Working Class Man

now a landmark documentary based on the bestselling book

Jimmy Barnes

$27.99

Paperback

Forthcoming
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English

HarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty Ltd
28 October 2025

Musicals; Individual composers & musicians, bands & groups; Autobiography: arts & entertainment; Memoirs; True stories of heroism, endurance & survival

THE SEQUEL TO THE NUMBER 1 BESTSELLER WORKING CLASS BOY. INCLUDES A NEW AFTERWORD.

From Glaswegian migrant kid to iconic front man, from solo superstar to proud father of his own musical clan, Jimmy Barnes has lived many lives. A decade ago, Jimmy set out to chronicle his legendary rock'n'roll life, writing two bestselling, award-winning and critically acclaimed autobiographies that would lay bare the man behind the legend. Working Class Boy and Working Class Man together established Jimmy as the highest selling Australian memoirist since records began and inspired two live productions and two major documentaries.

In this sequel to Working Class Boy, Jimmy picks up the story of his life in 1974 as he leaves Adelaide in the back of an old truck with a then unknown band called Cold Chisel. A spellbinding and searingly honest reflection on success, fame and addiction, this self-penned memoir reveals how Jimmy used the fuel of childhood trauma to ignite and propel Australia's greatest rock'n'roll story. But beyond the combustible merry-go-round of fame, drugs and rehab, and across the Cold Chisel, solo and soul years, this is also a story about how it's never too late to try and put things right.

'[A] compelling, must-read account' - Peter Garrett

'Brutal honesty and sparkling wit' - Neil Finn

'Sets a new bar for rock'n'roll survival stories' - Jennifer Byrne

'What a brave writer' - Lindy Morrison

'Riveting storytelling' - Sydney Morning Herald

By: Jimmy Barnes
Imprint: HarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty Ltd
Country of Publication: Australia
Dimensions: Height: 197mm, Width: 131mm, Spine: 32mm
Weight: 360g
ISBN: 9781460768716
ISBN 10: 146076871X
Pages: 448
Publication Date: 28 October 2025
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

Jimmy Barnes is a Scottish-born rock singer-songwriter who grew up in Adelaide. His career, both as a solo performer and as the lead vocalist of the legendary band Cold Chisel, has made him one of the most successful and distinctive artists in Australian music history. A prolific songwriter and performer, Jimmy has been a storyteller for more than forty years, sharing his life and passions with Australians of all ages at over ten thousand gigs throughout his adopted homeland. As a solo artist, and with Cold Chisel, Jimmy Barnes has amassed more number one albums in Australia than The Beatles. In his own right - with his iconic 1986 album, For the Working Class Man, his classic soul album, Soul Deep, Blue Christmas and many others - Jimmy has achieved the remarkable record of sixteen solo number-one albums, as well as six with Cold Chisel. Across his career Jimmy has sold over 12 million albums and he has been inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame twice. Jimmy's childhood memoir, Working Class Boy, became a number one bestseller and won the Australian Book Industry Award (ABIA) for Biography of the Year in 2017. His sequel, Working Class Man, won him a second ABIA for Biography of the Year in 2018. He is the only author to win back-to-back ABIAs for a non-fiction title. Having sold more than 600,000 copies, the books have become Australian classics and established Jimmy as one of our finest storytellers. The Stories & Songs live production, based on the memoirs, sold out more than a hundred shows, attracted unanimous critical acclaim and inspired the documentary film Working Class Boy, which topped the box office in late 2018. In 2021 Jimmy published two more bestsellers -- Rosie the Rhinoceros (a children's picture book with illustrator, Matt Shanks) and Where the River Bends (a cookbook co-written with Jane Barnes). Jimmy lives in New South Wales, with his wife, Jane.