‘Unmatched’: Glenn Wheatley’s legacy remembered

Tributes continue to flow for Glenn Wheatley who died Tuesday night in Melbourne’s Epworth Hospital from complications caused by COVID.

They included APRA AMCOS, Frontier Touring (of which Wheatley was an original partner), and fellow promoters including AJ Maddah of Soundwave (who once bailed the mogul out of a tight spot by offering him a Perth show with John Farnham and Tom Jones).

Paul Dainty remembered him as a “titan in our industry” and a great champion of Aussie music.

Most importantly, they acknowledged how his greatest legacy to Australian music was to show – as he did with Little River Band – that it was possible to reach 30 million global album sales from Australia.

Former LRB member Glenn Shorrock told the ABC that Wheatley fought for better royalty rates and more money for struggling musicians.

The other was to prove to the industry, here and abroad, that it was possible for an Australian act to repeatedly sell-out tours.

One of these, the legendary The Last Time with John Farnham concert tour, grossed $53 million after drawing 430,000 people to 95 dates around the country.

There were also seven-figure sponsorship dollars from blue-chip brands as Telstra, Harvey Norman, Qantas and Arnotts.

The tour’s profit was estimated at $15 million, with Farnham’s cut at $20 million.

Wheatley’s cut as manager was reportedly $6 million, with a profit share as tour promoter.

Farnham was also part of 1992’s Australian version of Jesus Christ Superstar, with Kate Ceberano and Jon Stevens, which played over 80 arena dates and yielded a soundtrack album on Wheatley Records.

The album was a bonafide smash, going 12 x Platinum.

Farnham, who turned down media interviews to comment because of his own illness, issued a statement that he was “devastated” adding that “so many people have lost a part of their lives”.

Wheatley’s passing put the spotlight on one of the most remarkable artist and manager relationships in Australian music.

His partnership with Freanham had been close since the ‘60s: they were officially pop rivals but shared a flat in St Kilda, Melbourne.

In the book High Voltage, authored by this writer, Wheatley recalled that when he returned broke from London in 1974 to set up Little River Band, he’d seen Farnham perform in a club.

The book reported, “Farnham was in a ghastly brown suit, standing in front of a bored house band, stopping them continually mid-song to count them in again.

“It was an awful sight. ‘One of these days,’ Wheatley thought to himself, ‘I am going to manage him and make sure he’s never reduced to this’.”

It would be 1980 before Wheatley took over Farnham’s management, and another five years before he engineered one of the greatest music comebacks by remortgaging his house to pay for Whispering Jack, because no record company had a shred of belief in the fallen Farnham’s commercial potential.

“It had been a gamble, but I was confident that John had delivered something extraordinary and was worth the risk,” Wheatley wrote in his 2010 book, Facing The Music.

“I had faith that we could make the album a hit.”

Whispering Jack remains the best selling Australian album in its domestic market, and Farnham has scored ten chart-topping albums.

Delta Goodrem, who was 13 when Wheatley contacted her parents about taking on her career, posted on Instagram he had “impacted the lives of so many”.

“I am forever grateful for our time together in my early career,” she said.

With the Masters Apprentices, 1969

A statement from the Wheatley family revealed that he had been working on a number of projects at the time of his death.

“In spite of having achieved so much, there was a lot more he wanted to give,” his family said.

“He had an enthusiasm that was unmatched and believed that anything was possible.

“He gave everything to support projects he believed in, whether they were ultimately successful or not – his immense passion and enthusiasm was an integral part of Glenn Wheatley.”

His singer-songwriter son Tim Wheatley added, “He treated roadies, artists and fans with the same love and respect, and had time for everyone.

“He would leave Rod Laver Arena after a John Farnham concert, just to carry my amp into the Espy (club).

“Everything he did was for his family. He regarded his family as his greatest achievement.”

As a tribute, Tim temporarily shelved the release of a new single and EP but issued a version of the Masters’ ‘Because I Love You’ from the EP to be heard here.