Uploaded July 2025 | Updated September 2026, 41 minutes ago
Scottish-born, Australian-bred vocal powerhouse John ‘Swanee’ Swan has viewed life from more angles than most. From the success of numerous solo hits including If I Were a Carpenter, Lady What’s Your Name, Temporary Heartache to the Number 1 hit He’s Gonna Step On You Again fronting The Party Boys to the lows of addiction and his more recent humanitarian work, singing for palliative care patients and kids in the burns wards, Swanee has gained much life perspective.
With so many of Swanee’s contemporaries shuffling off this mortal coil recently, he thought about what he’d achieved in life and realised that the one thing he still needed to accomplish was to record with his brothers, Jimmy and Alan Barnes. Even better thought John, would be to record an entire album with not only his brothers but other family members and his mates as well. Once that thought bubble became public, Swanee’s mates were queuing up to help out and before he knew it, he’d laid down tracks with his brothers Jimmy and Alan, his niece Mahalia Barnes, his brother in law Diesel, and close friends, Colin Hay, Kevin Borich, Joe Camilleri, Dave Gleeson, Jack Jones, Wendy Matthews, Jon Stevens, Russell Morris, Rick Springfield and Melinda Schneider.
With the assistance of independent music retailer Brian ‘Froggy’ Harris from Songland Records in Canberra, Swanee is now set to release ‘Believe’ an incredible double album of duets on Friday August 1st, 2025.
Australian Musician editor Greg Phillips caught up with Swanee over a zoom call to chat about the remarkable journey of the ‘Believe’ Album.
#swanee #australianmusician
Scottish-born, Australian-bred vocal powerhouse John ‘Swanee’ Swan has viewed life from more angles than most. From the success of numerous solo hits including If I Were a Carpenter, Lady What’s Your Name, Temporary Heartache to the Number 1 hit He’s Gonna Step On You Again fronting The Party Boys to the lows of addiction and his more recent humanitarian work, singing for palliative care patients and kids in the burns wards, Swanee has gained much life perspective.
With so many of Swanee’s contemporaries shuffling off this mortal coil recently, he thought about what he’d achieved in life and realised that the one thing he still needed to accomplish was to record with his brothers, Jimmy and Alan Barnes. Even better thought John, would be to record an entire album with not only his brothers but other family members and his mates as well. Once that thought bubble became public, Swanee’s mates were queuing up to help out and before he knew it, he’d laid down tracks with his brothers Jimmy and Alan, his niece Mahalia Barnes, his brother in law Diesel, and close friends, Colin Hay, Kevin Borich, Joe Camilleri, Dave Gleeson, Jack Jones, Wendy Matthews, Jon Stevens, Russell Morris, Rick Springfield and Melinda Schneider.
With the assistance of independent music retailer Brian ‘Froggy’ Harris from Songland Records in Canberra, Swanee is now set to release ‘Believe’ an incredible double album of duets on Friday August 1st, 2025.
Australian Musician editor Greg Phillips caught up with Swanee over a zoom call to chat about the remarkable journey of the ‘Believe’ Album.
#swanee #australianmusician
