Jimmy Barnes: Working Class Man Aug 21, 2025

After finding fame with pub rock legends Cold Chisel, Jimmy Barnes became an Australian icon through the success of his solo career. Having escaped his hard-knocks upbringing, married the love of his life and released a string of number-one albums, the man known across the country simply as 'Barnesy' had seemingly made it. But financial issues, heavy drug use, gruelling tours, a failure to crack the US and the spectre of childhood trauma all still weighed upon him, eventually finding their release in words – as this intimate new account reveals.