John Farnham, the vocalist on the Little River Band’s most recent Top 40 hits, may never sing again.
He was diagnosed with mouth cancer in late 2022 then underwent a surgical procedure where his jawbone was scraped after all of his bottom teeth were removed. Thankfully, radiation treatment didn’t damage his vocal cords, but there’s still a problem.
“My facial disfigurement from the surgery means I can’t open my mouth wide enough for a strip of spaghetti, let alone to sing a top C,” Farnham writes in a new memoir, The Voice Inside. “At this stage, I can’t get the movement to make the sounds I want to make, and that’s where the vibrations and my voice come from. It’s still a very disconcerting thing – and trying hurts.”
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Farnham first appeared on a pair of bonus tracks for 1982’s Greatest Hits replaced the departing Glenn Shorrock in the Little River Band. “The Other Guy” went to No. 11 in the U.S. “We Two” reached No. 22 on the Billboard Hot 100 before “You’re Driving Me Out of My Mind,” also from 1983’s The Net, hit No. 35.
Watch John Farnham With Little River Band
John Farnham Looks Back on Little River Band Era
Farnham, a former child star in his adopted home of Australia, appeared on 1985’s Playing to Win and 1986’s No Reins before returning to solo work.
The Voice Inside was written with Poppy Stockell, the filmmaker behind John Farnham: Finding the Voice and reveals some lingering ill will from his time in the Little River Band. Farnham describes an era in which he had to overcome “undercurrents of animosity, jealousy and petty peeves.”
Unfortunately, Farnham’s recent health problems haven’t been limited to the cancer diagnosis. While recovering from surgery, he also fell and broke his back. But Farnham says he hasn’t yet given up on his dream to sing again: “I can barely open my mouth but I still wail in the shower.”
Bands With No Original Members
Gallery Credit: Nick DeRiso
