John Farnham has been left speechless over a “crazy” development after the TV premiere of his award-winning documentary on Channel Seven.
John Farnham: Finding the Voice aired on Monday night and follows the highs and lows of his remarkable career.
WATCH VIDEO ABOVE: Peter Ford shares surprise John Farnham development
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Last August, the 74-year-old underwent 12-hour surgery after being diagnosed with throat cancer, with doctors removing a tumour from his mouth and reconstructing his jaw.
On Monday, Farnham’s son, Robert, said his dad is now “cancer free” and “really happy” and his now even singing, tap dancing and walking his dogs again.
But a surprising development has now emerged with news that Farnham’s popularity has had a massive resurgence in the last 24 hours, with his albums dominating more than half the ARIA charts.
Speaking to The Morning Show hosts Larry Emdur and Kylie Gillies, entertainment editor Peter Ford said that “everybody has kind of rediscovered John Farnham”.
“Yesterday, at one point John had 12 of the top 20 in the albums charts and then he had another five in the 20 to 40,” Ford said.
“So, and this includes Greatest Hits Collections, Age of Reason, Full House, of course, Whispering Jack, even his Christmas album with Olivia Newton-John got into the charts in July.
“So, you know, it’s just fantastic that people have gone and discovered that music again.
“John’s still going through a challenging time, even though we’ve got the great news that he is cancer free. Obviously it’s still a tough road.
“And so to have this success in the box office at the movies, the biggest documentary ever to go in cinemas, the TV success and now the chart success … good, good days.”
Ford believes the success of his TV documentary on Channel Seven sparked the spike in album sales.
“John must be thrilled. He’d just lay on the couch and have this incredible career resurgence,” he said.
“This, of course, is on the back of the doco screening on Monday night – far and away, the number one TV show for the night on television.
“And people have thought, ‘Oh, that’s right … you know, I wanna get that album. I’ve got a long set, I’ve got it on CD now, I wanna go and download it.’”
Speaking to The Morning Show on Monday, Farnham’s long-time friend Gaynor Wheatley and son Robert said the star was excited about the film’s success.
“He’s been totally engaged with the weekly figures,” Wheatley told Emdur and Gillies.
“It’s been a real thrill for him and I think he’s really been humbled by the support and the love that he’s been shown and it’s paid off in the box office, which is phenomenal.”
Robert also said his dad was surprised to see his albums rise up the ARIA charts following the documentary’s release.
“I think dad called me a couple of times,” he said.
“He’s like, ‘You seen the ARIA charts?’ and I’m like, ‘Yeah, it’s pretty great.’
“He was so chuffed but I mean, he’s really humble. He’s the type of guy that kind of didn’t understand why.
“And he’s like, ‘Oh, it’s crazy. It’s so old and blah, blah, blah’ – but he just doesn’t understand that it’s a part of the Australian psyche.
“So it’s really special.”