“Without Andrew there would be no music for us to play.” Michael Hutchence

Born 27 March 1959 in Perth, Western Australia, Andrew is the second eldest of the Farriss siblings. It was at Davidson High School that he would meet Michael Hutchence. The two became best friends, with Hutchence joining Andrew’s band, Doctor Dolphin. One year later, The Farris Brothers formed.

Massive hit singles such as ‘Original Sin’ (first Australian Number One), ‘What You Need’ (first Top 10 in the US), and ‘Need You Tonight’ (huge worldwide smash Number One) were the key cornerstones of Andrew’s much lauded song-writing partnership with Michael Hutchence. Add into the mix successful albums and videos, world tours, armloads of awards and accolades – it’s been, and remains, quite a career for Andrew – and one of his own making. Andrew is credited solely with keyboards on the band’s earliest albums, but by 1984′s The Swing, he was listed as also playing guitar. On stage, he also plays harmonica and various hand-held percussion instruments.

By INXS’s third album, Shabooh Shoobah, the team of Andrew as composer and Michael as lyricist was well established, and it was this combination that brought INXS the majority of their international success in the 1980s and 1990s.

“For it to really work, you have to have a feel for what people like to listen to – you need to know what excites them as well as what excites yourself”. Andrew Farriss

From inxsonline.com
Image: Marlina Neeley