Michael Hutchence

His paternal grandparents were an English couple who had relocated to Sydney in 1922, while his maternal grandfather was an Irish man from County Cork.

Following Kell's business interests, the Hutchence family moved to Brisbane, where Hutchence's younger brother Rhett was born.

They later left Australia for Hong Kong.

During the early years in Hong Kong, both boys attended Glenealy Junior School and Beacon Hill School.

Hutchence showed promise as a swimmer before badly breaking his arm.

He then began to show interest in poetry and performed his first song in a local toy store commercial.

He later attended King George V School during his early teens.

Michael Kelland John Hutchence (22 January 1960 – 22 November 1997) was an Australian singer, songwriter, and actor.

Michael Kelland John Hutchence was born in the Crows Nest suburb of Sydney on 22 January 1960, the son of make-up artist Patricia Glassop and businessman Kelland Frank "Kell" Hutchence.

He had an elder half-sister named Tina.

The family returned to Sydney in 1972, buying a house in Belrose.

Hutchence attended Davidson High School, where he met and befriended Andrew Farriss.

Around this time, the two spent a lot of time jamming with Farriss' brothers Tim and Jon in the garage.

Farriss convinced Hutchence to join his band, Doctor Dolphin, alongside their classmates Kent Kerny and Neil Sanders.

Bassist Garry Beers and drummer Geoff Kennelly from nearby Forest High School completed the line-up.

Hutchence's parents separated when he was 15, and he lived with his mother and half-sister in California for a short time in 1976.

He later returned to Sydney with them.

He was the co-founder, lead singer, and lyricist of the rock band INXS from 1977 until his death in 1997.

In 1977, a new band called the Farriss Brothers was formed with Andrew on keyboards, Tim on lead guitar, and Jon on drums.

Hutchence joined on vocals and Beers on bass, while Kirk Pengilly joined on guitar and saxophone.

The band made their debut on 16 August 1977 at a venue in Whale Beach.

Hutchence, the Farriss brothers, Kerny, Sanders, Beers and Kennelly briefly performed as the Vegetables, singing "We Are the Vegetables".

Ten months later, they returned to Sydney and recorded a set of demos.

The Farriss Brothers regularly supported hard rockers Midnight Oil on the pub rock circuit, and were renamed as INXS in 1979.

Their first performance under the new name was on 1 September at the Oceanview Hotel in Toukley.

In May 1980, the group released their first single, "Simple Simon"/"We Are the Vegetables" which was followed by the debut album INXS in October.

Their first Top 40 Australian hit on the Kent Music Report Singles Chart, "Just Keep Walking", was released in September 1980.

Hutchence became the main spokesman for the band, and co-wrote almost all of the band's songs with Andrew Farriss.

According to Hutchence, most of the songs on the band's second album, Underneath the Colours, were written within a fairly short space of time: "Most bands shudder at the prospect of having 20 years to write their first album and four days to write their second. For us, though, it was good. It left less room for us to go off on all sorts of tangents".

Soon after recording sessions for Underneath the Colours – produced by Richard Clapton – had finished, band members started work on outside projects.

Hutchence recorded "Speed Kills", written by Don Walker of hard rockers Cold Chisel, for the soundtrack to the 1982 film Freedom, directed by Scott Hicks.

It was Hutchence's first solo single and was released by WEA in April 1982.

In March 1985, after Hutchence and INXS recorded their album The Swing (1984), WEA released the Australian version of Dekadance, as a limited edition cassette only EP of six tracks including remixes from the album.

The cassette also included a cover version of Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazlewood's hit "Jackson", which Hutchence sang as a duet with Jenny Morris, a backing singer for The Swing sessions.

The EP reached No 2 on the Kent Music Report Albums Chart.

Hutchence was also a member of the short-lived band Max Q and recorded some solo material, alongside acting in films such as Dogs in Space (1986) and Frankenstein Unbound (1990).

He was known for his string of love affairs with actresses, models, and singers, and his private life was often covered in the international press.

He had a daughter with English television presenter Paula Yates.

Hutchence died by suicide in a Sydney hotel room on 22 November 1997, at the age of 37.

The band sold over 50 million records worldwide and was inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame in 2001.