Simon Hussey

Biography

Simon Cyril Hussey, was born on 7 July 1960 in Lismore – a town 170 kilometres (106 mi) west of Melbourne and grew up in Mount Eliza. During the 1980s and 1990s Hussey was a legal reporter transcribing criminal court cases when not working in the music industry. In the early 1980s he was the record producer on a single by the Lisa Bade Band, which included Mark Greig (ex-The Runners) on guitar.

Cats Under Pressure were a pop band formed in Melbourne in 1984 with Hussey on guitar, keyboards and backing vocals; Greig on guitar and David Reyne (ex-Australian Crawl) on drums and lead vocals. In that year they issued a self-titled extended play on Freestyle Records – the label owned by Reyne's former band mates from Australian Crawl. It was produced by David Reyne's older brother, James, Australian Crawl's lead singer. Cats Under Pressure followed with a single, "Let Me Be", which was co-written by Hussey with David.

In 1985 Hussey and Greig joined the Australian Crawl demo and recording sessions for their fourth studio album, Between a Rock and a Hard Place, which was released in August. Besides keyboard work Hussey co-wrote four of the album's tracks with James. Meanwhile, Cats Under Pressure recorded another single, "On Again Off Again", in September which was issued later that year. Greig remained with Australian Crawl until they disbanded in 1986.

James Reyne and Daryl Braithwaite projects

Hussey joined the James Reyne Band and worked on Reyne's self-titled debut solo album (September 1987), co-writing six tracks with the artist. Four of these were issued as singles, "Hammerhead" (October), "Heaven on a Stick" (February 1988), "Motor's Too Fast" (June) and "Always the Way" (November). James later told Debbie Kruger that "['Hammerhead'] was not necessarily about me, but let's say I thought I knew what I was talking about. I wrote it with Simon Hussey; the music Simon and I wrote together and I wrote the lyrics. From memory it seemed to come quite easily". The album peaked at No. 4 on the Australian Kent Music Report Albums Chart, while "Hammerhead" reached No. 8 and "Motor's Too Fast" at No. 4 on the related Kent Music Report Singles Chart. "Motor's Too Fast" also reached No. 6 on the ARIA Singles Chart.

During May 1988 Hussey was the record producer and arranger on Daryl Braithwaite's comeback solo album, Edge, which was issued in November. He also played keyboards, programmed the drum machine and wrote or co-wrote four tracks: "You Could Be Wrong" (by Hussey), "Let Me Be" (from Cats Under Pressure, by Hussey and David Reyne), "All the Same" (by Hussey, Bade and Greig) and "Edge" (by Hussey and Jef Scott). Edge peaked at No. 1 on the ARIA Albums Chart for three weeks in mid-1989. Kathryn Whitfield of The Canberra Times felt the album was "Verging on noddy-land, this piece of plastic is soft-sell. Easy listening, inoffensive, palatable, commercial pop music." She explained that "Hussey (keyboards) appears to have been the one to roll up his sleeves and get to work on material for this offering." Australian musicologist, Ian McFarlane, opined that the album and singles had "captured a wonderful summer-filled mood, and a sense of freedom and happiness". Four tracks on Edge had John Farnham on backing vocals.

In May 1991 Braithwaite told The Canberra Times' Bevan Hannan that he had met Hussey about two years before they worked on Edge. Braithwaite had heard some demos of Hussey's work and "in 1987 I approached him to produce the album and after quite a lot of hassling he said yes". In the following year Clinton Porteous of Rolling Stone described how "Braithwaite was trying to make a comeback... [and] record companies urged [him] to use a name producer... he insisted on the untried Hussey. 'I saw someone who was a little bit hesitant... a little shy but who was really talented ... he really did seem to care about the music... he doesn't do things half heartedly.' Braithwaite's instincts paid off: Edge went to Number One, relaunching his career."

By February 1989 Hussey was in London working on James' second solo album, Hard Reyne, he co-produced the album with John Hudson. By April that year Hussey was married to Elisabeth Reyne, younger sister to the Reyne brothers. Besides song writing Hussey also provided keyboards and programming. Whitfield described how "[t]he lyrics (once you can understand them) are not exactly brilliant and lack much of the depth which Reyne displayed in his Crawl days" nevertheless Hussey made a "big contribution" to the album. The album peaked at No. 7 in June while Braithwaite's Edge was still at No. 1. Whilst in London, Hussey received his first ARIA Award nomination, in the category of Producer of the Year, at the ARIA Music Awards of 1989 for Edge.

Hussey produced Braithwaite's next album, Rise (November 1990), and provided a range of instrumentation: keyboards, electric piano, acoustic guitar, drum machine, synthesiser bass and Hammond organ. Hussey wrote or co-wrote three tracks including "Higher Than Hope" which was issued as the album's third single in June 1991. Rise peaked at No. 3 in May that year, while "Higher Than Hope" reached the top 30. John Farnham was a backing vocalist on that track. In June 1991, for United States and European markets, Braithwaite issued a compilation album, Higher Than Hope, which included tracks from Edge and Rise. Hussey was credited as a multi-instrumentalist, composer and producer. "Higher Than Hope" was reissued as a single for the US market and peaked at No. 47 on the Billboard Hot 100.

In June 1991 the Billboard magazine's singles reviewer of "Higher Than Hope" declared that "this pop/rock gem is so catchy that it should be an immediate top 40 add... slick production and offers an inspirational message of salvation." Fellow music journalist Glenn A. Baker described how "Hussey's man-of-all-trades reputation has soared over the past year with two major albums... Again, and in both cases, his involvement was almost equal to that of the artist... Braithwaite's recent U.S. charting single (Billboard top 40), "Higher than Hope", featured Hussey as producer, writer, and musician."

Also in that month Reyne released his next solo album, Electric Digger Dandy, with Hussey on keyboards; Hussey co-produced it with Jim Scott, Tony Joe White and Chris Lord-Alge; and co-wrote two tracks, "Take a Giant Step" and "Company of Strangers", with Reyne. In that year Hussey co-produced an album, Hands Free (March 1992), for actor-musician, Craig McLachlan. Hussey co-wrote six of its tracks with McLachlan including the lead single, "On My Own" (November 1991).

At the ARIA Music Awards of 1992 Hussey won his first award as Producer of the Year for his work on various tracks: McLachlan's "On My Own"; Braithwaite's "The Horses", "Higher than Hope" and "Don't Hold Back Your Love"; and Reyne's "Slave". The trophy was presented by visiting English artist, Julian Lennon. Hussey and Braithwaite won Most Performed Australian Work at the APRA Awards of 1992 for "Higher Than Hope".

Company of Strangers

Late in 1991 Hussey started a studio album project, Company of Strangers, with American Jef Scott (backing musician and songwriter for both Braithwaite and Reyne), which developed into a group with Braithwaite and Reyne joining. In December that year they recorded their debut studio album (November 1992) with Hussey on keyboards, drums and backing vocals, Braithwaite on lead vocals, Reyne on lead vocals and lead guitar, Scott on lead vocals, guitar, drums and bass guitar. It was produced by Hussey for Columbia Records and he shared song writing duties with Scott on almost all the tracks. McFarlane felt the album was "commercial rock pop" which provided three singles, "Sweet Love" (June 1992), "Motor City (I Get Lost)" (September) and "Daddy's Gonna Make You a Star" (January 1993).

The album reached No. 9 and all three singles peaked in the top 40. The album included a cover version of the Beatles track, "Baby, You're a Rich Man". According to Hannan "The first two singles from the release, 'Motor City' and 'Sweet Love', would go close to earning the 'most played' title during silly season rotation. And prepare to hear more of the squeaky clean 'made for FM' music because there is plenty more on offer on the album – but that isn't so bad."

At the ARIA Music Awards of 1993 Hussey won his second Producer of the Year trophy for his work on Braithwaite's "Nothing to Lose" and Company of Strangers' "Daddy's Gonna Make You a Star", "Motor City (I Get Lost)", and "Sweet Love". At the ceremony Company of Strangers were nominated for Breakthrough Artist – Album and "Motor City (I Get Lost)" for Breakthrough Artist – Single. "Daddy's Gonna Make You a Star" won Most Performed Australian Work at the APRA Awards of 1993 for its songwriters Hussey, Reyne and Scott. Also in that year Hussey produced Braithwaite's album, Taste the Salt (November), he provided keyboards and drum machine. It reached No. 13 on the Australian Albums Chart. At the ARIA Music Awards of 1994 Hussey won Engineer of the Year for Braithwaite's "Barren Ground" and "The World As it Is"; and Company of Strangers' "Baby, You're a Rich Man" and "Daddy's Gonna Make You a Star".

In early 1996 Hussey reunited with Reyne to write and record a new album. Hussey used his purpose built studio for the project, however it was abandoned due to Reyne's record company, RooArt, cancelling funding for all of its artists months into recording without warning. For The Spirit of Christmas 1996, a Christmas-themed album by various artists for charities, Hussey played on and produced Reyne's version of "Silent Night".

In 1998 Hussey co-produced a debut single for a new artist and writer, Danielle Greenwood, "If I Am Cruel". Hussey was reluctant to produce again but, after recording some demo tracks, he was encouraged to become involved. The single was issued to positive reviews with TV and radio airplay. It was, however, the only track released from the aborted album project by Sony Music Australia. That project was the first to exclude Hussey as a writer or co-writer, arranger and marked the demise his relationship with Sony Music.

Hussey acknowledged his anxiety over public appearances and absence from industry functions in published interviews during the height of his career. Juke Magazine featured a front page article, "Simon Hussey - The Invisible Man Steps Out", where he provided an extensive interview about his career. He made some TV appearances in interviews and performed as a keyboard player for James Reyne, Company of Strangers and Greenwood. Hussey ceased his music career in 1999.

Legacy

Daryl Braithwaite's cover version of Rickie Lee Jones' album track, "The Horses", remained popular after 25 years. In May 2016 Braithwaite recalled "I rang Simon Hussey, who was producing Rise, and said, 'Simon, you've gotta listen to this. I'll bring it in tomorrow and I reckon we could do a version in the vein of 'As the Days Go By' from the first album, Edge. Anyway, I brought it in and they had a listen to it." He acknowledged that "you have to give credit to [Hussey], who then took [the original] version and turned it into more accessible pop, maybe. There's no doubt: I love it. I will fight for it, I will stick up for it. I know at the end of the day it's not mine."

Hussey's co-writiing with James Reyne has also stood the test of time with many hit songs still aired constantly. It was this dedicated composing relationship after Australian Crawl disbanded that eventually culminated in Reyne's hit debut solo album being recorded in Los Angeles. Hussey's foray into producing would have most likely not have happened if were not for his relationship with James Reyne and the revered 4 track demo recordings in 1985.

Hussey worked with many artists during his active years as a background vocal producer, including, John Farnham, Shirley Strachan of (Skyhooks), Margaret Urlich, Renee Geyer, and Dale Ryder of Boom Crash Opera.