Jimmy Barnes opens up about terrifying health scare: ‘If we have nine lives, I’ve used up at least seven’

If a near-death experience re-defines a person’s life, rock music legend Jimmy Barnes has had multiple re-definitions.

He’s survived years of drug and alcohol addiction, countless health emergencies, and the open-heart surgery (his second) he endured 18 months ago.

Barnes has famously stared death in the face and won. Again and again.

“I’ve confronted death a few times,” he laughed. “But normally it’s sort of self-inflicted.”

“If we have nine lives, I’ve used up at least seven.”

Now the 69-year-old swears he will treat his final two with far more respect.

Barnes has taken time out of his busy concert schedule to speak with 7News in an exclusive backstage interview before the Sydney show.

He’s nearing the end of his sell-out “Defiant Tour” – his first solo tour since that near-death moment in December 2023.

The man who could be described as the heart of Australian rock and roll, had suffered a savage bacterial infection of the heart.

It came after complications from a hip replacement.

Barnes has just about toured more hospital wards than concert venues in those 18 months – and he was glad to back on stage.

And the Sydney gig was special: in the audience are the medical team from St Vincent’s Hospital that saved his life.

“They’re coming along to see how their little handiwork went,” he laughs. “They saved my life. So, you know, I’m forever grateful.”

So are his fans.

Defiant shot to the top of the ARIA charts this month, his 16th Number One album.

His publicity team says that’s two more Number Ones than The Beatles, and three more than Taylor Swift.

“How lucky am I? It’s extraordinary, isn’t it? I don’t take it for granted,” he said.

“When I think that, you know, joining Cold Chisel 50 odd years ago, 16-years-old and thinking, will we make a living? How long will the band be going? And to be doing this this long afterwards, and we’re still having people turn up. It’s a blessed life.”

His life now is in a very different place to that teenager’s but it’s still driven by the same dream: to make music.

But in December 2023, he and his wife genuinely believed that run of luck had come to its end.

“I literally turned to Jane and said, ‘I think this might be it. I think it might have caught me finally’.”

He revealed that he actually made preparations for the worst.

“I did do a lot of that,” he said.

And as he lay in his hospital bed, he was writing music with a message that held the hint of a farewell.

“I’ve sort of changed the way I wrote the songs I wrote,” he admitted.

“And I’m letting everybody I know that I love them, know that I’ve had the best life, you know.”

Surviving that has changed everything about his life.

“Well, I’m healthier’” he says.

“If I want to enjoy my family and the life that I’ve built and I want to continue to make music and be relevant and bring joy to people, I’ve got to stay fit, I’ve got to be healthy, I’ve got to be focused.”

“These days, I appreciate every single day, every step I take.”

He still performs at 110 per cent and 120 decibels.

His face looks ready to explode and he belts the lyrics to the back of the hall in that traditional ‘Barnestorming’ way.

And he refuses to change or slow the pace.

“It’s like having primal therapy every night. Your pain, your fears, your love, your anger - all in an hour and a half on stage - and you can walk away and say, ‘I’m okay now’.”

His next major milestone will be his 70th birthday next April. Any advice for those of us coming after him?

“I think you can always get better,” he says.

“I honestly believe the more focused I am, the more I look after myself, the more I open up to the people around me and listen to them, the better I get.”

He insists he’s heading into the best years of his life – as a husband, father, grandfather and musician.

“I think I’ll be performing until I drop. Defiant,” he declares. “I am defiant.”