Ian Moss

At 69 years old, Ian Moss has this physical status:

Ian Richard Moss (born 20 March 1955) is an Australian rock musician from Alice Springs.

He is the founding mainstay guitarist and occasional singer of Cold Chisel.

Moss appeared on all five studio albums from 1973 to 1984, three of which reached number one on the national Kent Music Report Albums Chart.

Matchbook, his debut solo album, debuted on the ARIA Albums Chart in August 1989, peaking at number one on the ARIA Albums Chart.

It was preceded by his debut single, "Tucker's Daughter," which debuted at number two on the ARIA Singles Chart in March.

Moss and Don Walker, both from Cold Chisel, co-wrote the track.

In June 1989, Moss had another top ten hit with "Telephone Booth." At the 1990 ARIA Music Awards, Moss was ranked in five categories: Album of the Year, Best Male Artist, Breakthrough Artist, Album of the Year, and Breakthrough Artist – Single.

Since then, his solo music career has been more low-key, his other top-five albums are Worlds Away (July 2007) and Soul on West 53rd (November 2009).

Cold Chisel and Moss, a founding member, were inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame in 1993.

In 1998, 2003, and 2012 (as from August 2013). Moss has performed on periodic Cold Chisel reunion tours or new studio albums.

Personal life

Ian Moss was in a de facto relationship with Australian actress Megan Williams for ten years before she broke up in the 1990s. Williams performed on "Flame Trees" at Cold Chisel (August 1984). Williams died of breast cancer on April 17th, age 43.

Julian Moss, Moss and his partner, Margeaux Rolleston, have a son, Julian Moss – Six Strings has a son named "Song for Julian."

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Career

Ian Richard Moss was born in Alice Springs, Northern Territory, on March 20, 1955, to Geoffery Moss (18 April 1911 – 1989) and Lorna (née Robinson). (1992) is a German writer who wrote about his experiences in 1922). Geoffery survived the 1942 bombing of Darwin and later worked with the Allied Works Council in Alice Springs. Lorna was a fellow worker at Allied Works Council when they married in September 1945.

Peter Geoffrey Moss (born 8 October 1948), a younger sister, Penny (born 30 July 1951), and a younger brother, Andrew (born July 13 1961). At a school concert, Moss performed for his family and friends, and at nine, he performed "The Battle of New Orleans." "I was always interested in music and singing," he later shared. "I used to do little vocal concerts for my parents." Moss began piano lessons but later moved to guitar at age 11, "My older sister was learning classical piano, and my older brother was a natural rhythm strummer and right into Bob Dylan." I started playing classical piano at about 7 or 8, but I wasn't into it enough."

In 1969, he formed The Scene, a local band that included drummer Rod Martin and two brothers, Robert and John Fortunaso. Moss played rhythm guitar by plugging an acoustic guitar into the bass player's amplifier. The Scene performed at local centers and arranged their own dances. Moss performed a few songs with the group, but a year later, he purchased an electric guitar to replace his acoustic. "I was with them for about a year, and by that time, I was starting to produce my own band," Moss recalled.

He formed Hot Ice with Roger Harris in the year 2000, guitar, David Michel – drums, Wayne Sanderson – bass, and Paul Wiles – keyboards. The group debuted at the Alice Springs Youth Centre during the whole school assembly, which took place in the Alice Springs Youth Centre with cover versions of Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Proud Mary" and "Who'll Stop the Rain." They had been attending the Youth Centre for Saturday night dances for the first time. Moss immigrated to Adelaide in 1972, where his older siblings had already moved. Moss had missed a year of high school and decided to repeat at Marion High School. He started an Electronics course at Kilkenny Technical College in 1973 but "didn't stay one term" and spent time in various factory settings.

Ian Moss, on guitar and lead vocals, formed Orange, a rock band in Adelaide, with Don Walker, a singer and organist, and Leszek Kaczmarek on bass guitar. Steve Prestwich on drums and Jimmy Barnes on lead vocals were among the band's names, Cold Chisel, within months. Barnes, Prestwich, and Walker were all revolving and returning at different times. Kaczmarek was first introduced to bass guitar by Phil Small in 1975.

Moss' primary role was as a lead guitarist, but he'd often take over lead vocals when Barnes was out of the band. Cold Chisel grew up in Adelaide, Armidale, and Melbourne, and signed a recording deal with WEA late that year. They released their self-titled debut album in April the following year. "One Long Day" and "Rosaline" were two songs by Moss with lead vocals.

Moss' vocals appear on several of the band's best known songs, including "My Baby" (1982), "When the War Is Over" (1982), and "Saturday Night" (March 1984) and Circus Animals (March 1982) album track "Bow River." Moss wrote "Bow River" about a cattle station in Western Australia's Kimberley district, where his brother, Peter, had once worked; it has since become Moss' signature tune. It was also the B-side of "Forever Now" and was released in the same month as the album.

Moss performed lead on the group's version of "Georgia On My Mind," which became a staple of their live shows, but their only recording on the 1984 live album, Barking Spiders Live: 1983, was of her son Paul. Moss' fifth studio album, Twentieth Century, was released in April 1984 with two songs, "Saturday Night" and "Janelle," with Moss on lead vocals. However, Barnes' band had disbanded as he began his solo career.

Moss earned a reputation as a songwriter during Cold Chisel's first season, contributing "Never Before" for East (June 1980), the first one broadcast by natnal radio station Triple J when it went from AM to FM in 1980. "No Good for You" on Circus Animals is another Moss-written track. He also played on other artists' albums, including a solo on the track "Skin" by Sydney new wave band Flowers and an appearance on Richard Clapton's "The Great Escape (March 1982), which also featured Barnes.

Ian Moss took a break from the music industry after Cold Chisel's disbanded, launching his solo career in October 1986. Andy Cowan on keyboards (ex-Madder Lake, Ayers Rock, Kevin Borich Express), Joe Imbroll on bass guitar (ex-Goanna), and John Watson on drums were his first backing band (ex-Kevin Borich Express, Australian Crawl). Watson, Joe Creighton on bass guitar (ex-Melissa, Billy T) and Peter Walker on synthesiser had already appeared on Cold Chisel's debut album in 1978 by April.

Moss spent nine months in Los Angeles preparing for his debut album, Matchbook. Moss' debut single "Tucker's Daughter" debuted in November 1988 and ranked second on the ARIA Singles Chart and number six on the New Zealand Singles Chart.

"Telephone Booth," Moss' second single, debuted in 1996 and debuted on the ARIA Singles Chart in number seven, and in New Zealand, it ranked in the top 30. Matchbook debuted in August, the first on the ARIA Albums Chart, and it has sold more than 200,000 copies. It debuted on the albums chart in New Zealand, putting it at number 20. Moss and Lord-Alge published the matchbook "in loving memory of Geoff Moss 1911-1989." Ian McFarlane, an Australian musicologist, discovered the album on sale in Moss' "exemplary, controlled guitar style, but also highlighted his soulful voice."

"Out of the Fire" and "Mr. are two of the singer's more popular singles, "Mr." Rain" was removed from the album, and both were included in the Australian top 100. Moss received five awards in all categories, including Best Male Artist and Breakthrough Artist; and Single of the Year and Breakthrough Artist for "Tucker's Daughter" during the 1990 ARIA Music Awards. Ian Belton on bass guitar (ex-QED), Guy Le Claire on rhythm guitar (ex-Mondo Rock), Randy D'Costa on keyboards (ex-Mondo Rock), Steve Fearnley on drums, and Mark Williams and Mary Azzopardi on backing vocals were among his touring band's support for Matchbook.

Moss' second album, Worlds Away, released in October 1991, featured "songs largely co-written with Don Walker in the soul/R&B style." Both the ARIA and New Zealand charts rank it in the top 50. "Slip Away" (May), "She's a Celebrity"), and "Never Give Up" (November) are two of the album's three singles; "She's a Star" (September) and "She's a Star" (November) are among the albums' "She's a Star" and "She's a Star" both made the ARIA Top 100.

Moss performed in Don Walker's band Catfish, contributing guitar to their album, Ruby. He appeared on albums by The Black Sorrows' Better Times (1992), his first time he had worked with Barnes in ten years, "Ain't Love the Strangest Thing," Richard Clapton's Distant Thunder (1993), the first time he had worked with Barnes in ten years. He appeared on Don Walker's solo album, We're All Gunna Die (1995), in June 1994. In 1993, Cold Chisel, with Moss as a member, was inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame.

Petrolhead, Moss' third solo album, was released in August 1996 and was produced by Don Walker for TWA Records. Moss used Walker on keyboards with Paul DeMarco on drums (ex-Rose Tattoo), the late Ian Rilen on bass guitar (from Rose Tattoo & X), and Trent Williamson on harmonica. McFarlane said it was "his best-ever album" [by] a down'dirty blues-rock outfit... with gritty, hard-edged tracks [and] finely honed guitar work." "All Alone on a Rock" and "Poor Boy" were released as two singles, but neither charted. The live CD was re-released in 1998 as Ian Moss Box Set with an additional live CD, Ian Moss Live. Those live tracks were released from 1996 to 1997 on his national tour of support for Petrolhead, with Rilen's replacement by Paul Wheeler on bass guitar mid-tour.

Cold Chisel reunited to record The Last Wave of Summer (October 1998) and then toured from October 1997 to June 1998. In May 2003, Ringside, another Cold Chisel tour, resulted in the release of a 2CD live album of the same name.

In 2005, Moss released Six Strings on Liberation Music, his fourth studio album. It was an acoustic album with clips from Jimi Hendrix' time with Cold Chisel, his solo launches, and live coverage of Creedence Clearwater Revival songs. Moss undertook an extensive joint tour of Australia co-headlining with Jon Stevens, which was in favor of the publication.

Let's All Get Together, Moss' new album, was released in July 2007 on his own label, Mosstrooper (distributed by Liberation). It contained acoustic cover versions of Cold Chisel songs and excerpts from Moss and/or his former bandmates Walker, Prestwich, and Small's books. In October, the album reached the top of the ARIA Albums Chart. Moss appeared on The third series of Australian television celebrity singing competitions, It Takes Two, where he was joined by actress Virginia Gay, finishing in the top three.

In August 2008, Moss recorded Soul on West 53rd, a series of mainly soul songs from the 1960s and 1970s, a collection of soul songs from the 1960s and 1970s. Danny Korthmar produced it and stars Steve Jordan, Neil Jason, Leon Pendarvis, and Hugh McCracken. It was launched in October 2009 and ranked in the top 40 in Australia. Moss's "unfortable sound" is the product of his editorial reviewer at Amazon.com, not only as a telling soloist on guitar but also as a singer of pure emotion. It was a "good set of covers," according to Antonios Sarhanis of Analy Correct, but why bother when the best originals are so freely available? "We're in the middle of a new one."

Cold Chisel, a student at the University of Queensland, has returned to perform a gig at Stadium Australia in December 2009. Cold Chisel appeared on Deni ute muster in October 2010. They also announced that they were working on another studio album alongside their old work. When Steven Prestwich was diagnosed with a brain tumor and died on January 16, 2011, age 56, the recording of Cold Chisel's album, No Plans, was interrupted. The band redesigned Prestwich with Charley Drayton, a former Divinyls drummer, in October, and the album was released in April 2012. Moss provided lead vocals on two tracks, "Too Late" and "Summer Moon," aside from lead guitar and backing vocals. Cold Chisel supported the release of the album with a national tour and then in June, with shows in London.

In 2012, he appeared on Neighbours, the television soap opera, after performing a live performance at Charlie's Bar. In October, the episode was shown in the United Kingdom. Moss placed third on their Definitive Top Ten Australian Guitarists of All Time list in May this year. Moss, as a solo artist, began the Red Hot Summer Tour in January 2013 as a solo artist. Barnes was the tour's headlining. Cold Chisel and his friends revealed themselves in a recording studio during June. Starting in July, Moss would be on his own Australian tour.

Ian Moss, Moss' first solo album of all original material in 22 years, was released in March 2018. The album debuted at number 11 on the ARIA Charts, peaking at number eleven.

He appeared in the 2021 NRL Grand Final, singing "Flame Trees" with Kate Miller-Heidke, before he performed his solo hit "Tucker's Daughter."

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