Best Factual or Documentary Program Award Nominee
John Farnham: Finding The Voice is the authorised 2023 feature documentary about the life and times of John Farnham, Australia’s greatest singer. Distributed in Australia by Sony Pictures Releasing and internationally by Sony International, the documentary follows his journey from the suburbs of Melbourne to 60s pop fame, through incredible highs and lows, and ultimately to record-breaking success as ‘Australia’s Voice’.
The film is directed by Poppy Stockell and written by Poppy Stockell and Paul Clarke, with Mikael Borglund, Martin Fabinyi and Paul Clarke acting as executive producers, Olivia Hoopmann as producer and Elizabeth Daley as line producer.
The film is produced by Beyond Oz, a division of Beyond International, a Banijay company, in association with Blink TV, supported by Screen Australia, VicScreen and Screen NSW.
The film contains an extensive range of songs from John Farnham’s catalogue, and rare archive footage and home video obtained from John’s family, friends and collaborators. Many of John’s musician friends are interviewed for the film including Olivia Newton-John, Robbie Williams, Jimmy Barnes, Celine Dion, Richard Marx and David Hirschfelder.
The film had a wide release in Australia on 18th May 2023, and in its first week grossed over $1.5 million, making it the biggest theatrical Australian Music documentary of all time, and the 3rd highest grossing documentary overall.
Synopsis
A landmark theatrical documentary to celebrate Australia’s greatest singer and his journey from the suburbs of Melbourne to 60’s pop fame, through life’s highs and lows, ultimately to record-breaking success as Australia’s voice. It features private home video and archive footage and over 40 songs from his musical catalogue.
It’s the story of a singer and an audience coming together to believe in each other. John Farnham was 38 years old when his massive hit album Whispering Jack was released. He was hardly old but certainly battle scarred. He had shone as a manufactured 60s pop star and was crowned the King of Pop five years running but there were many desperate years, losing his home and nearly his marriage, before John was handed the cassette that contained the demo recording of You’re The Voice and his transition from singer to artist finally set in motion.
John Farnham’s story charts a heroic path, and like most heroes, he has had an extraordinary journey, full of challenging moments. Nobody ever questioned that Farnham could sing, but the journey to find his artistic voice and become Australia’s most trusted and beloved performer took half a lifetime. The best of the best around the world love and respect John for the artist he is. Many have collaborated together, others have admired him for his music and heroic journey, but one thing remains certain, everyone loves his voice.
John Farnham - circa 1960 (Photo: Michael Coyne)
Glenn Wheatley
Development
The idea for a biographical film about John Farnham was first discussed between Beyond International CEO Mikael Borglund and Executive Producer Martin Fabinyi. The two met with Farnham’s manager Glenn Wheatley in 2020 who approved of the idea, and Blink TV Executive Producer Paul Clarke then joined the team.
In a meeting with CEO of Sony Music Denis Handlin later in 2020, a commitment to support the film financially and through the release of an accompanying soundtrack album was made by Sony Music. The project was then backed by distributor Sony Pictures Releasing and the Seven Network, and subsequently received production funding from Screen Australia, Screen NSW and VicScreen.
Production
Once Poppy Stockell was enlisted as Director and Co-Writer, the script was completed, and pre-production commenced in Melbourne. Interviews were conducted with the main people in John’s life and career, including international shoots with guitarist Tommy Emmanuel in Nashville and Richard Marx and Celine Dion. Olivia Newton-John was keen to be interviewed, but she suffered a health relapse which only allowed for an audio interview, being the last interview she gave before her death in 2022. The production team had conducted an extensive interview with John’s manager/friend Glenn Wheatly late 2021. Glenn also provided the team with a trove of archival material. Sadly, Glenn would pass away in February 2022 from a Covid-related illness. The film is dedicated to his memory.
Gaynor Wheatley supported the production of the film and participated in a number of interviews, liaised with John and his family, provided further archival material and set up interviews with John’s family.
Once the bulk of the filming was complete, editing began at Blackfella Films in Melbourne. After the director’s cut was delivered, further editing and mixing was conducted at the post-production facilities at Beyond in Sydney, supervised by Paul Clarke. Additional interviews were undertaken including with John’s wife Jill, and his sons Robert and James. Post-production was completed at Tribal Apes and Big Bang Sound in Sydney.
John Farnham
David Hirschfelder
Music
The film contains over 40 songs from John and his collaborators, covering John’s career from his first hit in 1967, Sadie (The Cleaning Lady) to the triumphant You’re The Voice (1986) from John Farnham’s 12th album Whispering Jack. Whispering Jack remains the biggest selling Australian album of all time, and second only to Meatloaf’s Bat Out Of Hell as the biggest album ever released in Australia.
John’s subsequent career hits featured in the film include Age Of Reason, A Touch of Paradise, and Pressure Down. Other songs that feature in the documentary include those from The Little River Band, Olivia Newton-John, Daryl Braithwaite and Jimmy Barnes (in a duet with Farnham).
Composer and musician David Hirschfelder, who played with John on his international tours at the time You’re The Voice and Whispering Jack were top 10 throughout Europe, composed the original music for the film.
The official soundtrack album was released in tandem with the film on Wheatley Records, licensed from Sony Music Entertainment Australia, containing all the John Farnham songs and a range of songs from the other artists featured in the film. It topped the Australian iTunes chart on it’s 1st week of release.
Poppy Stockell - Director
Paul Clarke - Executive Producer & Story Supervisor
Mikael Borglund - Executive Producer
Martin Fabinyi - Executive Producer
Olivia Hoopmann - Producer
Gaynor Wheatley
Richard Marx
James & Robert Farnham
Tommy Emmanuel
Venetta Fields
Jimmy Barnes
Daryl Braithwaite