In 1989 I was told by a friend at school
that INXS were rehearsing for their new album. I went down
to the Sydney Opera House to see if I could meet them. After
a few minutes of walking around the Opera House we found INXS
in the back of a truck doing a photo shoot. My friend and
I waited for them to have a break and when they did we simply
walked up to them and asked for a group photo, they happily
obliged.
From that day on I became an INXS fan. I continued to go to
the Opera House after school and found out that Michael Hutchence
was staying at The Sebel Townhouse hotel. One weekend I went
to the hotel to see if I could meet Michael again as they
had finished rehearsing at the Opera House. After a day of
waiting, I heard the roar of Michael’s Harley Davidson
motorcycle coming down the street. Michael drove his Harley
into the car park of the hotel; I was so excited to see him
that I ran down into the car park. The doorman at the hotel
saw me running into the car park and gave chase. After a few
seconds I ended up standing next to Michael and waited for
him to take his helmet off. The doorman, who was trying to
protect his celebrity guest from a 16 year old school kid,
ran down to the car park and ordered me back onto the street.
Michael gave me a warm smile and told the over enthusiastic
doorman that I was O.K.
I spoke to Michael for a few minutes and soon realised that
I had never met anyone quite like him. I was only 16 at the
time and had no idea what charisma meant, but I knew that
Michael was very special. A few weeks had passed and I had
found out from my meeting with Michael that INXS were recording
a new album at Rhinoceros recording studios in Surry Hills
(Sydney). In January 1990 I went to ‘Rhinos’ to
see if I could meet INXS again. I stood out the front of Rhinos
for a few hours, but could not see any members from INXS.
Just as I was about to leave I saw Tim Farriss drive into
the car park of Rhinos. I waited for him to walk out of the
car park and asked him if any of the other members had arrived.
Tim was in total shock that I was waiting for him and the
other guys, as he had parked his car in Rhinos just to do
some shopping in nearby Oxford Street and was not there to
do any recording. Tim told me that I was about 2 weeks too
early and I should come back later in the month.
Two weeks had passed and I went back to Rhinos, this time
with a bit more luck. I waited outside the studio and after
only 30 minutes I heard Michael’s Harley Davidson screaming
down the street. Michael parked his Harley on the footpath.
I walked over to Michael and said hello, to which he replied
“Hello mate, how are you”? I spoke to Michael
and found him to be very kind and down to earth. Over the
next couple of hours the other guys arrived and greeted me
with friendly smiles and had time for a chat.
I enjoyed my day at Rhinos so much that I went back the next
day and the next day again. I soon found myself spending more
time at Rhinos than I was at school. In late January of 1990
I left school and became a full time pupil at Rhinos, where
my teachers were Michael, Kirk, Garry, Tim, Jon and Andrew.
As hours turned into days, days turned into weeks and weeks
turned into months I began to find myself ‘hanging out’
with INXS on a daily basis. I had bought a $90.00 camera earlier
that year and began to take photos of my favourite band. As
a 16 year old kid, INXS were the greatest guys in the world
to hang around. They would always pose for a photo, have a
chat with me and if there was any parties inside the studio
I was always invited. One night when I was at ‘Rhinos”
Michael came out to the foyer and invited me and my other
two friends (who were waiting with me) into the studio for
a listening party. Once in there I found myself sitting on
a black leather lounge with Michael Hutchence sitting next
to me singing the song ‘Bitter Tears’. This was
a night that I will never forget!
As the years passed I continued to ‘hangout’ with
INXS and decided that I wanted to become a photographer due
to my collection of photographs that I had taken of INXS and
in particular Michael.
One day in 1992 I was having a conversation with Michael and
I told him that I wanted to become a photographer. Michael
told me that he would help me. So from that day on I began
to practice taking photos of Michael Hutchence. He would always
pose for my camera and if I had an idea for a photo Michael
would go out of his way to help me.
I spent every moment I possibly could following INXS around,
but mainly focused on Michael. He is the most charismatic
person that I have ever met! People ask me almost on a daily
basis what was Michael Hutchence like? And to tell you the
truth, words can not describe him. When Kylie Minogue was
on Michael Parkinson’s T.V show a few years ago he asked
her “what was Michael Hutchence like? Kylie answered
“did you ever meet Michael”? “No”
Parkinson replied, Kylie went onto tell him that unless you
met Michael you can’t really describe him. That quote
from Kylie is so true. How do you describe the most charismatic
person that you have ever met, to someone that never had the
pleasure of meeting him? You can’t.
I continued to wait for INXS and Michael for many more years
and was fortunate to meet him again on Thursday 20 November1997.
On Saturday the 22nd of November 1997 I went to the Ritz Carlton
hotel in Double Bay to pick Michael up to take him to ABC
studios for rehearsals. Michael had told me on the Thursday
that he was going to leave between 10:30am and 11:00am. I
got down to the hotel at approximately 9:30am, as I did not
want to miss the opportunity of driving Michael to the ABC.
Just after 12:00pm a few security guards walked outside the
hotel and waited near the loading dock. A few moments passed
and an ambulance arrived and drove into the loading dock.
I remember thinking that this was very strange as 3-4 security
guards from the hotel escorted the ambulance inside.
Soon after the ambulance arrived, a police vehicle turned
up at the hotel. About 45 minutes had passed since the police
arrived and I was beginning to become slightly nervous. There
was no sign of Michael; instead there were police and ambulance
officers. A few minutes passed and I saw a man running towards
the hotel with a news camera on his shoulders. The man ran
up to me and asked “what is going on”? I told
him that I didn’t know and asked him “why, what
is going on”? He then told me that he was sitting up
the road in his news vehicle and was listening to the police
radio, where he heard that “an Australian international
rock star had been found dead in one of the hotel rooms”.
He then asked me “do you know who that could be”?
From that moment I knew that it was Michael, however I told
him that I didn’t know. Michael was the only Australian
international rock star that Australia ever had. The first
thing I did was ring my girlfriend at work. When she answered
the phone I said to her “I think Michael is dead”,
my girlfriend said to me, that as soon as I said those words,
the whole department store where she was working went completely
black, there was a complete black out the moment I said those
words.
Before Michael died on the 22nd November 1997, he told me
that I had the best collection of photographs of him than
anyone else in the world.
In 2010 for Michael’s 50th Birthday I plan to have a
photographic exhibition featuring my photos of Michael. Which
includes photos that I had taken of him from 1990 to 1997.
Most of the photos have never been seen before and will be
limited editions of just 37.
