Michael Hutchence (January 22, 1960 – November 22, 1997) was the lead singer of the Australian rock band, INXS.

Michael Kelland John Hutchence was born in Sydney, son of Kelland ("Kell") and Patricia Hutchence, but was subsequently raised in Hong Kong. He began performing at the age of eight in a local toy store commercial. He attended King George V School.

The Hutchence family eventually returned to Sydney in Michael's late teens, and it was there that Hutchence befriended Andrew Farriss at Davidson High School on Sydney's Northern Beaches. Shortly, Michael and Andrew joined with Andrew's brothers Tim and Jon, as well as friends Garry Gary Beers and Kirk Pengilly to form their first band, The Farris Brothers which would ultimately become INXS.

When, in 1979, the Farriss family moved to Perth, Western Australia, the rest of the band followed, returning to Sydney soon after. In 1980, the group released their first album, INXS, and put out their first single, Simple Simon, which was soon followed by their first moderate Australian hit, Just Keep Walking.

By virtue of his role as the band's lead singer, Hutchence became the main spokesperson for the band, and gained a reputation as a confident, sexy frontman, although his close friends and family always maintained he was much more introverted than his on-stage persona. A talented lyricist, he co-wrote almost all of INXS's songs with Andrew Farriss, who has attributed his own success as a songwriter to Hutchence's 'genius'.

In 1987, following several increasingly successful INXS albums, Hutchence appeared in the Australian movie Dogs in Space, directed by long-time INXS music video collaborator, Richard Lowenstein. In the film, some events are from Lowenstein's life when sharing a home with friend Sam Sejavka, played by Hutchence. In 1989, he released the album Max Q, a collaboration with Australian post-punk pioneer Ollie Olsen. In 1990, he played Percy Shelley in Roger Corman's Frankenstein Unbound.

Hutchence's private life was often reported in the Australian and international press, with a string of love affairs with prominent models and singers, including a brief affair with the much-older transsexual model and singer April Ashley, who wrote of their relationship in her memoirs. In 1989, he began a highly publicised relationship with Kylie Minogue, helping to transform her image from girl-next-door (a hang-over of her soap opera "Neighbours" fame), into a sexy, edgy pop diva.

In 1990, INXS released X, which spawned more international hits such as Suicide Blonde, Disappear and Bitter Tears. A live album, Live Baby Live, followed in 1991. What most fans consider to be INXS' best work, Welcome To Wherever You Are, was released in 1992 but it failed to set the charts alight.

That same year, Hutchence was involved in an altercation with a taxi driver in Denmark. He suffered a blow to the head and consequently, lost his sense of taste and partial sense of smell. This made him depressed and more aggressive. According to INXS band mate, Garry Gary Beers, "He pulled a knife on me one night, and I'm telling you, he was lucky I didn't disembowl him." This incident occurred during the recording of INXS' 1993 album, Full Moon Dirty Hearts. It was to be another commercial failure.

INXS spent the mid-1990s trying to develop a successful new album after a series of less-than-spectacular releases.

During this time, Hutchence's relationship with Kylie Minogue ended, and for a time he dated supermodel Helena Christensen before starting a relationship with Paula Yates, who he had met some years earlier during an interview. Paula and Michael's affair was soon discovered by the English press. The pressure from the media was so intense that Hutchence once assaulted a photographer hounding him. Around this time, Yates' separation from husband Bob Geldof became official, sparking an at-times bitter custody battle over their three daughters, Fifi Trixibelle, Peaches Honeyblossom and Little Pixie. In 1996 Yates gave birth to Hutchence's only child, daughter Heavenly Hiraani Tiger Lily Hutchence.

Given the history of the crazy names Paula Yates had given her other three children, it was assumed that she named Tiger alone. In actual fact it was a joint effort. Fifi, Peaches and Pixie chose the name Heavenly. Michael chose Hiraani and Paula chose Tiger Lily. They had chosen to call her Tiger since her birth. Michael once described his daughter as "just what we ordered."

After a period of inactivity punctuated with comparatively poorly-received releases, INXS felt the pressure to make a relevant and successful new album. (At the 1996 Brit Awards, Hutchence presented Oasis with an award, after which their outspoken vocalist,Liam Gallagher remarked, "Has-beens shouldn't be presenting awards...".)[1] Recording commenced in late 1996 with Bruce Fairbairn and bandmate Andrew Farriss producing what would become INXS' 10th official release. A new INXS album, Elegantly Wasted, was released in April 1997. Hutchence and INXS went on a world tour. The final leg of the tour was to be in Australia in November and December. However, on the morning of November 22nd 1997, Hutchence, aged 37, was found dead in his room at the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Double Bay, Sydney (now the Sir Stamford). A belt found at the 'scene of crime' suggested that he had hanged himself.

The New South Wales coroner initially determined his death was suicide, but analysis of the witness statements in the report, the lack of a suicide note and other evidence has since been interpreted to suggest that the cause of death may have been accidental, resulting from autoerotic asphyxiation (strangling himself while masturbating). The full Coroner's Report can be read from an external link below.

The deceased received several prescriptions of the anti-depressant Prozac (fluoxetine) and the autopsy confirmed the traces of Prozac beside of alcohol and cocaine. Clinical studies have shown that in rare occasions, normally healthy volunteers on fluoxetine may become dangerously suicidal.

Kym Wilson and her then boyfriend Andrew Reyment were the last people to see Michael alive. Kym became known as the Suicide Blonde, after one of INXS' hits, originally written for Kylie.

The Sydney Morning Herald reported on 20 August 2005 that no trace of Hutchence's estimated multi-million fortune could be found by his family after his death.

Hutchence's long-in-the-works solo album, Michael Hutchence, was finally released in 1999. He had begun working on the album in 1995 and had last worked on it two weeks prior to his untimely death. It was co written and co produced by Hutchence and a gaggle of collaborators - Andy Gill from Gang Of Four, Tim Simenon of Bomb The Bass, and Danny Saber from Black Grape. It featured a duet with U2's Bono called Slide Away. Bono actually finished the song off and layed down his vocals after Hutchence's death. The movie, Limp, was also released in 1999 and featured a cameo by Hutchence, playing a record company A & R man. (Hutchence had filmed the scene in 1996 on a day off from working on INXS' Elegantly Wasted.)

From July to September 2005, a television show featured the members of INXS looking for a new singer to succeed Michael. The show, which aired on CBS, was called Rock Star: INXS. The winner was Canadian singer J.D. Fortune.

Earlier this year (2006) it was announced that a biopic focusing on the life and times of Michael Hutchence was going forward, to be directed by Michael's friend, music promo director Nick Egan.

In a recent exclusive interview with Woman's Day, Tina Hutchence, Michael's half-sister, revealed that she too is planning to make a movie based on the book she co-wrote with her mother, Just A Man. She also revealed that Canadian actor Hayden Christensen is in line to play Michael.

Tributes

U2 and Bono have made several tributes to Hutchence ever since his death:
The 2000 U2 album All That You Can't Leave Behind includes a song titled "Stuck in a Moment You Can't Get Out Of", which Hutchence's friend Bono wrote about his suicide. The song is written in the form of an argument about suicide in which Bono tries to convince Hutch of the act's foolishness. Bono characterized the song as a good old row between friends which he felt guilty that he never got to have with Hutch.
Bono also dedicated an emotional performance of "One" to Hutchence on the live video Popmart: Live From Mexico City. During the intro to the song, Bono refers to Hutchence as "a great mate, a great singer." This track can also be heard on the album Hasta La Vista Baby!.
On both the Popmart and Elevation Tours, Bono has frequently dedicated the song "Gone" to Hutchence by yelling "Hutch!" at the beginning of the song.

Singer Simon Le Bon of Duran Duran, a friend of both Hutchence and Yates (and Geldof's best man at his wedding to Yates), also wrote a song for him. It was recorded in 1996 and released on the album Medazzaland only a month before Hutchence's death. "Michael, You've Got A Lot To Answer For" included these lyrics:
Trust you to get caught up in somebody's war; you'll come out of it all intact, I'm sure.
Just remember what friends were put here for;
Michael, you've got a lot to answer for, and I know that you're gonna call... if you need me.

On INXS' last tour, they dedicated "Never Tear Us Apart" to Michael and had a screen which showed pictures of him throughout his life.

A song on INXS' new album Switch called "God's Top Ten" pays tribute to Michael and his daughter, Tiger Lily. Another song, "Afterglow", pays tribute to Michael alone.

It is suggested that the song Private Man on the Powderfinger album Internationalist is a tribute to Michael.

                       

Courtesy of: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael Hutchence