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[1] 1980s band Australian Crawl[2] and solo work.[3]Contents [hide] 1 Biography 1.1 Early years 1.2 Australian Crawl 1.3 Solo career 1.4 2000s/Today 1.5 Acting career 1.6 Personal life 2 Discography 2.1 Albums (Australian Crawl) 2.2 Albums (solo) 2.3 Albums (Company of Strangers) 2.4 Singles (solo) 3 References 4 External links
[edit] Biography [edit] Early years
Born in Nigeria to an Australian mother and English diplomat father, the Reynes moved to 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, Paul Williams, Robert Walker, Mark Hudson and Simon Binks.[2][4] By early 1978, Spiff Rouch had split with Reyne forming Clutch Cargo with Binks, Robinson, Williams and his younger brother David Reyne.[2] [edit] Australian Crawl Main article: 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.[4] Australian Crawl made a memorable debut on popular music 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", "Beautiful People", "Errol", "The Boys Light Up", "Things Don't Seem", "Oh No Not You Again" and "Downhearted".[5] They were voted Countdown 1981 Most Popular Group and Reyne was 1980 and 1981 Most Popular Male Performer.[6] After the band split up in 1986,[7] Reyne went on to a successful solo career.[6] [edit] Solo career
Whilst still with the Crawl, Reyne formed a duet with Lin Buckfield of Electric Pandas[8] to release a 1985 single "R.O.C.K." / "Under My Thumb".[9] In 1987, Reyne released his self titled debut solo album. After subsequently releasing the hit single "Motors Too Fast", which reached #6 on the Australian charts, the album was re-packaged with "Motors Too Fast" replacing the song "Coin in A Plate" which had appeared on the original version. Ultimately the debut album would spawn 6 hit singles. His debut was followed, in 1989, by his next solo release Hard Reyne which featured the hits "House of Cards" and "One More River". The album was launched with a live televised performance on Australia's MTV program on the Nine Network and an Australian Tour. 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". Singles off that album included "Slave", "Any Day Above Ground" and "Some People". In 1992 he recorded a duet with country 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 frontman Daryl Braithwaite, Jef Scott and Simon Hussey to create the 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. 1994 saw the release of James' critically acclaimed fourth album - The Whiff Of Bedlam, recorded in Los Angeles with Stewart Levine and including the single "Red Light Avenue", "Day In The Sun" and "It's Only Natural". 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.
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. [edit] 2000s/Today
After a few years' break between studio albums, Reyne released Design For Living in 1999. In 2004 he released Speedboats for Breakfast, which included the single "Bug". 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."
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 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. [edit] 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 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. [edit] 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.[10] James Reyne is the father of TV soapie Neighbours actor Jaime-Robbie Reyne.[11][12] Reyne lives on the Mornington Peninsula with his partner, Tina, and a daughter.[13] [edit] Discography [edit] Albums (Australian Crawl) Main article: Australian Crawl discography [edit] 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) TCB - Liberation (LMCD0094) (9 April, 2010) AUS #32 [edit] Albums (Company of Strangers) Company of Strangers - Columbia (COL 4720812) (1992) (AUS #9) [edit] Singles (solo)Year Single Chart Positions 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 Trouble in Paradise 72 House of Cards 17 One More River 22 Trouble in Paradise 72 1991 Slave 10 Any Day Above Ground 67 1992 Some People 92 Way Out West (with James Blundell) 2 1994 Red Light Avenue 32 1995 Day in the Sun 86 2005 She Don't Like That (with Smash 'n' Grab) 42
