James Reyne

Music Home >> Music Genres >> Undetermined Music



< < < < < > > > > > More Info on James Reyne Similar Undetermined Music Search Artistopia

Biography

James Reyne (born James Michael Nugent Reyne on 19 May 1957 in Lagos , Nigeria) is an Australian rock musician and singer/songwriter both as a member of the iconic 1980s band Australian Crawl and solo work. He is a successful singer/ songwriter and prolific artist. James continues to perform and release material.

Biography

Early years

Reyne was born in Nigeria to an Australian mother and English diplomat father. The family moved to Victoria, Australia|Victoria , Australia in the early 1960s. Reyne lived in Mount Eliza, Victoria , was educated at The Peninsula School and then went on to study drama at the Victorian College of Arts . He formed a band called Spiff Rouch containing fellow locals Bill McDonough, Guy McDonough , Brad Robinson (Australian musician)|Brad Robinson , Paul Williams, Robert Walker, Mark Hudson and Simon Binks . By early 1978, Spiff Rouch had split with Reyne forming Clutch Cargo with Binks, Robinson, Williams and his younger brother David Reyne .

Australian Crawl

In late 1978, Clutch Cargo was renamed Australian Crawl and started to gain popularity on the pub circuit. David Reyne left to continue an acting course and was replaced by Bill McDonough. Australian Crawl made a memorable debut on popular music TV series Countdown (Australian TV series)|Countdown . Reyne performed with both arms in plaster casts, a result of injuries sustained after being hit by a car. The band went on to sell more than 1 million albums in Australia in the 1980s, creating several memorable songs that still resonate within Australian culture and on Australian radio today. Their most popular songs are " Reckless (Australian Crawl song)|Reckless ", " Beautiful People (Australian Crawl song)|Beautiful People ", " Errol (song)|Errol ", " The Boys Light Up (song)|The Boys Light Up ", "Things Don't Seem", " Oh No Not You Again " and " Downhearted ". They were voted Countdown 1981 Most Popular Group and Reyne was 1980 and 1981 Most Popular Male Performer. After the band split up in 1986, Reyne went on to a successful solo career.

Solo career/1990's

Whilst still with the Crawl, Reyne formed a duet with Lin Buckfield of Electric Pandas to release a 1985 single "R.O.C.K." / "Under My Thumb".

In 1987, Reyne released his James Reyne (album)|self titled debut solo album . After subsequently releasing the hit single "Fall OF Rome", which reached #5 on the Australian charts, the album was re-packaged with "Motors Too Fast" (#6 Aria Charts) replacing the song "Coin in A Plate" which had appeared on the original version. Ultimately the debut album would spawn 6 hit singles, including "Hammerhead" (#8 Aria Charts), "Heaven On A Stick", "Rip It Up" and "Always The Way".

His debut was followed in May 1989 by his next solo release Hard Reyne , which featured the hits "House of Cards" (#17 Aria Charts) and "One More River" (#22 Aria Charts). The album was produced By Simon Hussey. The project was launched with a live televised performance on Australia's MTV program on the Nine Network and an Australian Tour in late 1989. A further two singles; "Trouble In Paradise" (Oct 1989) and "Harvest Moon" (Jan 1990) completed the album.

In 1991 Electric Digger Dandy was released. Mindful of the American market (where the album was released under the title of "Any Day Above Ground"), Electric Digger Dandy included a re-vamped version of the Australian Crawl hit "Reckless" as well as a cover of John Hiatt's "Stood Up" as well as a duet with American Blues legend Tony Joe White on the track "Stood Up". Single releases from the album included "Slave" (#10 Aria Charts), "Any Day Above Ground" and "Some People". It remains Reyne's biggest commercial release reaching #3 on the Australian Music Charts.

In 1992 he recorded a duet with country singer James Blundell (singer)|James Blundell (a cover of the The Dingoes song, Way Out West ). It hit #2 on the Australian charts – still James' biggest solo single.
Later that year he joined former Sherbet (band)|Sherbet frontman Daryl Braithwaite , Jef Scott and Simon Hussey to create the album Company of Strangers (Company of Strangers album)|Company of Strangers – an album that spawned four Top 100 singles. All three of these releases went platinum multiple times and contained several top 10 hits. These included Motor City (I Get Lost), Sweet Love, Daddy's Gonna Make You A Star and Baby You're A Rich Man.

October 1994 saw the release of James' critically acclaimed fourth album on the RooArt label – The Whiff Of Bedlam , recorded in Los Angeles with Stewart Levine . The first single release was "Red Light Avenue" and followed by "Day In The Sun" (Dec 1994)and "It's Only Natural" (April 1995). James performed "Day In The Sun" on the Australian Music Awards held in Queensland in November 1994. James also toured the album across Australia in the summer of 1994.
Following on from a successful Australian Tour, James and his band continued overseas to Europe, UK and South America. Recorded live in South America, the double-album "Live In Rio" was released in May 1996. A single edit of "Oh No, Not You Again (live)" was released to coincide with the album.

In late 1996 James took to the theatrical stage in David Atkin's hit musical "Little Shop Of Horrors".

James headed back into the studio in 1997 and worked with producer Ashley Caddell. Now signed to Village Roadshow Music, the first release was the pop-infused "Brand New Emperor's Clothes" in October 1997.
James continued to write and record new material throughout 1998/1999. Two more single releases "Not Waving, Drowning" and "Wonderful Day" (1998) were forthcoming.

This was followed in 1999 with the critically acclaimed Design For Living , which featured the sleeper gems "Reno", "Little Criminals" and "Stranger Than Fiction." Mostly recorded with friend and producer Scott Kingman at his studio in Melbourne. Experimental and bold, it remains Reyne's strongest effort, and popular with fans.

In 1999, he was one of many guest performers on John Farnham 's "I Can't Believe He's 50 Tour". His duet with Farnham, "Don't You Know It's Magic", can be heard on John Farnham's "Live At The Regent Theatre" album.

2000s/Liberation/Every Man A King

After a few years' break between studio albums, Reyne signed with Liberation Music in Australia. In 2004 he released Speedboats for Breakfast , which included the singles "Bug" and "The Rainbows Dead End". Of "Bug" James said: "I wanted to create a song out of playing the same four chords going round and round, building and growing all the time, with things coming in and dropping out. The listener knows there's transition but there's no real point where the change is obvious"
This was followed in 2005 by the album ...And The Horse You Rode In On , which contained acoustic reworkings of some of best-known solo and Australian Crawl compositions.
In late 2004, Australian dance producers Smash 'n' Grab remixed Australian Crawl's "Reckless", and Reyne scored a minor dance hit with the song "She Don't Like That".

Reyne hosted Dig , a music show on ABC2 , and made an appearance on The AFL Footy Show in Melbourne in 2006. However, Dig was removed from ABC2 's line-up due to budget cuts in 2007.

In May 2007, Reyne released a new studio album, Every Man a King , which features the singles "Light in the Tunnel" and "Little Man You've Had a Busy Day". Reyne said of the album; "If there's any theme to this album it's people being easily impressed. This silliness that they aspire to, the lives they read about in magazines. Their obsession with trash culture , the bizarre values we seem to live by. It's all just endlessly and perversely fascinating to me."

A second acoustic album, titled Ghost Ships, was released early October, 2007, taking Reyne's releases to four albums in four years – his most prolific period in recent times. This will be increased early in December when his first live DVD – James Reyne One Night in Melbourne, is released.

In April 2010 Reyne released, "TCB" (short for Taking Care of Business ), a collection of Elvis Presley covers, including "Viva Las Vegas", "Return To Sender" and "Burning Love". The album debuted at number 32 on the ARIA Charts|ARIA Albums chart . James also appeared on "Hey Hey It's Saturday" and Channel 9's NRL "The Footy Show" in the week of 19 April 2010.

2011/Thirteen

James is a constant performer on the Australian tour circuit.
Presently, James is in the studio with producer Scott Kingman finishing a new original album due for release in March 2012, described in interviews as progressive rock. The lead single English Girls was released mid-November 2011 and received a positive reaction from radio and fans alike.

A new single titled Capsize was released to radio in February 2012 and is currently receiving strong airplay.

The new studio album titled "Thirteen" is due for release 16 March 2012 through independent label MGM. Produced by James and long time collaborator Scott Kingman, James' fine-tuned song writing skills have kept his fans wanting more for over 30 years, while his consistently dynamic performances have helped build a large "live' following. With co-writes by Tim Henwood (Androids) and producer Scott, THIRTEEN covers all musical styles, and with a crisp clean production it makes the album James' classiest effort to date.

Acting career

Reyne has remained a constant in the Australian music scene. Mixing music with acting, he appeared in the TV drama Return to Eden (television)|Return to Eden as well as several other productions. He also played Tina Turner 's manager in the 1993 bio-movie about Tina's life ''What's Love Got To Do With It . In 2005 Reyne appeared as a guest actor of the telemovie The Post Card Bandit.

Personal life

Reyne is the older brother of David Reyne 1980s drummer (Australian Crawl, Cats Under Pressure, Chantoozies ), actor and television presenter. Their younger sister Elisabeth was also involved in the music industry, she produced Daryl Braithwaite 's 1991 album Higher Than Hope . James Reyne is the father of TV soapie Neighbours actor Jaime Robbie Reyne|Jaime-Robbie Reyne . Reyne lives on the Mornington Peninsula with his partner, Tina, and a daughter.

Discography

Albums (Australian Crawl)

Albums (solo)

James Reyne – Capitol (CDP7469412) (1987) AUS #4

Hard Reyne – Capitol/EMI (CDP7918742) (1989) AUS #7

Electric Digger Dandy – Virgin (VOZCD 2050) (1991) AUS #3

Any Day Above Ground (E.P.) – Virgin (91785-2) (1 October 1991)

The Best of James Reyne – EMI (7807582) (1992) AUS #16

The Whiff of Bedlam – RooART (4509980932) (1994) AUS#20

Live in Rio – RooART (2068300008) (1996)

Design for Living – Roadshow (101890-2) (1999)

Reckless (1979–1995) – Raven (RVCD-83) (10 November 2000)

Australian Crawl and James Reyne: The Definitive Collection – EMI (5423512) (14 October 2002)

Speedboats for Breakfast – Liberation (LIBCD6093.2) (19 April 2004)

...And the Horse You Rode In On – Liberation Blue (BLUE076.5) (2004)

Every Man a King – Liberation (LIBCD9239.5) (5 May 2007)

Ghost Ships – Liberation (LBN00010043) (1 October 2007)

One Night In Melbourne – Liberation (LMCD0063) (21 August 2009)

TCB – Liberation (LMCD0094) (9 April 2010) AUS #32

Thirteen – MGM/Hammerhead Records (HHR1) (16 March 2012)

Albums (Company of Strangers)

Company of Strangers – Columbia (COL 4720812) (1992) (AUS #9)

Singles (solo)

Year	Single	Chart Positions
Year	Single	ARIA Charts>AUS
1985	R.O.C.K. (with Lin Buckfield )	44
1987	Fall of Rome	5
	Hammerhead	8
	Rip It Up	34
1988	Heaven on a Stick	59
	Motor's Too Fast	4
	Always the Way	72
1989	House of Cards	17
	One More River	22
	Trouble in Paradise	72
1990	Harvest Moon	76
1991	Slave	10
1991	Any Day Above Ground	67
1992	Some People	92
	Way Out West (with James Blundell (singer)>James Blundell )	2
	Motor City (With Company Of Strangers)	26
	Sweet Love (With Company Of Strangers)	21
1993	Daddy's Gonna Make You A Star(With Company Of Strangers)	35
1994	Red Light Avenue	32
1995	Day in the Sun	86
1995	It's Only Natural	align="center"
1996	Oh No Not You Again Live Edit	align="center"
1997	Brand New Emperor's Clothes	align="center"
1998	Not Waving Drowning	align="center"
1999	Wonderful Today	align="center"
2004	Bug	align="center"
2004	Rainbow's Dead End	align="center"
2005	She Don't Like That ''(with Smash 'n' Grab)	42
2007	Light In The Tunnel	align="center"
	Little Man You've Had A Busy Day	align="center"
	Mr. International	align="center"
2010	Kentucky Rain	align="center"
2011	English Girls	align="center"
2012	Capsize	align="center"
2012	Whatcha Gonna Do About It?	align="center"

Copyright Citations

This article is licensed under the GNU License
Click here for original article: James Reyne

Undetermined Music Artists

James Reyne

Biography

Biography

Early years

Australian Crawl

Solo career/1990's

2000s/Liberation/Every Man A King

2011/Thirteen

Acting career

Personal life

Discography

Albums (Australian Crawl)

Albums (solo)

Albums (Company of Strangers)

Singles (solo)

References

External links

Copyright Citations