Once upon a time at Millend Hospital, Dagenham Essex in the South of England, a lady named Rose Farnham gave birth to a healthy 5 pound 1 ounce baby boy on 1 July 1949. Rose and her husband, John, named their son John Peter Farnham. Unbeknownst to them, on that day, a legend was born ... John (Sr) worked at the Ford motor plant assembling cars and tractors. Johnny, as he had come to be known, had always been a lover of music and at age 6 received his first record player, and his first musical instrument was a plastic 4 string guitar. In 1959 the Farnham family migrated to Melbourne, Australia.

"I was a little short, fat kid at school and they used to call me "fat". That wasn't a very pleasant time for me. Young kids can be cruel. I'd stand in front of the mirror saying, "Gee, I haven't got a neck and I haven't got hips, no muscles, my dick's little" - the whole disaster. It was awful. I still have trouble with my weight and it can fluctuate up and down a stone at a time. We used to go swimming and I would feel very uncomfortable in shorts and try and get out of sports ... terrible stuff. Yeah, I hated school" - John Farnham

Johnny attended Lyndale State Primary and then went onto Lyndale High. High School treated him a little better and it was here that he got his first glimpse of his future career. Johnny and a couple of school friends formed a band called "The Mavericks". They practiced in their parents lounge rooms and after a couple of guitar lessons they knew 4 chords (C, G, F and A). They performed at School Socials and generally had a good time. During his school holidays he had been working for a friend of the family's business, Caulfield Heating. After a couple of years Johnny began a plumbing apprenticeship and left school. For the next 2 years Johnny installed Air-conditioning ducts, unblocking drains, and going to trade classes at Dandenong Tech. The Mavericks were still playing at local halls and parties. At a 21st Birthday, Johnny (now age 16) was approached by Nick Foeander (Strings Unlimited - Organ Maestro) to audition as their singer. Johnny sang "House of the Rising Sun" in his audition, and although, in his words, he did it "pretty badly", they let him join the band.

'The Voice', even then, stopped people in their tracks

Stings Unlimited got a permanent 'gig' at the Hampton Hotel on the Beach Front at Port Phillip Bay. Johnny began to attract 'regulars' so the Manager, Bob McConnell, put him on every bracket. He found it hard working all day on his apprenticeship, then having to race home and change into his only suit, to go out and play in the band at night. Johnny's first known recording was with Strings Unlimited. It was the Lennon/McCartney song, "I Feel Fine". About 18 months later the band was playing in a country pub at Cohuna. After the band had finished playing a stranger approached Johnny and said he liked the way he sang "and what was my phone number, he could make me a star". Johnny thought, "oh yeah, this is the standard thing". But 4 weeks later he got a call from Darryl Sambell (the stranger) who said he was coming to Melbourne to work something out.

No one knew where Johnny Farnham's talent might take him ...

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