They married in Sydney on and Jane gave birth to their first child, Mahalia, named after Mahalia Jackson, on 12 July 1982. In November 1979, Barnes met Jane Mahoney (born 1958 as Jane Dejakasaya in Bangkok, Thailand), the stepdaughter of an Australian diplomat. The band broke up in December 1983, its final performances at the Sydney Entertainment Centre running from 12 to 15 December 1983. A month later, WEA signed the band.īetween 19, Cold Chisel released five studio albums and won numerous TV Week / Countdown Awards. However, his farewell performance with Cold Chisel went so well that he changed his mind and decided to stay in the band. Progress was slow and Barnes announced he was leaving once again in May 1977 to join Swanee in a band called Feather. After a temporary move to Armidale, New South Wales while Walker completed his engineering studies there, Cold Chisel moved to Melbourne in August 1976, and then three months later shifted base to Sydney. Barnes' relationship with the band was often volatile and he left several times, leaving Moss to handle vocal duties until he returned. In 1974, Orange had changed its name to Cold Chisel and began to develop a strong presence on the local music scene. Barnes took over the role but his tenure with the band was brief and, in December 1975, he joined a harder-edged band called Orange, with the organist and songwriter Don Walker, guitarist Ian Moss, drummer Steve Prestwich and bass guitarist Les Kaczmarek. In 1974, his brother Swanee was playing drums with Fraternity, which had just parted ways with the singer Bon Scott. Main article: Cold Chisel 1973–1983 īarnes took up an apprenticeship in a foundry with the South Australian Railways in 1973, but the love he and his brother had for music led him to join a band. Jimmy adopted the name James Dixon Barnes, after his stepfather. Dorothy remarried, to a clerk named Reg Barnes, who died on 3 September 2013. Shortly afterwards, their parents divorced.
Another sister, Lisa, was born later that year. He and his family arrived in Australia when he was five years old on 21 January 1962, originally in Adelaide, though they eventually settled in nearby Elizabeth. John encouraged and taught Barnes how to sing, as he was not initially interested. His older brother, John, also later became known as a singer under the name Swanee. He called his childhood environment a "slum" of alcohol and violence, saying that his mother had him and his four siblings (John, Dorothy, Linda and Alan) before she was 21. His maternal grandmother was Jewish, but he was raised Protestant. Barnes was born James Dixon Swan in the Cowcaddens area of Glasgow, the son of Dorothy and Jim Swan.