A father and son moments ago, they don’t get much more emotional – or public – than Jimmy Barnes’ revelation to David Campbell.
Introducing his son, David, to a live audience at Sydney’s State Theatre, the legendary Cold Chisel frontman says the one thing he’d change about his extraordinary life is the chance to spend more time with David, when he was younger.
“He needed his dad and I needed him,” Jimmy says, before David joins him on stage to sing Marmalade’s “Reflections of the Past”. The touching scene is part of the incredible documentary movie, Jimmy Barnes: Working Class Boy.
“That was a beautiful moment,” Jimmy, 62, says of performing with Today Extra presenter David. “It was as if I’d orchestrated it for us to heal, which of course, I didn’t.”
In the movie, David is moved to tears as he sings alongside his dad and later admits it was a big deal to him for his father to talk about their relationship.
“It was true (what I said on stage),” a candid Jimmy says.
“I knew it a long time ago, but those feelings tied in with all of the other things from my past. It all made more sense because I am really aware that we need each other more than ever.”
David is the result of a short-lived relationship between Jimmy and a woman named Kim. The two separated and David was raised by his maternal grandmother.
In recent years, Jimmy and David have forged a closer relationship.
This is one of the more moving scenes in the movie, which is based on Jimmy’s best-selling 2016 autobiography, Working Class Boy.
Elsewhere, Jimmy details his harrowing younger years rife with domestic abuse, alcohol and poverty.
“For two years, I have been talking about it, writing about it and making a movie,” Jimmy says of his childhood.
The movie was released in cinemas earlier this year and is now set to be seen by a wider audience on free-to-air television.
“It’s done very well in the theatre and it’s nice to get it [the movie] out on free-to- air for people to see,” Jimmy says. “Even people who have seen the live show or read the book might want to see it. It’s going to be a big thing.”
Jimmy Barnes: Working Class Boy airs Monday, Oct 1 at. 8.30pm
Read the full story in this week’s issue of New Idea, on sale now.
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