Southern Sons was an Australian rock band, formed in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

in 1989 by members of

The State A state is a centralized political organization that imposes and enforces rules over a population within a territory. There is no undisputed definition of a state. One widely used definition comes from the German sociologist Max Weber: a "stat ...

along with lead vocalist and guitarist

Irwin Thomas Irwin Thomas (born Irwin Thomas Whittridge, 6 January 1971) is an American-born Australian singer-songwriter and guitarist. He performs professionally using the stage name Jack Jones from when he was the lead vocalist-guitarist in the band South ...

, who was then using the stage name Jack Jones. They are best known for their Australian top ten hits "

Heart in Danger "Heart in Danger" is the debut single by Australian pop-rock band Southern Sons, released in August 1990. It was written by the group's guitarist, Phil Buckle, and produced by Ross Fraser. The song peaked at number five in Australia and was ...

", " Hold Me in Your Arms", and " You Were There".

Career

1989–1991: Beginnings and ''Southern Sons''

Southern Sons were established in 1989 after the members of the group

joined New York-born, Melbourne-raised, 19-year-old guitar prodigy Jack Jones. The group signed a record deal by

Glenn Wheatley Glenn Dawson Wheatley (23 January 1948 – 1 February 2022) was an Australian musician, talent manager and tour promoter. Career Wheatley began his career as a musician in Brisbane in the mid-1960s. In the late 1960s he became known national ...

on his labelWheatley Records. In July 1990, Southern Sons released their debut single "

", which peaked at number 5 on the

ARIA Charts The ARIA Charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling songs and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA became the offici ...

. In November 1990, the single "

Always and Ever ''Always and Ever'' () is a 2013 Hong Kong TVB television romance drama serial starring Bobby Au-yeung and Esther Kwan and produced by Chong Wai-kin. The drama follows a love story which spans three lifetimes, from Song dynasty in the 13th Cent ...

" was released as well as the group's debut self-titled album, ''

Southern Sons Southern Sons was an Australian rock band, formed in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria in 1989 by members of The State (band), The State along with lead vocalist and guitarist Irwin Thomas, who was then using the stage name Jack Jones. ...

'' peaked at number 5 on the ARIA albums chart. " Hold Me in Your Arms" was released in March 1991 and peaked at number 9.

1992–1996: ''Nothing But the Truth'' and ''Zone''

In August 1992, Southern Sons released "

Lead Me to Water "Lead Me to Water" is a song by Australian pop-rock band Southern Sons. It was released in September 1992 as the first single taken from their second studio album, ''Nothing But the Truth (Southern Sons album), Nothing But the Truth'' (1992). The ...

", the lead single from the group's second studio album. The song peaked at number 36. '' Nothing But the Truth'', was released in November 1992 and came with the departure of guitarist Peter Bowman. The album's third single " You Were There" peaked at number 6 in May 1993. The Sydney Dance Company included three Southern Sons songs in its 1993 production of Beauty and the Beast. Southern Sons' third and final studio album, ''

Zone Zone or The Zone may refer to: Places Climate and altitude zones * Death zone (originally the lethal zone), altitudes above a certain point where the amount of oxygen is insufficient to sustain human life for an extended time span * Frigid zone, ...

'', was released in 1996. The album's lead single, "Don't Tell Me What's Right", featured vocals from

Men at Work Men at Work are an Australian rock band formed in Melbourne in 1978 and best known for breakthrough hits such as "Down Under", "Who Can It Be Now?", "Be Good Johnny", " Overkill", and " It's a Mistake". Its founding member and frontman is Coli ...

Colin Hay Colin James Hay (born 29 June 1953) is a Scottish-Australian musician, singer, songwriter, and actor. He came to prominence as the lead vocalist and the sole continuous member of the band Men at Work, and later as a solo artist. Hay's music ha ...

. The band split up in 1996.

1996–2018: After Southern Sons

Jones was married to New Zealand-born Australian actress

Rebecca Gibney Rebecca Catherine Gibney (born 14 December 1964) is a New Zealand actress known for her roles on Australian television in ''The Flying Doctors'', ''Halifax f.p.'', ''Packed to the Rafters'', ''Winter (TV series), Winter'' and ''Wanted (2016 Aus ...

from 1992–1995. The marriage ended in divorce. He reverted to his birth name of Irwin Thomas some years ago, and has recorded under that name with a new band. He also was in a band with

INXS INXS (a word play, phonetic play on "in excess") were an Australian Rock music, rock band, formed as The Farriss Brothers in 1977 in Sydney, New South Wales. The band's founding members were bassist Garry Gary Beers, main composer and keyboar ...

member

Gary Beers Garry William Beers (born 22 June 1957), known as Garry Gary Beers, is an Australian musician and was the bass guitarist for the new wave rock group INXS. Career Garry William Beers was born to Lola (died 2011) and William Beers. William Beer ...

called Mudhead, which released one album. In 1999 Jones played with

John Farnham John Peter Farnham Officer of the Order of Australia, AO (born 1 July 1949) is a British born Australian singer. Farnham was a Teen idol, teen pop idol from 1967 until 1979, billed then as Johnny Farnham, but has since forged a career as an Adu ...

on his I Can't Believe He's 50 Tour and the Tour of Duty Concert for peacekeeping Australian troops in

Dili Dili (Portuguese/Tetum: ''Díli'') is the capital, largest city of East Timor and the second largest city in Timor islands after Kupang (Indonesia). It lies on the northern coast of the island of Timor, in a small area of flat land hemmed in ...

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. From 2004 until 2011, he was involved with Melbourne band Electric Mary, releasing new music independently. He left Electric Mary in 2011 and relocated to New York City. Jones and Virgil Donati were part of

Tina Arena Filippina Lydia "Tina" Arena (born 1 November 1967) is an Australian singer-songwriter, musician, musical theatre actress and record producer. She is one of Australia's highest-selling artists and has sold over 10 million records worldwid ...

's backing band for her In Deep tour. Donati is currently living and working in Los Angeles, running clinics and recording with a variety of artists including

Steve Vai Steven Siro Vai (; born June 6, 1960) is an American guitarist, composer, songwriter, and producer. A three-time Grammy Award winner and fifteen-time nominee, Vai started his music career in 1978 at the age of eighteen as a transcriptionist for ...

. He was a member of U.S. rock band

Soul Sirkus Soul SirkUS is a band that initially featured singer Jeff Scott Soto, guitarist Neal Schon, bassist Marco Mendoza, and drummer Deen Castronovo, later replaced by Virgil Donati. History After the failed Planet Us project with Sammy Hagar did not ...

in 2005. He also formed progressive metal/jazz fusion band

Planet X Following the discovery of the planet Neptune in 1846, there was considerable speculation that another planet might exist beyond its orbit. The search began in the mid-19th century and continued at the start of the 20th with Percival Lowell's ...

in 2000 as well as touring with

Allan Holdsworth Allan Holdsworth (6 August 1946 – 15 April 2017) was a British jazz fusion and progressive rock guitarist and composer. Holdsworth was known for his esoteric and idiosyncratic usage of advanced music theory concepts, especially with respe ...

since 2012. He has performed on many other artists albums as a session musician. Geoff Cain spent several years living in Spain, then returned to Australia. He is now living back in Warrnambool with his family, and is involved in his local music scene. Peter Bowman left the band before the release of ''Nothing But the Truth''. Since leaving Southern Sons, Bowman has pursued songwriting and record production in the independent music sector, most notably working with Debra Byrne on her ''Sleeping Child'' album. A reunion tour is in the works.

2019–present: Band reformation

In November 2019, the band (minus Phil Buckle) reformed to be part of the One Electric Day concert at Cockatoo Island in Sydney, along with acts like John Farnham and James Reyne. Post-COVID-19, they are expected to continue further tours in Australia.

Members

* Jack Jones – vocals, guitar * Phil Buckle – guitar, vocals * Peter Bowman – guitar, vocals * Geoff Cain – bass *

Virgil Donati Virgil Donati (born 22 October 1958) is an Australian drummer, composer and producer. He holds the drum sticks in the Traditional grip, traditional style and is also proficient at the Keyboard instrument, keyboard. Donati formed Planet X (band), ...

– drums, keyboards

Discography

Studio albums

Compilation albums

Singles and EPs

Video albums

Music videos

Other appearances

Awards and nominations

ARIA Music Awards

The

ARIA Music Awards The Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards (commonly known informally as ARIA Music Awards, ARIA Awards, or simply the ARIAs) is an annual series of awards nights celebrating the Australian music industry, put on by the Austr ...

is an annual awards ceremony that recognises excellence, innovation, and achievement across all genres of

Australian music The music of Australia has an extensive history made of music societies. Indigenous Australian music forms a significant part of the unique heritage of a 40,000- to 60,000-year history which produced the iconic didgeridoo. Contemporary fusions of ...

. They commenced in 1987. 1927 have won three awards. ! , - , rowspan="4",

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phil ...

, "Heart in Danger" ,

ARIA Award for Breakthrough Artist - Single In music, an aria (Italian: ; plural: ''arie'' , or ''arias'' in common usage, diminutive form arietta , plural ariette, or in English simply air) is a self-contained piece for one voice, with or without instrumental or orchestral accompanime ...

, , rowspan="4", , - , ''Southern Sons'' ,

ARIA Award for Breakthrough Artist - Album In music, an aria (Italian: ; plural: ''arie'' , or ''arias'' in common usage, diminutive form arietta , plural ariette, or in English simply air) is a self-contained piece for one voice, with or without instrumental or orchestral accompanime ...

, , - , Ross Fraser for "Heart in Danger" by Southern Sons , ARIA Award for Producer of the Year , , - , Doug Brady for "Always and Forever" and "Heart in Danger" by Southern Sons ,

ARIA Award for Engineer of the Year The ARIA Music Award for Engineer of the Year, is an award presented within the Artisan Awards at the annual ARIA Music Awards. The ARIA Awards recognise "the many achievements of Australian artists across all music genres", and have been given ...

, , - , rowspan="2",

1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...

, "Hold Me in Your Arms" ,

ARIA Award for Song of the Year The ARIA Music Award for Single of the Year/Song of the Year, is an award presented at the annual ARIA Music Awards, which recognises "the many achievements of Aussie artists across all music genres", since 1987. It is handed out by the Austral ...

, , rowspan="2", , - , Ross Fraser for "Hold Me in Your Arms" by Southern Sons , ARIA Award for Producer of the Year , , -

References

{{Authority control Australian pop rock groups Australian soft rock music groups Musical groups established in 1989 Musical groups disestablished in 1996 Musical groups from Melbourne