Petrol Records
Seriously Good Music
CM Murphy and INXS
The Chris Murphy / INXS Years - 1980 to 1995
Together CM Murphy and INXS climbed the mammoth musical mountain and reached the very top of the world. Through persistence, resistance, sheer guts and smart strategy, CM Murphy and INXS sold out stadiums around the world over and over again. This remarkable achievement could not have been accomplished without each other, making them the ultimate team and confidants.
At the age of 17, CM Murphy started to work at his parent's agency, Mark Murphy & Associates. During his time there, he arguably set standards for bands that still exist today in the Australian live scene. At 23, opening a rock division, SOLO, CM Murphy established one of Australias foremost agencies by taking on bands such as AC/DC and utilizing his entrepreneurial skills to instigate what was to become known as the "door deal", the first of its kind in Australia. The door deal secured a percentage of the cover charge for the band, increasing average artists profit
CM Murphy amalgamated SOLO with the then powerful Melbourne based company run by Michael Gudinski - PREMIER and together the Solo Premier Agency went on to become the most powerful agency in Australia, with a roster of bands that included the Angels, Dragon, Skyhooks and Cold Chisel. CM Murphy then returned to the family business, and was appointed the agent for Midnight Oil, through whom he spotted the young support act INXS in 1979. CM Murphy was so impressed with the young band, he decided to take on their management at a worldwide level, and escalated them to the heights of the international music industry.
" I vowed never to get into management until I met 6 young men with big smiles and a huge amount of talent...INXS” - CM Murphy
Through Murphys management, the band went on to sell over 40 million albums, release 11 albums, 7 long form videos, receive hundreds of Gold and Platinum albums and singles, achieve Number one positions worldwide, at both single and album status, play thousands of shows from Rocking The Royals in front of Prince Charles and Princess Diana to headlining their own show at Wembley Stadium in front of 75,000 fans, win 5 coveted MTV American Awards, 2 Grammy nominations, 6 ARIA awards, a Brit Award for Best International Band as well as dozens of other awards in countries as diverse as Brazil and Monaco.
In 1995 CM resigned as the worldwide manager of INXS. He embarked on a new business journies with Digital One, 2SM and Australian Style.
2009 and Beyond
After 15 years apart, Chris Murphy signed INXS to Petrol Records. 2016 will continue to hold some incredible projects and announcement and will continue the story of Chris Murphy and INXS.
"Original Sin" was their first project released in 2010 and sets about re‐imagining some of the band's most outstanding songs with some of the worlds most outstanding vocalists. Artist includes John Mayer, Ben Harper and Rob Thomas and Pat Monahan (from Train). "INXS Greatest Hits: Platinum" Celebrated all of INXS' songs that achieved platinum record sales. The album was a great success achieving chart positions: #1 in Australia, Portugal, Sweden, Belgium, Greece Luxembourg, Ireland, Italy, Switzerland, Netherlands, and Finland. Top 5 in Norway, Mexico, Germany, Spain, US, UK. This made clear that INXS were still loved and listen to all over the world.
Released in 2014, the "Live album at Wembley Stadium 91" Album celebrated the incredible, famous live sound of INXS. In 1991, INXS played to a staggering sold out crowd of 75,000 people. This Album captured the sounds of one of the greatest live bands in the world.
In 2014, "Never Tear Up Apart: The Untold Story of INXS" was released. With more than 2.8 million people tuning in, rave reviews, an Album called "the Very best" and TV Logie awards, the mini-series was a smash it. Executivly, produced by CM Muphy and Tim Farriss, they delivered of how INXS reached the top of Rock n Roll.
Coupling the airing of the Mini-Series, INXS the Very Best was released and sold 5x platinum. It also re-injected INXS' timeless music back into the modern music scene. "The Very Best" was the Highest selling Album of 2014 outselling the likes of Mega acts such as Pharrell Williams and Katy Perry for the #1 position.
