Jesse Fink (born 1973) is a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal Aus ...

author of six books including twin biographies of the hard-rock band

AC/DC AC/DC are an Australian rock band formed in Sydney in 1973. Their music has been variously described as hard rock, blues rock and Heavy metal music, heavy metal, although the band calls it simply "rock and roll". They are cited as a formativ ...

(''The Youngs: The Brothers Who Built AC/DC'' and ''Bon: The Last Highway''), the cocaine-trafficking story ''Pure Narco'' and ''The Eagle in the Mirror'', a biography of British intelligence officer

Dick Ellis Colonel Charles Howard "Dick" Ellis (13 February 1895 – 5 July 1975) was an Australian-born British intelligence officer credited with writing the blueprint for United States wartime intelligence agencies Coordinator of Information and Offi ...

. His books have been translated into several languages, including Spanish, Portuguese, Japanese, German and French.

Biography

Born in London, United Kingdom, Fink was educated at schools in

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

, Australia. He attended the

University of Technology An institute of technology (also referred to as technological university, technical university, university of technology, polytechnic university) is an institution of tertiary education that specializes in engineering, technology, applied science ...

, majoring in journalism.

Early career

Fink began his writing career in sports journalism, working as an editor of sports and nonfiction titles for the Australian arm of book publisher

HarperCollins HarperCollins Publishers LLC is a British–American publishing company that is considered to be one of the "Big Five (publishers), Big Five" English-language publishers, along with Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group USA, Hachette, Macmi ...

and later as a deputy editor of '' Inside Sport''. In 2003, he was nominated for a

Walkley Award The annual Walkley Awards are presented in Australia to recognise and reward excellence in journalism. They cover all media including print, television, documentary, radio, photographic and online media. The Gold Walkley is the highest prize and ...

for a feature about the sports memorabilia industry. It was included in the Black Inc. anthology ''The Best Australian Sportswriting 2004'', as was "Safari Politics", a feature on

trophy hunting Trophy hunting is a form of hunting for field sports, sport in which parts of the hunted wild animals are kept and displayed as trophies. The animal being targeted, known as the "game (hunting), game", is typically a mature male specimen from a p ...

. Another ''Inside Sport'' feature, "Silent Witness", about mental illness among high-performance athletes, won an Australian Sports Commission Media Award. Fink left ''Inside Sport'' magazine to work as a soccer writer for

Fox Sports Australia Fox Sports Australia Pty Limited (formerly Premier Media Group Pty Limited) is the division of Foxtel that owns and operates the Fox Sports television networks and digital properties in Australia. The group operates nine Fox Sports Channels as w ...

in 2006. In 2007, under the moniker Half-Time Orange, he began writing soccer columns for SBS Television's ''The World Game'' website as well as columns for ESPN Star Sports (later Fox Sports Asia) in Singapore, ''Tribal Football'' and ''The Roar''. In 2011 departed SBS after an editorial disagreement with late network anchor Les Murray over what he alleged was interference from Murray in his critical reporting of Australia's

2022 FIFA World Cup The 2022 FIFA World Cup was the 22nd FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for national football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Qatar from 20 November to 18 December 2022, after the country was awarded the hosting ri ...

bid and general commentary on

Football Federation Australia Football Australia is the governing body of soccer, futsal, and beach soccer within Australia, headquartered in Sydney. Although the first governing body of the sport was founded in 1911, Football Australia in its current form was only establ ...

. Fink appeared on ABC Television's ''7.30'' to give his side of the story and in a number of online editorials, including Qatari network

Al Jazeera Al Jazeera Media Network (AJMN; , ) is a private-media conglomerate headquartered in Wadi Al Sail, Doha, funded in part by the government of Qatar. The network's flagship channels include Al Jazeera Arabic and Al Jazeera English, which pro ...

, accused then-FIFA Ethics Committee member Murray of conflict of interest in his SBS position.

Books

''15 Days in June'' (2007)

In 2007 Fink published his first book, ''15 Days in June'', the story of the Socceroos at the

2006 FIFA World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international Association football, football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to FIFA World Cup hosts ...

. It was re-released by Xoum Publishing in a special e-book edition before the

2014 FIFA World Cup The 2014 FIFA World Cup was the 20th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for list of men's national association football teams, men's national Association football, football teams organised by FIFA. It took place in Brazil fr ...

under the new title ''World Party''. Socceroos star

Tim Cahill Timothy Filiga Cahill (; born 6 December 1979) is an Australian former professional soccer player who played as an attacking midfielder but also played as a striker on many occasions. A box-to-box midfielder, Cahill became recognised for "hi ...

wrote the foreword. In 2021, the book was chosen for the Untapped project and digital and print editions under the original title were released by Ligature.

''Laid Bare'' (2012)

In 2012 Fink published his second book, ''Laid Bare: One Man’s Story of Sex, Love and Other Disorders'' (Hachette Australia), a memoir of divorce and dating. It was re-published in 2017 by Xoum Publishing (which changed its name to Brio Books in 2018). His writing on relationships regularly appeared in News Limited's ''Sunday Style'' magazine.

''The Youngs: The Brothers Who Built AC/DC'' (2013)

His third book, ''The Youngs: The Brothers Who Built AC/DC'', a ‘critical appreciation’ of

Angus Young Angus McKinnon Young (born 31 March 1955) is an Australian musician, best known as the co-founder, lead guitarist, songwriter, and the only continuous member of the hard rock band AC/DC. He is known for his energetic performances, schoolboy-u ...

, George Young and

Malcolm Young Malcolm Mitchell Young (6 January 1953 – 18 November 2017) was an Australian musician who was the rhythm guitarist, backing vocalist and a founding member of the hard rock band AC/DC. Except for a brief absence in 1988, he was a member of AC ...

, was named one of Public Radio International's ''The World'' Books of the Year in 2014. ''The New Yorker'' called it "an essential read for fans of the band".

''Bon: The Last Highway'' (2017)

Fink's fourth book, ''Bon: The Last Highway'', was a biography of deceased AC/DC singer

Bon Scott Ronald Belford "Bon" Scott (9 July 1946 – 19 February 1980) was an Australian singer who was the second lead vocalist and lyricist of the hard rock band AC/DC from 1974 until his death in 1980. In the July 2004 issue of ''Classic Rock (m ...

. ''Bon'' was the cover story in the December 2017 issue of ''

Classic Rock Classic rock is a radio format that developed from the album-oriented rock (AOR) format in the early 1980s. In the United States, it comprises rock music ranging generally from the mid-1960s through the early-1990s, primarily focusing on comm ...

''. In the book, Fink concludes that Scott died of a mix of alcohol and heroin and not the official cause, acute alcohol poisoning. The book disputes the story that Scott was alone with London musician and alleged drug dealer Alistair Kinnear when he died and produces evidence that at least two other people were with Scott and Kinnear. Fink also addresses and provides new information regarding the widespread speculation that Scott contributed uncredited lyrics to the AC/DC album ''Back in Black''. Fink later responded to comments made by AC/DC singer

Brian Johnson Brian Johnson (born 5 October 1947) is an English singer and songwriter. In 1980 at the age of 32, after the death of Bon Scott, he became the third lead singer of the Australian rock band AC/DC. Johnson was one of the founding members of th ...

in ''Rolling Stone'' magazine about the lyrics issue. It was the first time Johnson had publicly addressed Fink's claims that Scott was an uncredited contributor of lyrics to the ''Back in Black'' album. After Johnson gave an interview to ''Metal Edge'' magazine again addressing the issue, Fink wrote a second response to Johnson. In November 2022, the Bon Scott Estate issued a statement on its website to say the estate had never received 'any songwriting royalties for any songs’ on ''Back in Black,'' though this was contradicted in 2006 by the late

Vince Lovegrove Vincent James Lovegrove (19 March 1947 – 24 March 2012) was an Australian musician, journalist, music manager, television producer and AIDS awareness pioneer. He was a member of 1960s rock 'n' roll band The Valentines, sharing vocals with B ...

, former bandmate of Scott in The Valentines, who reported the estate received 'a small share of royalties from ''Back in Black'', which comes in the form of half-yearly payments' and wrote of Scott's 'uncredited but royalty-paid contribution to the monumental ''Back in Black'' album'. Lovegrove also wrote on his personal website in 2011 before his death in 2012 that Scott's brother Derek Scott 'told me that the family has always received Scott's songwriting royalties for the album'. Updated editions of Fink's book were released in Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States. In 2024, on the 50th anniversary of Bon Scott joining AC/DC, Fink released ''Bon: Notes from the Highway'', a follow-up to ''Bon: The Last Highway''. Fink was the first journalist to identify the long-unknown woman who inspired the AC/DC song '

Whole Lotta Rosie "Whole Lotta Rosie" is a song by Australian hard rock band AC/DC. It is the eighth and final track on the band's fourth Australian album, '' Let There Be Rock'', released in Australia in March 1977, and was written by Angus Young, Malcolm Yo ...

' as Rosemaree (Rose-Maree) Garcia and released the first photograph of Garcia.

''Pure Narco'' (2020)

In 2020 Penguin Books Australia announced it was releasing his fifth book, ''Pure Narco'', the life story of cocaine trafficker Luis Navia and the 12-nation law-enforcement operation that brought him down. It was published in the United Kingdom by John Blake and the United States by Rowman & Littlefield.

''The Eagle in the Mirror'' (2023)

Fink's sixth book was a biography of Australian-born British intelligence officer Charles Howard "Dick" Ellis called ''The Eagle in the Mirror''. The book was released in Australia and the United Kingdom in August 2023 and included in ''Publishers Weeklys Spring 2024 longlist for history. It was published by Citadel in the United States in May 2024 and chosen for BookBub's The Best Nonfiction of Spring 2024.

Personal life

Fink has one daughter and is divorced. Fink wrote about his 10-year marriage in ''Laid Bare''.

Bibliography

* ''15 Days in June'' (Hardie Grant Books, 2007; revised edition Xoum Publishing, 2014; digital edition Ligature, 2021; new edition Ligature, 2022) * ''Laid Bare'' (Hachette Australia, 2012; revised edition Xoum Publishing, 2017) * ''The Youngs'' (St Martin's Press, Random House Australia, Black & White Publishing, Editorial Planeta Argentina, Disk Union, Hannibal Verlag, AST, People's Press, Giunti Editore, Volvox Globator, Camion Blanc, Editora Gutenberg, Versus Aureus, HarperCollins India, Dereta, Libros Cupula, 2013) * ''Bon: The Last Highway'' (ECW Press, Penguin Books Australia, Black & White Publishing, Hannibal Verlag, Editora Saraiva, Disk Union, Le Castor Astral, Vaktel Forlag, 2017; revised edition Penguin Books Australia and Black & White Publishing, 2018; revised edition ECW Press, 2022) * ''Pure Narco'' (Penguin Books Australia and John Blake Publishing, 2020; Rowman & Littlefield, 2021; Äripäev 2022) * ''The Eagle in the Mirror'' (Penguin Books Australia and Black & White Publishing, 2023; Kensington Publishing, 2024)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fink, Jesse 1973 births Living people 21st-century Australian journalists 21st-century British journalists 21st-century British memoirists Australian journalists British journalists Australian sports journalists British sports journalists Australian sportswriters British sportswriters Australian biographers British biographers Australian memoirists Australian non-fiction crime writers British non-fiction crime writers Non-fiction crime writers Australian non-fiction writers British non-fiction writers Australian writers British writers British writers about music Australian writers about music Writers from Sydney Writers from London Australian columnists British columnists British people of Indian descent Anglo-Indian_people