INXS’ Michael Hutchence remembered 25 years after his death - ‘All the girls were sweet on him,’ friend from his Hong Kong days says
- The Australian rock star spent part of his childhood in Hong Kong before he and his family headed back home, where he found fame as the singer for INXS
- An old childhood friend, Phil Brown, recalls playing with Hutchence and his brother in his book The Kowloon Kid
Michael Hutchence was known globally as a rock star, the frontman of Australian band INXS. Phil Brown knew him as the kid next door.
“Michael lived across the road from us in Kowloon Tong in the late ’60s,” says Brown, speaking from Brisbane, Australia, where he now lives.
“We would spend time kicking around the Kowloon neighbourhood. Sometimes we would get in trouble,” he laughs.
Hutchence was four when he and his younger brother and older stepsister left Australia for Hong Kong, where his father imported fine wines and champagne. His mother worked as a make-up artist with Hong Kong’s Shaw Brothers Studio.
In 1972 the family returned to Australia, where Michael would go on to form INXS. One of Australia’s most successful rock groups, they sold more than 75 million records worldwide through hits such as “Suicide Blonde”, “What You Need” and “Original Sin”.
