Inside John Farnham’s incredible life: How he overcame depression, financial ruin and a career slump

John Farnham, who is undergoing treatment for cancer, isn’t just Australia’s greatest singer. He’s also one of the entertainment industry’s great survivors.

Farnham, now 73, is undergoing life-saving surgery in a Victorian hospital, taking more than 12 hours, after a cancerous growth was discovered.

While no further details are available on his diagnosis or condition, reports emerged that Farnham was in good spirits and even ‘cracking jokes with doctors’.

There is even speculation that doctors are already confident the legendary singer will recover.

Early speculation Farnham will recover from cancer surgery is will be no surprise to many as the singer is legendary for his fighting spirit (Pictured, Farnham with his friend and fellow superstar Olivia Newton-John)

That will be no surprise to many as Farnham is legendary for his fighting spirit, having battled back from the brink to build a career that made the former Brit an Aussie icon.

He overcame depression, financial ruin, a career slump and hearing loss to pack out stadiums across Australia and sustain a career for more than half a century.

Farnham recorded number one hit singles and albums over five decades, including Australia’s second biggest selling of all time. He is a former Australian of the Year, and was named an official Living Treasure in 2014.

The successes that made Farnham a teen idol in the late 1960s, literally Australia’s ‘King of Pop’ from 1969 to 1973, masked the perilous state of his marriage and his life in his mid-30s.

Farnham overcame depression, financial ruin, a career slump and hearing loss to pack out stadiums across Australia and sustain a career for more than half a century

Farnham was accompanied by Coldplay’s Chris Martin for a show-stopping version of his most famous song, You’re The Voice, in 2009

He had to literally pick himself up off the floor after his 1960s stardom faded so badly he was left ‘curled up in the foetal position’ with depression.

Farnham and his wife Jillian were ‘on the bones of our arse’ after his popularity waned, and their marriage was in trouble because of financial issues.

After a stint as lead singer for the 1970s juggernaut Little River Band (LRB), Farnham was singing to half-empty RSL rooms.

He left LRB after in-fighting between band-mates and was barely on speaking terms with them.

He had to literally pick himself up off the floor after his 1960s stardom faded so badly he was left ‘curled up in the foetal position’ with depression

Farnham had made several bad business decisions, including co-owning a disastrous Melbourne restaurant called Backstage, on Spring Street, and had sold everything to try and pay his tax bills.

By the time his mate and manager Glenn Wheatley took a massive punt in 1985 and remortgaged his own home to fund what would become Farnham’s biggest album, Whispering Jack, the singer was all but finished.

‘I can’t afford to feed my family. I’ve had to sell my car, my house … everything,’ he told The Sydney Morning Herald.

‘I was in significant debt at the time, I’d made some very bad business decisions, and I really was in a bit of trouble,’ he told news.com.au.

Farnham struggled after making several bad business decisions, including co-owning a disastrous Melbourne restaurant called Backstage, on Spring Street, and had sold everything to try and pay his tax bills

Farnham admitted his wife Jillian helped lift him out of his depression, but his re-emergence as a superstar came from the album’s dazzling but unexpected success

He admitted his wife Jillian helped lift him out of his depression, but his re-emergence as a superstar came from the album’s dazzling but unexpected success.

‘We were renting this place [in Bulleen], I hated it, it was just not me, but it had a basement. So we set up in the basement and did all the pre-production on Whispering Jack for 18 hours a day.’

The album went 24 times platinum, remains the second-highest selling record in Australian chart history and contains one of the candidates for the title of the unofficial national anthem, You’re The Voice.

Farnham was so broke as he and Wheatley worked on the album that they had to use a recording of a car door slamming instead of drums in an early sample for You’re The Voice.

Farnham admitted giving up heavy smoking and cutting back on alcohol when Whispering Jack was released, although he was known for drinking brandy and vodka on tour for years afterwards.

Farnham rode a wave of success from Whispering Jack – that flowed into several successful follow-ups – for three remarkable decades afterwards.

He sang at the 2000 Olympics, alongside long-time friend Olivia Newtown John, and at hundreds of gigs over 50 years to an estimated four million fans.

Farnham recorded number one hit singles and albums over five decades, including Australia’s second biggest selling of all time, is a former Australian of the Year and a was named an official Living Treasure in 2014

Even with nothing left to prove, Farnham continued to drive himself hard, haunted the memories of his 1980s struggles

Even with nothing left to prove, Farnham continued to drive himself hard, haunted the memories of his 1980s struggles.

By 2011, Farnham’s years of touring meant he was suffering hearing loss and had to wear hearing aids. 

But the same year he played eleven times. 

‘Every time I perform, it’s like it is the last show I’ll ever do,’ he told the Sydney Morning Herald in 2003.

‘I have played to too many empty RSLs to not know what a lucky bastard I am now – I can’t even coast through the sound check.’

He and Newton-John combined for a hit concert tour, Two Strong Hearts, in 2015 and released an album that debuted at no.1.

Farnham and Newton-John combined for a hit concert tour, Two Strong Hearts, in 2015 and released an album that debuted at no.1

In 2019 he caused concern among fans in April, after he was forced to cancel his Australian tour at the last minute while admitted to hospital with ‘a severe’ kidney infection’ and dehydration.

Rather than seek medical help, John explained that he powered through the pain and believed ‘it’ll be fine’ – until he was later rushed to hospital. 

But before long, Farnham was back playing shows. He played 18 shows in 2019.

Farnham rebuilt his career from the embers and has sustained a performing career for more than 50 years

Fifty-three years after his first hit, Sadie the Cleaning Lady, in 1967, Farnham was lined up alongside millennial icons like Amyl & The Sniffers and Halsey at the 2020 Falls Festival.

His last scheduled public show was the bushfire fundraiser at ANZ stadium in Sydney in February 2020.

Farnham is understood to have been heartbroken after the death of his best mate and manager Wheatley from Covid complications in February 2022.

Farnham is understood to have been heartbroken after the death of his best mate and manager Wheatley from Covid complications in February 2022 

The pair were more like brothers than friends. 

Farnham has retreated from the public eye since. 

‘I live a pretty boring existence really,’ Farnham told New Idea this year.

‘If I’m not working, I go fishing. If I’m not working or fishing, I might ride my horse.’

When Newton-John died this month, he released a statement.

‘The Farnham family send love and sympathies to Olivia’s family.

‘Behind that iconic smile was a tenacious fighter. A beautiful voice and a loyal friend.’