JAMES FREUD

James Freud was born as Colin Joseph McGlinchey on 29 June 1959 to Joe and Hannah McGlinchey and grew up in Melbourne. His interest in music began before he started school. "From the time I was five, I realised that was what I wanted to do. My uncle gave me all Frankie Avalon records and I just loved them. That was it, that was all I wanted to do". His father left the family when Freud was in his early teens. He attended St Thomas Moore Catholic Boys College. Despite his passion and musical talent, Freud's mother, Hannah, was against the idea. He later changed his name to James Randall Freud. At age 17, Freud left to pursue his career and did not contact her for over two years. "We didn't communicate in any way until I could validate myself as a musician".

Freud formed his first band, Sabre, at the age of 16, with high school friend and guitarist Sean Kelly and drummer Ian McFarlane. Their first performance was at his younger sister's slumber party. After hearing the Sex Pistols' song "God Save the Queen" in 1977, Freud formed The Spred with Kelly, and three other members. Formed late in 1977, Teenage Radio Stars was a glam-punk band with Freud on lead vocals and guitar and Kelly on guitar and vocals. When the opportunity came to record a single, "I Wanna Be Your Baby", later covered by Uncanny X-Men, two members were fired. Mick Prague and Mark Harvey joined the band and performed "I Wanna Be Your Baby" on Countdown.

By early 1979, with ex-members of Colt, he formed James Freud and the Radio Stars with Murray Doherty on bass guitar, Roger Mason on keyboards, Glen McGrath on drums and Bryan Thomas on guitar, and later Tony Harvey playing guitar. Later, Tony Lugton (ex-Steeler) replaced Harvey on guitar and also provided keyboards. Further changes by year's end resulted in Freud and Mason joined by Peter Cook on guitar and backing vocals, Tommy Hosie on drums and Mick Prague on bass guitar. They signed with Mushroom Records and their debut single, "Modern Girl," was released in May 1980, which peaked at #12 on the Australian Kent Music Report Singles Chart. They supported British singer-keyboardist, Gary Numan on his Australian tour. James Freud & the Radio Stars' debut album 'Breaking Silence' was released in June, it was produced by Tony Cohen.

'Breaking Silence' impressed Numan such that he offered to produce an album for Freud in the UK. Because there was already a British band known as the Radio Stars, a name change occurred for Freud's backing band, who became known as James Freud and Berlin. In October, they released "Enemy Lines" from 'Breaking Silence'. "Automatic Crazy", produced by Numan, followed in March 1981. However, neither Freud nor Numan were happy with the London-recorded album and it was not released. One month later Freud disbanded the group.

In 1982, Freud joined Models as bass guitarist after the departure of Mark Ferrie, reuniting with old collaborator Kelly. Freud shared lead vocalist duties on some songs, beginning with one of his compositions, "Facing The North Pole in August" from 'The Pleasure of Your Company', recorded in 1983. In 1985, two Freud-penned hits, "Barbados" (co-written with Andrew Duffield) and "Out of Mind, Out of Sight", took Models to #2 and #1 on the Australian singles chart, respectively. He remained in the band until they split in 1988.

In 1989, Freud went solo again, releasing 'Step into the Heat', the most expensive album released by Mushroom Records up to that point. However, it was not successful. In his 2002 autobiography Freud blamed the low quality of the songs. After performing on pop music show, Countdown Revolution he criticised the show's format to music commentator, Ian Meldrum (creator and presenter on the earlier Countdown). Meldrum dismissed Freud with, "You're nothing but a fucking has-been. Look around you. See the new hosts of the show. They are the future of Australian music. You're on your way out now".

Freud teamed with vocalist and guitarist Martin Plaza of Mental as Anything as the dance group Beatfish, releasing an eponymous record in 1992. In 1995, Freud canned his next proposed solo album, 'BigMouth', but some material was used on the Hawaiian surf-themed 'Postcard to Hawaii' album released in 1996 by his next band, Moondog. Freud was the lead vocalist with Plaza and Phil Ceberano on guitar and backing vocals. In 1999, he performed "One Tony Lockett", an ode to the footballer Tony Lockett, at the Sydney Cricket Ground, and released 'Today's Legends of AFL Footbal'l as James Freud and the Reserves.

Freud published his first autobiography in 2002, I Am the Voice Left from Drinking where he detailed his alcoholism and described how he nearly died on 24 March 2001 from alcohol poisoning and massive blood loss, "I was standing upon the wreckage of my youth; I probably wouldn't make it through the night and as I lay there, I couldn't help but wonder, 'How did I end up like this?'".

In 2007 to 2009 Freud performed with Melbourne tribute band 80s Enuff at Melbourne's Crown Casino. In 2008, he released 'See You in Hell', which was to prove his last solo studio album. Prior to his death, Freud was manager for his sons' band, Attack of the Mannequins, and assisted them with the development of their debut album, 'Rage of the World'. On 4 November 2010, Freud was found dead at his home in Hawthorn, Melbourne. A week earlier, on 27 October, Models were inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame without Freud attending the ceremony. His absence was explained publicly as due to commitments to managing his sons' band. Privately, organisers were told that Freud would not attend because he could not be anywhere near alcohol. During the ceremony, Kelly explained the absence by saying Freud had "another bicycle accident"

SINGLES

Modern Girl

James Freud and The Radio Stars

16 JUN '80

#12

Enemy Lines

James Freud's Berlin

19 JAN '81

#84

Hurricane

17 APR '89

#20

One Fine Day

10 JUL '89

#61

References

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Freud

http://top100singles.blogspot.com.au/