Glenn Wheatley‘s secret project of an audiobook revealed

When Glenn Wheatley died he left his family a long to-do list in unheard audio recorded before he died. Listen to it here.

Music entrepreneur Glenn Wheatley left a priceless legacy for his family, recording an audiobook of his Paper Paradise memoir a month before he died in February.

The grief is still too raw for his son Tim or wife Gaynor to listen to the updated version of the book his father first published in 1999.

Yet the musician said it is an invaluable heirloom for his baby girl London, born three weeks after Wheatley died of complications from Covid.

Tim and his wife Elke returned to Melbourne to prepare for the birth of their first child and revive the Wheatley Records label, just as his father’s health deteriorated.

“London has been the light at the end of a bloody grim month, I’ll tell you that much,” Tim said.

Glenn Wheatley's son Tim with his wife Elke and their daughter London. Picture: Supplied

“We were planning to come back to spend a year here because we were having our baby and starting up Wheatley Records; I got home in time to give him a hug before he went into hospital.

“It absolutely baffled me when my sister Kara told me he had done the audiobook.

“To be honest, I’m not ready to listen to it but knowing I’ll be able to play this to London and have his voice telling his life story is staggering.”

Listen to the audio here:

Glenn Wheatley with his son Tim. Picture: supplied

The release of the new edition of Paper Paradise this week, followed by the audiobook on May 19, are the first two projects Tim and his mother Gaynor have completed from a long to-do list left by the indefatigable dreamer.

A meticulous daily journaler all his life, the Master’s Apprentices rock star, who broke Little River Band in America, reinvented John Farnham’s career with Whispering Jack and brought FM radio to Australia, wrote an inventory of ideas and plans on the January 1 entry of his 2020 diary.

“We think the old man contracted (Covid) on New Year’s Eve; on New Year’s Day he started his new journal and sadly that was the only page that got filled in,” Tim said.

“And that was his list of things to do this year and we’re trying to tick off each one as we go although some of them are so bloody far-fetched we’ve had to put a line through them and say, ‘Only Glenn could go down that rabbit hole’.”

On the same day the Paper Paradise audiobook comes out in May, Tim will release his Shiny Tacoma EP on the revived Wheatley Records label.

His father originally launched the indie label in the 80s and not only released Whispering Jack – which he famously mortgaged his house to pay for its recording – but hits by synth pop band Real Life and rockers Southern Sons.

The lead track from the EP was Tim’s version of the Master’s Apprentices’ Because I Love You – recorded at London’s iconic Abbey Road Studios to honour the band’s 50th anniversary.

“My father and I had every intention of working this release together on a revived Wheatley Records, but he passed four days short of the release date, turning Because I Love You from what was somewhat of a celebration, into an unintentional tribute,” Tim said.

“The lyrics and sentiment of Because I Love You became all to relevant in the wake of his passing for me not to dedicate it to him.”

The updated Paper Paradise paperback is out now with the audiobook and Tim Wheatley’s Shiny Tacoma EP released on May 19.

Originally published as Glenn Wheatley‘s secret project of an audiobook revealed