Tina Hutchence - Michael: My Brother, Lost Boy of InXs

TRIM: 234mm x 153mm

23.87mm

MATT LAMINATION w/SPOT GLOSS UV + EMBOSSING

He died at only 37 but his fans are

legion. INXS singer/songwriter

TINA HUTCHENCE

Michael Hutchence was the

WITH JEN JEWEL BROWN

celebrated frontman of a band

m

that was the biggest in the world.

ich michael

Michaels big sister, Tina, adored him from the start. From a twelve-year-old holding my brother, lost boy of inxs

him in her arms as a newborn, to being his teenage nanny, Tina remained Michaels

trusted confidant until his sudden death.

Tinas intimate and detailed telling of her brothers storyfrom faltering teenager with a lisp to raging rock starblazes with love a

and adventure, and includes the acquired brain injury that changed everything for Michael; the risky schemes that saw him named in the Paradise Papers expos of 2017; his secret philanthropy in support el

of East Timor; and his bliss at the birth of his only child, Heavenly Hiraani Tiger Lily.

My brother roamed the world with a book in his hand and one in his suitcase, Tina writes, and throughout Michael a paper trail of the literature he loved gives clues to the man many see as an enigma.

A cry from the heart celebrating the lost boy of INXS, Michael WITH JEN JEWEL BRO

TIN

Hutchence, this personal and heartfelt biography reveals the incredible, A HUT

rollercoaster life of Australias most enduring superstar and shares the private moments of an adored brother, son and father.

Lost boy Michael, who was my dear friend, and who is very much CHEN

missed. All respect and thanks to Tina for sharing these stories and keeping the memory alive.

WN

CE

Simon Le Bon, singer/songwriter, Duran Duran Cover design: Luke Causby/Blue Cork

Front cover photo: Michael Putland/Getty ImagesBack cover photo: Tina Hutchence Collection

michael

Michael was a blessing to this planet, his friends and his family. He had what so few possess; talent, looks, charisma, drive, charm. His story is told by the one who knew him best, who watched him grow up from being a shy boy to becoming a worldwide starhis sister. If you love music, mysteries and most of al , Michael, you wont be able to put this book down.

Richard Blade, popular Los Angeles radio, television, film personality, DJ

An effusive man with a seductive puppy-dog grin and a disarmingly direct gaze got up and loped towards me, and held out his hand. He said his name was Michael... A sense of well-being and relief washed over me. We were gonna do great things together and I didnt have to be a rock-star anymore... Michael would do it for me.

Richard Lowenstein, writer, director, producer Michael_TXT.indd 1

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Other books by the authorsTina Hutchence

Just a Man: The real Michael Hutchence michael

(with Patricia Glassop), Sidgwick & Jackson (2000) Just a Man: The real Michael Hutchence my brother, lost boy of inxs

(with Patricia Glassop, updated edition), Pan Books (2001) Jen Jewel Brown

TINA HUTCHENCE

As author:

WITH JEN JEWEL BROWN

Great Southern, Rare Objects poetry series, Vagabond Press (2010) Gutter vs Stars, poetry il ustrated by photographers including Carol Jerrems and Clara Law, Flat Chat Press (2006) Alleycat, poetry and prose il ustrated by Michael Leunig, Feral Books (1988)

Skyhooks Mil ion Dol ar Riff, photos by Carol Jerrems,

Dingo Books (1975)

As editor:

Co-edited (with Gig Ryan) Nebuchadnezzar by Shelton Lea, Black Pepper (2005)

Edited Aboriginal Country by Lisa Bellear, The University of Western Australia Publishing (2018)

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michael

my brother, lost boy of inxs

TINA HUTCHENCE

WITH JEN JEWEL BROWN

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First published in 2018

Copyright Tina Hutchence and Jen Jewel Brown 2018

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publisher. The Australian Copyright Act 1968

(the Act) allows a maximum of one chapter or 10 per cent of this book, whichever is the greater, to be photocopied by any educational institution for its educational purposes provided that the educational institution (or body that administers it) has given a remuneration notice to the Copyright Agency (Australia) under the Act.

Every effort has been made to trace the holders of copyright material. If you have anyinformation concerning copyright material in this book please contact the publishersat the address below.

Allen & Unwin

83 Alexander Street

Crows Nest NSW 2065

Australia

Phone: (61 2) 8425 0100

Email:

Web:

www.allenandunwin.com

A catalogue record for this

book is available from the

National Library of Australia

ISBN 978 1 76063 313 4

Set in 11.5/17 pt Minion Pro by Midland Typesetters, Australia Printed and bound in Australia by Griffin Press 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

The paper in this book is FSC certified.

FSC promotes environmentally responsible, socially beneficial and economically viable management of the worlds forests.

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To Michael, a beautiful, gentle soul,and to all the children in the family ANN

THOMGE

SER

Michael in December 1986,

in Hobart, at the beginning

of the Australian Made tour

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I dont think one thin page of words can change the world, but it can push things around.

Michael Hutchence

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contents

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intro

MY BROTHER roamed the world with a book in his hand and one in his suitcase. Like the beat poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti, whose work inspired him, Michael started writing poems when he was twelve.

And he was a great, precocious reader. As Sydney schoolboys, hyper and pubescent, he and Andrew Farriss would whirl in from Davidson High mid-afternoon and hole up in Michaels room to discuss not only music, including jazz, but books like Charles Bukowskis Diary of aDirty Old Man.

Michael always loved being read to, ever since he was a tiny child.

In 1984 he played his first UK show, with INXS, at the Astoria on 26 May. Troubled by chronic post-gig insomnia in his hotel room, he called his live-in girlfriend Michele Bennett, who was back in Sydney.

That night he asked her to read to him, as he had so often before.

And she would reach for the book beside her bed, as she would i x

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MICHAEL

throughout his life, and read Michael to sleep. He and Michele spent six years together.

In January 1986, he was himself reading