Forty years after its release, John Farnham's Whispering Jack remains one of the most remarkable stories in Australian music history.
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Jack → remain → history
The 1986 album spent 25 weeks at number one, produced enduring hits that remain part of our national conscience, and transformed John Farnham from a fading teen idol into one of the country's most beloved performers.
Its centrepiece, You're The Voice, is bigger than a pop song: the unofficial anthem still inspires singalongs at pubs, stadiums and festival fields decades later.
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anthem → spend → pubs
None of it was supposed to happen.
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None → suppose → it
By the mid-80s, Farnham's career was drifting.
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career → drift → mid-80s
His attempts at chart success weren't connecting.
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attempts → connect → success
A stint fronting world-conquering Aussie rockers Little River Band didn't kickstart the resurgence he hoped for.
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he → front → resurgence
So, Whispering Jack wasn't the work of a music industry machine backing a sure thing.
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Jack → whisper → thing
It was the result of the work of a small team of people convinced they saw something the rest of the industry had missed.
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rest → convince → industry
One last chance
John Farnham's first taste of fame came early.
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taste → come → fame
As Johnny Farnham, he dominated Australian charts in the late 1960s and early 1970s, scoring a massive hit with Sadie (The Cleaning Lady), the best selling Australian single of the '60s.
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he → dominate → 60s
But, as tastes changed, Farnham's commercial fortunes faded.
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fortunes → change → ?
He moved into musical theatre and TV, proving he remained an endearing entertainer, but not necessarily a recording artist to watch.
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he → move → theatre
A reinvention was needed.
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reinvention → need → ?
Johnny became John.
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Johnny → become → ?
And while he had flashes of success, like cracking back into the Top 10 with a version of The Beatles's Help in 1980, the momentum didn't stick.
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momentum → have → 1980
His time with Little River Band proved valuable, particularly the exposure to large-scale touring in America, but didn't provide the breakthrough Farnham and his manager Glenn Wheatley, who died in 2022, were searching for.
By 1985, many in the industry believed Farnham's biggest successes were behind him.
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successes → prove → him
"We all knew what he had," Wheatley told News Corp in 2018.
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Wheatley → know → 2018
We just had to find the right songs for him.
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We → have → him
Finding songs wasn't too hard — there were plenty around.
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Finding → find → songs
Finding someone willing to back the project was another story.
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Finding → find → project
Neither record labels nor producers showed much interest.
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labels → show → interest
Eventually, Wheatley and Farnham decided to do it themselves.
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Wheatley → decide → it
"I had to find out whether I could get the money to make the album for a start," Farnham told the ABC's John Hall in 1987.
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Farnham → have → 1987
Wheatley's label became his record company and the gamble got bigger.
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gamble → become → ?
Speaking to Jen Jewel Brown for the National Film and Sound Archive in 2014, Wheatley recalled: "I ended up having to do it on my label again.
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I → speak → label
I had to mortgage my house to do it.
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I → have → it
"
"I couldn't not do it; not to John," he recalled in Clark Forbes's 1989 book Whispering Jack.
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I → do → book
"What the hell, I had nothing to lose either.
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I → have → nothing
I simply had to go for this."
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I → have → this
The team eventually settled on live sound engineer Ross Fraser as producer.
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team → settle → producer
He wasn't a known name, and it wasn't a conventional move.
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it → know → ?
It turned out to be a masterstroke.
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It → turn → ?
Together, Farnham, Fraser and Wheatley embarked on an exhaustive search for material.
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Farnham → embark → material
"I must have listened to 2,000 songs, easy, from all over the world," Farnham told Hall.
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Farnham → listen → Hall
"We sent telexes all over the world to all the publishers and record companies that we were looking for songs.
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we → send → songs
"We literally got two boxes, we put 'no' on one box and 'maybe' on the other box, and we just went through them all.
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we → get → them
"I had to listen to the songs in their entirety because, being a budding songwriter myself, I understand how much work these people put into it.
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people → have → it
So, I had to at least give them that courtesy."
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I → have → courtesy
Even then, the work had barely begun.
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work → begin → ?
The eventual album only contained 10 tracks, but every arrangement was meticulously worked over.
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arrangement → contain → tracks
…and 32 more, not listed.
The Aporia