Two years after undergoing lifesaving surgery for oral cancer that has seemingly ended his singing career, it would be natural to assume that John Farnham’s health issues mark the darkest chapter in his life.
However, the Aussie icon now reveals that early on he was forced to overcome much worse.
In The Voice Inside, co-authored by Poppy Stockwell, the beloved musician, 75, finds a new way to share his story. The memoir sees Farnham recall the lowest moments of his five decades-plus career in the spotlight after finding fame as a teen pop idol Johnny Farnham in 1967 singing ‘Sadie [The Cleaning Lady]’.
Despite his wholesome image, Farnham’s early years of stardom were dominated by his manager, Darryl Sambell, who exercised excessive and aggressive control over the young star.
“He drugged me for years and I had no f–king idea,” Farnham writes in the tome.
“I caught him one day. I was drinking a cup of coffee and there was a pill only half-dissolved in the bottom. When I asked him what it was, Darryl replied, ‘That’s just something to help you stay awake’.”
Sambell, whom he parted ways with in 1976, looked to be in charge of all aspects of the musicians life.
“At the time, in the early years, he was aggressively sexual toward me…” Farnham reveals.
“For years Darryl controlled where and when I worked, what I sang, what I wore, what I ate. He isolated me from friends and family, he tried to keep me away from [now wife] Jill, he drugged me, and he made me believe that all my success, everything I had, was because of him.”
Opening up on his relationship with his former manager was the most difficult one for him to look back on, confirms Stockwell.
“The music industry can be very predatory,” the writer, who spent months interviewing Farnham for the memoir, tells WHO. “ It is such a shame that he has carried guilt around for so long about it.”
Farnham also opened up about his cancer battle. He performed with Olivia Newton John in February 2020 when she joined him on stage for a duet of ‘Two Strong Hearts’. After his surgery left him unable to open his mouth much, he reveals it is likely his last time.
“I still sing at home, though,” he wrote. I can barely open my mouth but I still wail in the shower. I love to make noises with my throat. Since I was a kid I’ve loved to whistle, I’ve loved to sing. I was given a gift and to be able to get out there and affect people in some way was a special thing. I would like to continue doing that.”
And that “hope” that he holds for the future is the essence of his story, Stockwell says. “So many times he could have given up but he’s never called it quits on his dreams… I think everyone can take inspiration from John.”
Despite his famous friends, platinum albums and many no. 1 hits, Stockwell confirms it is his family who are Farnham’s pride and joy. He spent much of their time talking about sons Robert 45, and James, 36, and wife of 51 years Jill,
“I am really proud of my sons,” he writes. “It can’t have been easy having a dad in the limelight and often away touring or performing. Jilly was always there for them and I was there when I could be. I always wanted to be, and it’s all worked out in the long run.”
