John Farnham

John Peter Farnham (born July 1, 1949), is an Australian pop singer. Whilst not having the international success of, for example, Kylie Minogue, Delta Goodrem, Steve Irwin, and Jimmy Barnes, domestically he has remained one of Australia's best-known performers over a career spanning more than 30 years.

Early life and career

Born in Dagenham, Essex, England (on the outer north-eastern suburbs of London), Farnham spent the first years of his life there before immigrating to Australia in 1959. An undistinguished student, he began a plumbing apprenticeship before taking leave from that to pursue music.

Related Topics:
Dagenham - Essex - England

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His first commercially-successful recording was a novelty song entitled "Sadie the Cleaning Lady", in 1968, which sold 180,000 copies in Australia, the largest-selling single by an Australian artist of the decade. The clean-cut pop star made several more successful albums, but by the 1970s his recording career began to dwindle and he turned to television, appearing in a situation comedy and narrating documentaries, whilst singing in clubs. He also performed in a number of musicals and in the Australian television comedy series Bobby Dazzler as the leading character of the same name. His one recording hit in this period was a reworking of the Beatles' "Help!" in 1980.

Related Topics:
1970s - Musical - Australian television - Bobby Dazzler - The Beatles

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