James Reyne (born
James Michael Nugent Reyne on 19 May 1957 in
Lagos
, Nigeria
) is an
Australian rock
musician and singer/songwriter both as a member of the
iconic 1980s band Australian Crawl
and solo work.
Early years
Born in
Nigeria to an Australian mother and English diplomat
father, the Reynes moved to Victoria
, Australia in the early 1960s. Reyne lived
in Mt.
Eliza, Victoria, was educated at The Peninsula
School
and then went on to study drama at the Victorian
College of Arts
. He formed a band called Spiff Rouch
containing fellow locals Bill McDonough,
Guy McDonough,
Brad Robinson, Paul
Williams, Robert Walker, Mark Hudson and
Simon Binks. By early 1978, Spiff Rouch had
split with Reyne forming Clutch Cargo with Binks, Robinson,
Williams and his younger brother
David
Reyne.
Australian Crawl
In late 1978, Clutch Cargo was renamed
Australian Crawl and started to gain
popularity on the pub circuit. David Reyne left to continue an
acting course and was replaced by Bill McDonough. Australian Crawl
made a memorable debut on popular music TV series
Countdown. Reyne performed
with both arms in plaster casts, a result of injuries sustained
after being hit by a car. The band went on to sell more than 1
million albums in
Australia in the 1980s,
creating several memorable songs that still resonate within
Australian culture and on Australian radio today. Their most
popular songs are "
Reckless", "
Beautiful People",
"
Errol", "
The Boys Light Up", "Things Don't
Seem", "
Oh No Not You Again" and
"
Downhearted". They were voted
Countdown 1981 Most Popular Group and Reyne was 1980 and
1981 Most Popular Male Performer. After the band split up in 1986,
Reyne went on to a successful solo career.
Solo career
Whilst still with the Crawl, Reyne formed a duet with
Lin Buckfield of
Electric Pandas to release a 1985 single
"R.O.C.K." / "Under My Thumb". In 1987, Reyne released his
self titled debut solo album. After
subsequently releasing the hit single "Motors Too Fast", which
reached #6 on the Australian charts, the album was re-packaged with
"Motors Too Fast" replacing the song "Coin in A Plate" which had
appeared on the original version. Ultimately the debut album would
spawn 6 hit singles.His debut was followed, in 1989, by his next
solo release
Hard Reyne which
featured the hits "House of Cards" and "One More River". The album
was launched with a live televised performance on Australia's MTV
program on the Nine Network and an Australian Tour.In 1991
Electric Digger Dandy
was released. Mindful of the American market (where the album was
released under the title of "Any Day Above Ground"), Electric
Digger Dandy included a re-vamped version of the Australian Crawl
hit "Reckless" as well as a cover of John Hiatt's "Stood Up".
Singles off that album included "Slave", "Any Day Above Ground" and
"Some People". In 1992 he recorded a duet with country singer
James Blundell (a cover of
the
The Dingoes song,
Way
Out West). It hit #2 on the Australian charts - still James'
biggest solo single.Later that year he joined former
Sherbet frontman
Daryl Braithwaite, Jef Scott and
Simon Hussey to create the album
Company of Strangers - an album
that spawned four Top 100 singles. All three of these releases went
platinum multiple times and contained several top 10 hits. These
included Motor City (I Get Lost), Sweet Love, Daddy's Gonna Make
You A Star and Baby You're A Rich Man.
1994 saw the release
of James' critically acclaimed fourth album - The Whiff Of Bedlam, recorded in
Los
Angeles
with Stewart Levine
and including the single "Red Light Avenue", "Day In The Sun" and
"It's Only Natural".This was followed in 1999 with the
critically acclaimed
Design For Living, which featured the
sleeper gems "Reno", "Little Criminals" and "Stranger Than
Fiction." Mostly recorded with friend and producer Scott Kingman at
his studio in Melbourne.
In 1999, he was one of many guest performers on
John Farnham's "I Can't Believe He's 50 Tour".
His duet with Farnham, "Don't You Know It's Magic", can be heard on
John Farnham's "Live At The Regent Theatre" album.
2000s/Today
After a few years' break between studio albums, Reyne released
Design For Living in
1999. In 2004 he released
Speedboats for Breakfast,
which included the single "Bug". This was followed in 2005 by the
album
...And The
Horse You Rode In On, which contained acoustic reworkings
of some of best-known solo and Australian Crawl compositions.In
late 2004, Australian dance producers Smash 'n' Grab remixed
Australian Crawl's "Reckless", and
Reyne scored a minor dance hit with the song "She Don't Like
That".
Reyne hosted
Dig, a music show on
ABC2, and made an appearance on
The AFL Footy Show in Melbourne in
2006. However,
Dig was removed from
ABC2's line-up due to budget cuts in 2007.
In May 2007, James Reyne released a new studio album,
Every Man
a King, which features the singles "Light in the Tunnel" and
"Little Man You've Had a Busy Day."
A second acoustic album, titled Ghost Ships, was released early
October, 2007, taking Reyne's releases to four albums in four years
- his most prolific period in recent times. This will be increased
early in December when his first live DVD - James Reyne One Night
in Melbourne, is released.
Acting career
Reyne has remained a constant in the Australian music scene. Mixing
music with acting, he appeared in the TV drama
Return to Eden as well as
several other productions. He also played
Tina Turner's manager in the 1993 bio-movie
about Tina's life
What's Love Got To Do With It. In 2005
Reyne appeared as a guest actor of the telemovie The Post Card
Bandit.
Personal life
Reyne is the older brother of
David
Reyne 1980s drummer (
Australian
Crawl, Cats Under Pressure,
Chantoozies), actor and television presenter.
Their younger sister Elisabeth was also involved in the music
industry, she produced
Daryl
Braithwaite's 1991 album
Higher Than Hope. James Reyne
is the father of TV soapie
Neighbours actor
Jaime-Robbie Reyne. Reyne lives on the
Mornington Peninsula with his partner, Tina, and a daughter.
References
External links
Wikis
Quiz
Map
Search