Jimmy Barnes wins two awards that have nothing to do with music

Jimmy Barnes continues to prove that there’s life outside of being a rock star, after being part of two award wins in the last 24 hours that are completely unrelated to music.

He spent yesterday morning posing next to the Archibald Prize submission that he was the subject of. Sydney painter and first-time finalist Jamie Preisz picked up the prestigious Packing Room Prize for the effort, which depicts a rugged Barnes strapping his hands with boxing wraps.

Then, following a performance of his show Working Class Man: An Evening of Stories & Songs at Sydney’s Town Hall last night, 62-year-old Barnes celebrated his win at the 2018 Australian Book Industry Awards.

His second autobiographical instalment Working Class Man was named Biography Book of the Year, which also gives Barnes the impressive record of being the first author to win the award twice.

“I’ve never cared much about awards over the years but I’m actually very proud of these two,” Barnes said.

“It was intimidating, at my age, to be a first-time author – and I wanted to share a lot of stories that weren’t exactly easy to write about. So, having both volumes get this recognition from serious ‘book people’ really means a lot to me.”