James Freud

Born in 1959 as Colin McGlinchly, singer James Freud has had a diverse and successful career as a solo artist and member of the Models, Beatfish, and Moondog.

He and school friend Sean Kelly formed Teenage Radio Stars in 1977, a glam-punk band with Freud on lead vocals and guitar. They broke up the next year and Freud formed James Freud and the Radio Allstars. They signed with Mushroom and their debut single, "Modern Girl," was released in 1980, peaking at number 12 on the Australian national charts. The same year, they supported Gary Numan during his Australian tour. Their debut album Breaking Silence was released in June 1980, and so impressed Numan that he invited Freud to record an album in the U.K. Neither Freud nor Numan were happy with the result and the album was never released.

A name change to James Freud and Berlin followed, thanks to a U.K. band that was already called the Radio Stars. In March 1981, James Freud and Berlin released the single "Automatic Crazy," produced by Gary Numan. One month later Freud disbanded James Freud and Berlin. After a trip to England, Freud joined friend Sean Kelly's band, the Models, in 1982. After much success, the band broke up in June 1988 and Freud went solo. Reputedly the most expensive album Mushroom ever made, Step Into the Heat was recorded in New York and peaked nationally at number 16 in Australia in June 1989. The single "Hurricane" peaked at number 15. With his career at a low-point, Freud spent 1990 playing bass in Kylie Minogue's touring band.

At the end of 1990, Freud combined with Mental as Anything's Martin Plaza for the dance act Beatfish. Writing and production work for TV commercials followed. In January 1996 another solo album, Big Mouth, was scrapped. The single, "Postcard to Hawaii," was the only track that met Freud's expectations, and was released under the Moondog banner, a new collaboration with guitarist Phil Ceberano. The single became a success and the Postcard to Hawaii album was released in January 1997.