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.
