James Freud

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James Freud

Background information
Birth name Colin McGlinchey
Born June 29, 1964 (1964-06-29) (age 43)
Origin Flag of Australia Melbourne, Australia
Genre(s) Rock
Instrument(s) Vocals, bass guitar, guitar
Years active 1978 — present
Label(s) Mushroom Records
Associated acts Models

James Freud (born Colin McGlinchey on June 29, 1964) is a former Australian rock star, member of the Models and author of the tell all autobiographies I Am The Voice Left From Drinking and I Am The Voice Left From Rehab detailing the lows of his iconic career in music entertainment.

Contents

[edit] Early life

The ride to Freud's musical success started before he had even begun school, when he was introduced to music for the first time. “From the time I was five, I realised that was what I wanted to do. My uncle gave me all The Beatles records and I just loved them. I got a toy electric guitar and that was it, that was all I wanted to do.”

Despite his passion and musical talent, Freud's mother was against the concept. At age 15, Freud left home to pursue his career and did not communicate with his mother for a undisclosed period of time.

[edit] Career

[edit] Early career

At the age of 16, Freud formed his first band, Sabre, with high school friend and guitarist Sean Kelly and drummer Ian McFarlane. Their first performance was at Freud's younger sister's slumber party.

After hearing the Sex Pistols album God Save The Queen in 1977, Freud formed The Spred with Kelly, and three others.

When the opportunity came to record a single ("I Wanna Be Your Baby"), later covered by Uncanny X-Men, two members were fired and the band changed its name to The Teenage Radio Stars. They performed the single on Countdown on ABC TV.

By 1980, Freud was recording as a solo performer with a backing band, with whom he recorded a minor hit single ("Modern Girl") and an album "Breaking Silence", along with a large cast of session musicians.

In 1981, they renamed themselves James Freud and Berlin and recorded the singles "Enemy Lines" and "Automatic Crazy" before splitting up.

[edit] The Models

In 1982, Freud joined the Models as bassist after the departure of Mark Ferrie, reuniting with old collaborator Sean Kelly. Freud shared lead vocalist duties on some songs, beginning with one of his compositions, "Facing The North Pole In August" off the The Pleasure of Your Company album, recorded in 1983. In 1985, Two Freud-penned hits, "Barbados" and "Out of Mind, Out of Sight", took the Models to numbers #2 and #1 on the Australian top-ten charts respectively. He remained in the band until they split up in 1988.

[edit] Post-Models solo career

In 1989, Freud went solo again, releasing "Step into the Heat', the most expensive album produced by the Mushroom Records company up to that point. However, it was not successful, a fact that Freud blamed in his autobiography on average songs. He then teamed with Martin Plaza of Mental as Anything as the dance group Beatfish, releasing an eponymous record in 1992.

In 1995, Freud canned his next solo album, "BigMouth", but some of the material made its way onto the Hawaiian surf-themed "Postcard from Hawaii" album released by Moondog, of which Freud was the lead vocalist. Others in Moondog included Phil Ceberano and Martin Plaza.

In 1999, he performed the song "One Tony Lockett" at the Sydney Cricket Ground, and released "Today's Legends of AFL football" as James Freud and the Reserves.

In 2008, he released "Lazarus", his first solo studio album since 'Step Into The Heat'.

[edit] Personal life

Freud has documented his personal life in two autobiographical volumes "I Am The Voice Left From Drinking" (2002), and "I Am The Voice Left From Rehab" (2007). The titles of both books refer to a lyric in the hit song "Barbados", written by Freud and recorded by the Models. The books chronicle his descent into alcoholism, and his subsequent recovery. He became clean and sober late in 2004.


[edit] Family

During the peak of his success, Freud married real life love and current wife of 18 years, Sally. Together they have two children, Jackson Freud and Harrison Freud, both of whom front their own Australian rock band, Sonic Dogma, managed by Freud. Freud, his wife and two children currently reside in Queensland, Australia.[1]

[edit] Alcoholism and Rehab

According to his autobiography, Freud's life as a rock star was "not without a few old-fashioned rock'n'roll excesses."

During his life in the public eye, Freud struggled with substance abuse, eventually seeking medical attention to address his battle as an alcoholic in rehab. Freud later went on to document his battle in two tell all autobiographies.

[edit] Current Projects

[edit] The Dogs

He is currently working as an advisor for the band of his two sons, The Dogs on developing an EP entitled "Dog Day Afternoon".

[edit] Further reading

[edit] References

  1. ^ How James Freud survived rock and roll - smh.com.au

[edit] External links