In Partnership with Shure
It almost feels like a band as huge as Cold Chisel should be immortal. They’ve had a long career – 50 years to be exact – which is being marked by their 50th anniversary tour later this year.
But in late 2023, the idea of mortality became all too real when Cold Chisel’s legendary frontman, Jimmy Barnes, faced a health scare that brought the band’s journey and brotherhood into sharp focus.
In the latest episode of ‘Behind The Rolling Stone Cover’, sponsored by Shure, Rolling Stone AU/NZ Editor-in-Chief Poppy Reid sat down with Cold Chisel’s members – Barnes, Ian Moss, Don Walker, and Phil Small – to hear the story firsthand, and find out how the iconic singer is doing now.
It was November 2023 when Barnes’s health took a dramatic turn.
“It was pretty shocking for me,” he recalls. “It sort of happened suddenly in November, but the good thing [was] I was really healthy at the time. It was probably the fittest I had been for about 30 years.” His active lifestyle, which included training and swimming, made the sudden decline even more unexpected. A severe staph infection in his blood led to emergency open-heart surgery.
“Within a week, I was having open-heart surgery. It was like a seven-hour major surgery. It was almost like a transplant. It was serious,” Barnes shares in the episode. “For a while there, I didn’t think I was going to make it. Thanks to our incredible healthcare system and the incredible doctors that looked after me at St. Vincent’s, I’m alive.”
The experience was a wake-up call, underscoring the importance of not taking anything for granted. “I want to do all the things that mean a lot to me. I don’t want to put them off in case we don’t get a chance to do them. And that includes playing with my best friends,” Barnes says.
Looking ahead, Barnes is feeling excited and ready for their Big 50 tour, celebrating fifty years of Cold Chisel. “At our age, we’ve got to be really focused and ready. That’s what we’re prepping to do now. I want these shows to be the best shows I’ve ever done,” he tells Reid.
It’s a time of reflection for the band.
Celebrating such a big milestone brings up many emotions, especially when they think about going on tour without drummer Steve Prestwich, who passed away in 2011. “There’s still a shock that just didn’t expect one of us would not be here,” Moss says in the podcast episode.
“I mainly just enjoy that we’re still here and still able to do it and still willing to do it.”
‘Behind The Rolling Stone Cover’ is sponsored by Shure, the premier choice for affordable, durable, and exceptional-sounding microphones. With a history of audio innovation spanning for almost a century, Shure has turned a passion for making great microphones into an unparalleled legacy of audio innovation.
Not only is Shure already the brand of choice for musicians everywhere, their reliable and durable microphones also make the perfect choice for podcasters and streamers. You can expect nothing short of superior sound quality that won’t let you down in those crucial moments.
Check out all of Shure’s industry-leading microphones here.
