Jimmy Barnes will carry the hearts of lost loved ones on Soul Deep 30 tour

The Working Class Man has revealed how he will sing through the pain of losing three loved ones on his new tour, as he also recalled how he got drunk with John Farnham. See the video.

Exclusive: When Jimmy Barnes hits the road again next week for his Soul Deep 30 anniversary tour, he will carry the hearts of three loved ones with him.

In one heartbreaking fortnight in May, Barnes and his family lost his “big sister” Linda, his wife Jane’s mother Kusumphorn Visuthipol and one of his best mates and longtime record label head Warren Costello.

The 66-year-old rocker isn’t one to “sit quietly alone for too long”, contemplating his loss or his own mortality. He knows himself intimately after writing three best-selling memoirs and undertaking therapy, and he says inaction can trigger depression.

Record label boss Warren Costello and Jimmy Barnes spoke every day for 35 years. Picture: NCA.

“And I don’t want to be depressed. I need to go out and celebrate life and celebrate music and soul and that’s what family’s about,” he says.

“The reason you feel so bad about losing those people is because they meant so much to you. And so you want to celebrate that rather than be locked away, mourning.”

The trio of losses came just as Barnes was recovering from Covid. The four-times vaxxed rocker had done everything he could to avoid catching the virus because of underlying health issues and desperately wanting to keep playing shows after the pandemic forced him off the road for much of the past two years.

He remains grateful he was able to shake it off in time to say goodbye to his loved ones before they died and reflect on the profound influence they all had on his life.

Our families lives were all made richer because of this beautiful woman. @jane13barnes’ mum Kusumphorn lived an incredible life and I was lucky enough to be a part of it. You will be missed every single day. Rest In Peace Yai. pic.twitter.com/qKLZizRGnI

— Jimmy Barnes (@JimmyBarnes) May 28, 2022

His wheelchair-bound, music-lover sister’s last words to Barnes were “all I want to do is dance and sing”.

Jane and the Barnes clan surrounded her mother’s bedside and sang through the night before she passed.

And the rocker made it to Melbourne to farewell his close mate Costello, who had endured a long fight against cancer. Along with the late great Mushroom pioneer Michael Gudinski, they were the three amigos.

Barnes will be singing for his loved ones on his Soul Deep 30 tour. Picture: Jonathan Ng

“Like M.G., I spoke to Warren every f…ing day for 35 years. Every single step I made, he was there to reassure me, to tell me I was doing the right thing. And I was in the room when he drew his last breath,” he said.

“He’s been in too much pain for too long and I told him ‘You’ve got to let go, Warren.’ He drew in a breath, let it out and he stopped. And then I’m like “Don’t listen to me now! Why are you suddenly listening to me?’

“It was a huge loss, but I was pleased and honoured to be there and honoured to see my dearest, sweetest friend move on.”

The two power-lunged rockers reunited in 1991 for When Something Is Wrong With My Baby. Picture: NCA.

When Barnes goes out to sing the blues this week, he will be singing from the very depths of his soul.

The Soul Deep 30 tour kicks off as Barnes reissues an updated version of the passion project he released back in late 1991.

Back then, recording an album paying tribute to the soul music which had inspired him to pursue a singing career, classics like Many Rivers To Cross, Ain’t No Mountain High, Signed Sealed Delivered (I’m Yours), was a ridiculously risky move.

Soul music was nowhere on radio or the pop charts in Australia, and with four consecutive No. 1 solo records in the wake of Cold Chisel’s split in 1983, this was a career-defining flex.

It was an accidental record. American hitmaking producer Don Gehman and assorted musicians were staying with the Barnes family at their then home in Bowral for Christmas 1990.

Barnes releases his Soul Deep 30 anniversary record this week. Picture: Jonathan Ng

To stop the rabble getting under the feet of Jane and the children, they decided to have some fun recording favourite soul songs in his home studio.

The recordings were put on the shelf as his Two Fires album just wouldn’t stop selling throughout 1991. But then the box office-busting film The Commitments dropped and its soundtracks dominated the pop charts.

It was time for Soul Deep to be unleashed. The other ace up Barnesy’s sleeve was the wholly unexpected collaboration with Australia’s other revered male pop star, John Farnham.

The pair sang together for the very first time on the Sam and Dave soul ballad When Something Is Wrong With My Baby.

Not only did Soul Deep hit No. 1 and sell more than 700,000 copies but the Barnesy and Farnsey duet peaked at No. 3 and cemented a friendship and profound respect between the pair which remains strong to this day.

“I really enjoyed singing with Jimmy … we had an absolute ball recording the song, and a particularly good time making the clip. I’ll sing with him any day,” Farnham said this week.

And he is not joking about the good time they had making the clip. The premise for the video was two old mates catching up with a nightcap in a deserted theatre after the show is done.

When Barnes and Farnham rocked up to the theatre in Melbourne where they were shooting the clip, there was a bottle of brown liquid and a bottle of clear liquid on the table.

The two singers requested the fake booze be switched out for actual alcohol, arguing the director would get a more relaxed and “authentic” performance.

So a bottle of “fighting brandy”, Farnham’s drink of choice, and a bottle of Barnes’ preferred vodka arrived, and much hilarity ensued.

“We must have drunk two bottles each and we were just sh*t-faced by the end of the day. About 5pm, we packed John into the limo and sent him home,” Barnes recalls.

“I had to stay and do some other shots, and about an hour and a half later, the limo driver rings and says ‘John doesn’t know where he lives.’ He couldn’t give directions home; it was hilarious.

“We had so much fun. I’ve always told people John is a bigger animal than me; everyone thought I was the wild one.”

Fast forward three decades and Barnes again strikes perfect timing with Soul Deep 30.

His label mates the Teskey Brothers, who will also be on the tour with him alongside daughter Mahalia and son David Campbell, have ushered in another soul revival with their authentic sound while Josh Teskey duets on new single Do You Love Me.

“This was me tipping my hat to the music that influenced me but why it keeps connecting with people now is because soul music is exactly what it says it is; it’s music of despair, it’s uplifting, it’s heart-wrenching, it’s melodic and I need the energy of it and the energy of the crowd right now.”

The Soul Deep 30 album is released on June 17. The tour opens in Adelaide on June 16, with all ticket details via frontiertouring.com