Lost songs from iconic Australian rockstar found in garage
Divinyls frontwoman Chrissy Amphlett recorded the songs with Split Enz's Tim Finn in 1998.
**Lost songs by iconic Australian rock star found in garage**
**Three songs recorded by Chrissy Amphlett in 1998 will be released on Friday**
More than 10 years after her death, Australian rock legend Chrissy Amphlett’s voice will be heard in a new way after three lost songs were uncovered in a garage.
The pioneering frontwoman of Divinyls, Amphlett’s signature husky vocals and magnetic stage presence helped deliver the band’s 1990 No. 1 hit *I Touch Myself*, along with earlier successes *Pleasure and Pain* (1985) and *Boys in Town* (1981).
Years before her death in 2013, Amphlett recorded three songs in 1998 with Tim Finn, the former lead singer of New Zealand band Split Enz. The tracks were believed to have been lost until Finn discovered them in his garage in 2023.
The songs will be released on Friday as an EP called *Some Times*.
In an interview with *Australian Story*, a documentary programme from national broadcaster ABC, Finn looked back on the 1998 recording session with Amphlett in Sydney.
“It was a good time for us to meet because she was looking for something new, something different in her life musically,” Finn said.
At the time, Amphlett had ended her relationship with fellow band member and guitarist Mark McEntee after a turbulent period, and was becoming close to drummer Charley Drayton, according to the documentary. The two later married.
Over several days, he and Amphlett wrote three songs and went into the studio to record them, with Drayton playing drums.
“She was so focused,” Finn said. “She just wanted to get it right... I was in the presence of great talent, great charisma.”
In a social media post on Monday about the 1998 session, Finn said he had contacted Amphlett because he had long admired her work.
“We hadn't met previously but instantly felt a bond, a camaraderie of shared history as ex-lead singers of two brilliant bands,” Finn wrote on Monday.
After the session ended, Finn took the recordings home and intended to work on them, but “they were never fully realised”.
In 2023, Drayton got in touch with Finn about the 1998 recordings.
“I thought they were lost to the universe but remarkably found the two-inch tape in my garage,” Finn wrote in the post, calling the songs “incredibly important to me, Charley and those close to Chrissy”.
“It was still in perfect condition and we are now able to share these songs with you.”