Working Class Boy

With nine chart-topping albums, Jimmy Barnes stands as one of Australia’s most iconic rock figures. However, his achievements concealed a life filled with adversity and abuse, where the very music that once rescued him from despair nearly led to his downfall. Before adopting the name Jimmy Barnes, he was James Dixon Swan, a troubled youth navigating the harsh environments of Glasgow and the even tougher streets of North Adelaide, battling addiction, alcoholism, poverty, and abuse. For Jimmy, escape was essential, and he found it through the band Cold Chisel. Yet, the rock’n’roll lifestyle brought its own challenges, and the wounds of his past were always lurking. “Working Class Boy,” directed by seasoned Australian filmmaker Mark Joffe and based on Barnes’ bestselling memoir, is both an uplifting tale of rock and redemption narrated in Barnes’ own voice and a candid examination of fame, creativity, and depression.