All-star concert honoring late INXS singer is being organized by his manager.
Senior Writer Gil Kaufman reports:
More than a year after Michael Hutchence's death shocked the music world, at least one all-star concert honoring the late INXS singer is being organized by his manager for early next year.
The concert, dedicated to the highly charismatic frontman of one of the most popular bands of the '80s, will be held in January 1999, according to Martha Troup, the New York-based manager of the multi-platinum Australian dance-pop group.
"It will be more of a celebration than a benefit or tribute," Troup said of the show, the lineup of which she said she was not yet ready to reveal. Troup said a show in Australia is definite, with another companion-concert in New York possible.
The surviving members of the veteran band -- Garry Gary Beers (bass), Kirk Pengilly (guitar/saxophone) and brothers Andrew Farriss (guitar/keyboards), Jon Farriss (drums) and Tim Farriss (guitar) -- will be involved in the concert, according to Troup.
The 37-year-old singer of such INXS hits as "Devil Inside" and "Suicide Blond" committed suicide by hanging himself in his Sydney, Australia, hotel room in November 1997.
Since then, surviving bandmembers have been working on various side projects. The band is taking a one-year hiatus before it plans to return to recording and performing without Hutchence, Troup said.
Earlier this year, Tim Farriss spoke to the Australian newspaper the Sunday Herald about plans to honor the singer with a show in Australia or London. The idea was to benefit Hutchence's 2-year-old daughter, Heavenly Hiraani Tiger Lily. It is unclear whether the shows being planned will be held as benefits.
The band's former Australian publicist, Shawn Deacon, who had called Farriss' comment premature, previously confirmed that such major artists as British piano-pop legend Elton John, glam-pioneer David Bowie, American punk-rocker Iggy Pop, pop-crooner Tom Jones, Duran Duran singer Simon Le Bon and singer Bono of U2, a good friend of Hutchence's, had been approached to play a benefit show.
Deacon had said at the time that tentative plans called for the singers to step in and perform such classic INXS songs as "Devil Inside" and "Need You Tonight" with the remaining members of the band.
Troup would not confirm the participation of any of the artists at press time.
Bono paid tribute to his departed friend at a Sydney concert in February when he dedicated the U2 song "Wake Up Dead Man" to Hutchence and played the INXS song "Never Tear Us Apart" (RealAudio excerpt) over the PA after the show.
Troup has said there are more than 40 unreleased songs by INXS that might be issued. The band has released nine albums over the course of its 20 years together.
A solo album by Hutchence, produced by Black Grape's Danny Saber and former Gang of Four guitarist Andy Gill, was expected to be released this year. It is currently on hold, according to the manager.