Celebrity

Michael Hutchence: Everything About The Late Australian Rockstar

Michael Hutchence
photo: scmp.com

Michael Hutchence was the most loved Australian rockstar at the time. His death was definitely news of the tragedy to many people around the world. Michael Hutchence was in a relationship with Paula Yates at the time of his death.

He was considered to be very depressed during the last few days of his life. Sources claim that he had wanted to see his girlfriend and son in his tour on the day before he took his own life. Michael lived a life of a rockstar and was everything a man would dream of becoming. His friends and family thought of him as full of light.

Who was Michael Hutchence?

Michael Kelland John Hutchence was an Australian singer, songwriter, and performer. He was born on 22 January 1960 and entertained millions of people worldwide before killing himself on 22 November 1997.

Photo: Peter Carrette Archive / Getty Images
Michael Hutchence, 1995

Michael Hutchence was the founder of their band INXS which has sold over 60 million records worldwide. Some of the most iconic songs from the bands were, Need You Tonight, Never Tear Us Apart and Elegantly Wasted.

Hutchence’s early life and Family:

Michael was born to his father Kelland Frank Hutchence and mother Patricia Glassop. His father was a businessman while his mother was a makeup artist. Hutchence had an elder half-sister Tina and a younger brother Brett. The family moved to Brisbane and later to Hong Kong due to the business interest of their father.

Hutchence’s parents divorced when he was 15 years of age. He lived with his mother after the separation and moved to Sydney with her.

Photo: Alamy

For the brief period that Michael was in Hong Kong, he attended Beacon Hill School in Kowloon Tong with his brother. During his schooling at Hong kong, he was also interested in poetry. He also studied at King George V School for a brief period of time.

Later after moving back to Australia, he attended Davidson High School in Sydney.

Michael Hutchence’s Professional career:

They later returned to Australia in 1972 where Michael continued his education and pursued his love for music. Michael later met Andrew Fariss with whom he later formed the band INXS. They spent a lot of time together playing music together in the garage.

Photo: denofgeek.com
Michael Hutchence

Michael and his band performed as The Vegetables for a short period of time. They recorded various demos and supported bands like Midnight Oil before forming their own band INXS in 1979. They released their first demo single Simple Simon in May 1980. Later they released their debut album in October. As a result of which, people slowly started recognizing their bands and their music. The charts also listed a few of their singles which helped them get recognized.

After their band was formed, Hutchence was the writer for almost all of their songs and was the spokesperson for the band. The band members also worked on their solo careers along with the band.

Helena and Michael in 1994. Image: Getty.

Hutchence’s released his first solo single, “Speed Kills” 1982. The list of his studio albums with INXS was:

Year  Album
1980 INXS
1981 Underneath the colors
1982 Shabooh Shoobah
1984 The Swing
1985 Listen Like Thieves
1987 Kick
1990 X
1992 Welcome to Wherever You Are
1993 Full Moon, Dirty Hearts
1997 Elegantly Wasted
2005 Switch
2010 Original Sin

Additionally, Michael Hutchence had his own singles released, they were:

Year Singles
1981 Speed kills
1986 Rooms for the Mercury
1999 A straight line
2015 Friction
2019 Spill the wine

Michael Hutchence’s Net worth before he died:

At the time of his death, Hutchence is believed to have had a net worth of about $1 million USD. He reportedly had earned $60 million during his lifetime from shows and music careers. However, when he died he only had $40,000 remaining in his bank account.

Even though he earned millions, he was marked with only $700,000 of assets which later was cleverly used up by his lawyers. Another very mysterious concern is about his real estate which was shown in ownership of various trusts. After his death, his trusts neither helped his daughter or his parents.

Michael Hutchence Girlfriends and relationships:

Following his fame in music, Michael Hutchence started using drugs and became popular among girls as well. Before being involved with Paula Yates, the mother of Peaches Geldof, both of whom died on a heroin overdose, he was romantically linked with 4 other girls.

helena-christensen-michael-hutchence
Photo: mamamia.com.au
Helena Christensen and Michael Hutchence

The girls with whom he was publicly seen together were Kylie Minogue, Belinda Carlisle, Helena Christensen, and Kym Wilson. People really adored Michael and Helena together as compared to any of his other girlfriends.

The rockstar started getting attached to the Wife of Bob Geldof during the mid-1990s. They met for the first time for an interview for her program in 1985. The media noticed their romance and started to scrutinize every move of theirs. Michael Hutchence didn’t like the attention and once assaulted a photographer who had followed the couple. Yates and Geldof divorced in 1996 which resulted in a non-ending tedious battle of custody of her children with Bob Geldof.

Hutchence and Paula Yates:

Michael Hutchence’s relationship with Paula Yates had so many criticisms and controversies. Their relationship is quoted as toxic and not meant to be. Paula ended up giving birth to their daughter Heavenly Hirani Tiger Lily Hutchence in 1996.

Michael Hutchence paula yates
Photo: mamamia.com.au
Michael Hutchence and Paula Yates

Their relationship was highly scrutinized by the British press and after they were found with drug possession the attention rose even more. Yates during that time was involved in the battle of custody of her daughters with Geldof. It is rumored and also admitted by Yates that Geldof was deliberately trying to create nuances in their lives.

Paula Yates expressed in an interview that Michael Hutchence has asked her to marry him and if he hadn’t killed himself they would have been married. Yates said in the same interview with 60 minutes Australia,” there’s no doubt, he was devasted by a delay in her custody battle, which meant she and his daughters couldn’t join him in Australia.

Michael Hutchence paula yates
Photo: independent.ie

The day before he took his life, Paula says that he had been waiting for her phone call about the court hearing.

How and when did Michael Hutchence die?

Michael Hutchence tragically took his own life on 22nd November 1997 at the Ritz Carlton Hotel room at Double Bay, Sydney. He hung himself with his snakeskin belt and tied it on the top of Automatic Door. During the day that he died, he had a phone conversation with Paula Yates.

He then also called his ex-girlfriend Michele Bennett and asked to visit him. As per the reports, he sounded very upset and was crying. Bennett did go to visit him, but Hutchence never opened the door and there was no response.

Michael Hutchence
Photo: Marc Berry Reid Michael Hutchence

Later, the Hotel maid found his body at about 11:50 AM which was kneeling facing the door. The autopsy report declared that the death was a suicide under the influence of alcohol and drugs.

The funeral to Michael Hutchence was held at St Andrew’s Cathedral, Sydney. The band members of INXS and his younger brother Brett carried his casket at the funeral. The song, Never Tear Us Apart was played in the background. Brett wrote in his book later that the previous day, Yates had put a gram of heroin in the Hutchence’s pockets at the funeral parlor.

Hutchence’s Daughter:

Michael Hutchence and Paula Yates had a daughter together who basically became an orphan after Yates also died in September 2000.

Photo: © supplied Image: Channel 7

Yates died due to heroin overdose, in the presence of her daughter. Their daughter’s tiger was then adopted by Bob Geldof and raised by him. Geldof renamed the baby as Heavenly Hiraani Tiger Lily Hutchence Geldof as fought the custody battle with Yates’s sisters for the baby.

Michael Hutchence movie:

After his death, the band carried on playing until 2012. However, in 2019 the documentary movie Mystify: Michael Hutchence was made based on his life. It was written and directed by Richard Lowenstein. The movie is a mixture of small private videos and footage and commentary provided by friends and family. The movie was released in 2019 and received a generally positive review from critiques.

Also Read: Danny Tidwell Bio-Age, Partner, Death, Personal Life, Net Worth, & Career

Shares