jane Barnes Band in the family home during the COVID-19 lockdowns, which in 2023 toured Australia.
Barnes' first memoir, which told of his poverty-stricken and traumatic childhood years, Working Class Boy (2016), was followed by a sequel published the following year, Working Class Man. For these, he won the Biography of the Year award at the Australian Book Industry Awards for two consecutive years.

From Jimmy Barnes on Wikipedia, under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Member of

Discography

Albums 23
EPs 2
Singles 16
Live 10
Compilations 8
Other 3

Links

Married

Parent

Sibling

Also known as

James Dixon Swan · Jim Barnes · Jimmy Barns

Tags

  • aln-sh
  • blues-rock
  • rhythm and blues

Identifiers

ISNI
000000007142790X
IPI
00044138991
IPI
00165618260

Data from MusicBrainz, saved 6 Nov 2026. Photo from Wikimedia Commons, covers from the Cover Art Archive and Apple Music.