More than 20 years have passed since Missy Higgins signed up with legendary Australian artist manager and independent label chief John Watson. After six studio albums (including four No. 1s), US breakthroughs, hundreds of thousands of tickets sold, and a Hall of Fame induction, Higgins would be happy to extend that relationship for “many, many decades.”
Moments before Watson accepted the Legacy Award at the 2025 AAM Awards on Wednesday, April 30th in Melbourne, a sizzle-reel of starry friends and associates set the scene.
Cold Chisel’s Jimmy Barnes and Don Walker, Birds of Tokyo’s Ian Kenny, Julian Hamilton of The Presets, and Silverchair’s Chris Joannou all spoke of Watson’s great intellect, the substance of the man.
The best, as often happens, was saved for last as Higgins appeared on stage for a surprise performance on the keys, and delivered an impromptu speech from the very bottom of her heart.
Watson and Higgins go way back.
All six of Higgins’ albums were recorded and released through a partnership with his businesses, John Watson Management and Eleven: A Music Company.
“I’m still here and I’m doing pretty well,” she quipped at Northcote Social Club. Watson’s guidance, “it worked.”
For Higgins, the past year has played out like a perfectly-written script. 2024 began with the 20th anniversary celebration of Higgins’ breakthrough debut The Sound of White, the first of her four ARIA No. 1 albums. Higgins is only the seventh Australian artist in history to have as many ARIA leaders in at least three consecutive decades.
By year’s end, Higgins had completed a sold-out 46-concert lap of Australia, led the chart in November with The Second Act (via Eleven/EMI), and later that month was inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame. Also at the 2024 ARIAs, her Second Act Tour, produced by Frontier Touring, won for Best Australian Live Act.
At the sixth annual AAM Awards, Higgins had expected to perform “Everyone’s Waiting”, the second single from her third album from 2012, The Ol’ Razzle Dazzle.
Instead, she flipped the script and performed “All for Believing”, the song that won her triple j Unearthed back in 2001 — “and the very first John heard of mine,” she recounted.
“I’m so happy that I signed with you,” Higgins told Watson on stage, “and I hope that we can work with each other for many, many decades to come.”
John Watson
Read Higgins’ speech in full below.
I had just won triple j Unearthed that year, a few months before, and I had been shopping around for a manager and a record label because there’d been a bit of interest and I was talking to a few people.
I’d noticed that all of them wanted me to kind of get going straight away. All of them wanted me to strike while the iron was hot, you know, after winning Unearthed.
But I had this dream about going backpacking after school. I’d been saving up with my best friend and I had really, really wanted to do that. It was felt like a rite of passage for me. I said that to all of them, and they all tried to talk me out of it because it would have been a really bad career decision in their mind.
I met up with John and straight away he was like, “Oh, I think that’s a great idea. I think that’s an excellent idea. You’ll get life experience, you’ll have the best time, you totally take as much time as you need.”
And I realised then that he had a completely different frame of mind.
Over the next few years, it became apparent that that was pretty much the epitome of John’s philosophy as a manager.
He plays the long game. You know, he has longevity in mind for his artists.
With every decision throughout my career, it’s been, “Is this a flash in the pan, exciting, momentary decision that’ll make everyone really take notice straight away and probably forget it tomorrow? Or is this a building block for the future? Is this something that is going to create a sustainable career for my artist?” It’s really his word.
I’m still here and I’m doing pretty well. It worked.
The thing about John, the magical source, his secret source, is not that he’s really great with numbers. It’s not that he’s a really great businessman. It’s not that he’s really great with people. It’s not even that he is a massive music nerd, which he is, a huge music nerd. But it’s that he really, really cares about his artists. He really does on a very personal, human level. He’s got a huge heart and so much integrity. I have always felt like he’s got my back.
So I want to say thank you so much, John, from the bottom of my heart. I’m so happy that I met you that day. I’m so happy that I signed with you and I hope that we can work with each other for many, many decades to come.
