Chris “CM” Murphy, the longtime manager of the Australian band INXS (from 1979 to 1995 and again in the 2000s), died in Sydney after a battle with Mantle Cell Lymphoma. He was 66 years old.
A representative of the Murphy Petrol Group shared the news early on Saturday (January 16): “It is with great sadness that Caroline Murphy and family confirm that Christopher (CM) Mark Murphy, president of the Murphy Petrol Group has passed away peacefully today on his beloved Ballina ‘Sugar Beach Ranch’ property surrounded by his family. CM has celebrated an illustrious career of over 40 years and has made an incredible impact on the global music and entertainment industry. Best known for bringing his ‘group of brothers’ INXS to world stardom, CM Murphy has influenced the lives of many around the world with his endless passion and direction. He will be sorely missed. “
INXS members said: “It is with great sadness that the remaining members of INXS mourn the death of our brother, Chris Murphy. Without Chris’ vision, passion and hard work, INXS’s story would be totally different. Chris’ star shone a lot and we celebrated a life well lived and sent all our love to his family. “
INXS was among the most successful groups to emerge from Australia, selling tens of millions of albums worldwide. The band experienced several commercial spikes in the United States, the main one: the 1987 album “Kick”, which sold more than 7 million copies. His predecessor, “Listen Like Thieves”, from 1985, and the next, “X” from 1990, were also multi-platinum hits on US INXS magnetic frontman Michael Hutchence, who died in 1997 at the age of 37.
In the documentary “Mystify: Michael Hutchence”, Murphy talks about his decision to manage the group. “I will only do this based on the fact that we do it internationally,” he told the band (founding members included Garry Gary Beers, Andrew Farriss, Jon Farriss, Tim Farriss, Kirk Pengilly and Hutchence). Murphy had experience in the global music market, having worked at his father’s theater booking agency, Mark Murphy & Associates, since his teens. Later, turned to management under the tutelage of Gary Morris, whose clients included Midnight Oil and INXS, he launched MMA Management.
Murphy wisely negotiated a deal for INXS directly with an American label, Atco and later Atlantic, a move that is widely considered to have played an important role in its success. Even so, Atlantic was initially reluctant to release “Kick”. As Murphy said in interviews, the label offered the band $ 1 million to re-record it. Instead, he suggested combining the album’s main single, “Need You Tonight” (whose guitar riff can be heard on Dua Lipa’s “Break My Heart”) with a two-minute, 37-second coda called “Mediate”. The song reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100.
Murphy said, “’Kick’ sounds like four different bands playing. There were great ballads, riffy rock, funk … Kick is brilliant, but it is everywhere and I thought, ‘How am I going to put this together in any kind of campaign?’ “
INXS has become a large number of tours, filling arenas around the world. In an interview with Music Network in 2019, Murphy was asked about the band’s heyday. “I never went to INXS parties,” said Murphy. “After doing a big show at Madison Square Gardens in New York, they went to clubs. I would go back to my hotel room and work on my plan on how to take them to the next level. “
Murphy, who also managed the Models group during the 1980s, was described as a marketing master, but there were stumbling blocks, like the short-lived Max Q, a 1989 collaboration between Hutchence and Australian musician and producer Ollie Olsen. At the same time, Murphy gave in to his entrepreneurial side and spent decades investing in a variety of businesses, including an organic food supplier, a magazine and a Sydney radio station. In 1988, he launched the independent label rooART, which was home to artists such as Crash Politics, The Hummingbirds, Ratcat, You Am I, Wendy Matthews and The Screaming Jets.
After a 10-year hiatus, during which Murphy sold his musical assets, he returned to the industry to build new companies. Petrol Electric Records was launched in 2001 (INXS signed with the label in 2008) and Murphy Rights Management in 2014. In 2018, he took on another act by Australian brothers, the country group The Buckleys.
“Chris has been our guardian angel since the day we met him and he will continue to be for the rest of our lives,” said Sarah, Lachlan and Molly Buckley. “As with everyone who has been blessed to have met him – the strength, passion, guidance and love he awakens will last forever. We are very grateful to have walked this land with him, our best friend, greatest champion and mentor. Your spirit and light will live forever in and around us. “
Most recently, he developed a retirement community for musicians and music industry professionals in New South Wales. Speaking of the project in 2019, Murphy explained: “There are many people who are aging. And what are these people going to do? They worked in a very creative industry all their lives; what are you going to do now that you don’t have a job? Sitting in a quiet retirement village with people you don’t know or sharing common interests? … People in retirement villages, as we speak, are the people who built this bloody country. Traders, all kinds of people who lived in a time when you really had to work. “
Murphy leaves his wife Caroline; sons Stevey, Jeri, Jack, Louis and Charlie; and grandchildren Asher, Samantha, Bella, Axel, Harley and Reuben; his mother Janice; and sisters Charne and Tanya.
The family says Murphy “was passionate about farming, horse breeding, racing pigeons, surfing and rugby. His competitive spirit, seen on the polo field and on the ice hockey rink, was alive to the end as he battled Mantle Cell Lymphoma. “They requested that, instead of flowers, the trees be presented” to create an everlasting and growing memorial on Chris’ beloved Ballina estate. ” For information, contact [email protected].