Michael Hutchence: the tragic story of the INXS rock star

"Live baby live, now that the day is over..." It's a lyric from one of the biggest hits of INXS. 'New Sensation' was written by the talented but tormented singer Michael Hutchence. Here we remember the charismatic rock star and his sad demise.

Under the name of Michael Kelland John Hutchence, the rock star was born in Sydney, Australia on January 22, 1960. His mother Patricia was a make-up artist and his father Kelland Hutchence a businessman.

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When he was young, the family moved to Hong Kong because of his father's business. The young Michael developed a talent for swimming until he broke his arm. He then went on to write poetry and songs. At the age of 8, he had already performed solo for a toy company in Hong Kong, showing he was not afraid to face a crowd.

After returning to Sydney in the early 70s, the teenage Hutchence met Andrew Farriss. They spend lots of time in the garage, jamming alongside Andrew's brothers Tim and Jon. Their first band was called 'Doctor Dolphin.'

Alongside the Farriss brothers, Kent Kerny, Neil Sanders, Garry Beers, and Geoff Kennelly, Hutchence formed 'The Vegetables.' They wrote songs like 'We are the Vegetables.' By 1979, however, the group had found its final name, INXS.

Their first album, 'INSX', came out in 1980. A year later they released 'Underneath the Colours' a total success that reached number 5 in the Australian album chart.

In 1987, the band conquered the world with their album 'Kick,' containing hits like 'Need You Tonight', 'New Sensation', and 'Never Tear Us Apart'. They ruled the charts in many countries and won the MTV Video Music Award for the funky and sensual video of 'Need You Tonight.'

Hutchence was a restless and charismatic artist. It's not surprising he tried his luck at acting in movies like 'Dogs in Space' (1986) and 'Frankenstein Unbound' (1990).

He also conquered the hearts of many women. Among his lovers were famous models and artists, including Kym Wilson, Paula Yates, Helena Christensen, Kylie Minogue, Virginia Hey, Rosanna Crash, Terri Nunn, Belinda Carlisle, Elle Macpherson, and Charlotte Lewis.

"I met a new person and I fell in love," Kylie Minogue later told BBC. "Yes, he was this wild guy, he was the rocker, he was all of that."

While he was dating Kylie Minogue, INXS released the album 'X'. It contained the hit 'S***ide Blonde'. Its lyrics were inspired by a comment Minogue had made about her costume in the film 'Delinquents' (1989). Her platinum blonde wig had the color 'S***ide Blonde', she said. For the successful album, INXS would win a BRIT Award.

A big love in his life was supermodel Helena Christensen. They were together for approximately 5 years. Helena described the relationship as "joyful, sweet, deep, and emotional". She also described him as "A very beautiful and kind man, incredibly gifted and soulful."

In 1992, Hutchence visited Helena Christensen in Copenhagen, Denmark. After a night of partying, they decided to stop for a pizza. Then, something awful happened.

"He was in the middle of a tiny, narrow road and was eating his pizza," Christensen recalled in the documentary 'Mystify.' "This insane taxi driver yelled at Michael to move. He got out of his car and punched him."

The consequences were much worse than one would expect from the punch. As Christensen recalls, "Michael fell backward and hit his head on the curb. He was unconscious and there was blood coming out of his mouth and ear. I thought he was dead."

Hutchence did not die from the head injury, but he was not the man he was before. A few weeks after the fall, it was discovered that he Michael had lost his sense of taste and smell. "When I have children," he told Christensen, "I will never be able to smell my baby."

In an interview with The Sun, his sister Tina opened up about the injury. "Michael didn't stay in hospital. He went to Helena's place and made her promise not to tell a soul because he thought people would look at him differently. He wouldn't even have tests at the hospital. She said he spent a few weeks at her place throwing up and talking nonsense and he was really ill."

After his relationship with Helena Christensen suffered from the aftermath of his secret accident, Hutchence moved on to have an affair with Paula Yates. His relationship with Bob Geldof's wife was a huge scandal in England at the time.

Yates fondly remembered the affair. "Michael and I had waited all our lives for each other," she told OK! magazine. "And when we had each other, it was everything we hoped it would be. I could not have lived without Michael. I could not have beared to be without him.”

Yates, mother of three, and Hutchence gave birth to Heavenly Hiraani Tiger Lily Hutchence, or just Tiger Lily, in July 1996. She would soon become an orphan, because none of her parents would go on to live much longer. Bob Geldof would end up raising the girl together with her three half-sisters.

Michael Hutchence did not hide his love for alcohol and substances. In 1995, he told the magazine Vox: "I'm surprised I've survived and so are a lot of my friends... Welcome to the party. Jimi Hendrix is upstairs. But coming through it is fantastic." Underneath the tough talk, though, was a man treated for depression, the documentary 'Mystify' explains.

U2 lead singer Bono was a close friend of Hutchence and Yates. At some point in the 90s, however, Bono and his wife Ali realized that their friends were going on a dangerous path, "free fall – spiraling down the vortex of a recreational drug use that had become hard for everyone, especially their family, especially the younger ones," Bono wrote in his memoir 'Surrender: 40 Songs, One Story'.

On 22 November 1997, around 11:50 in the morning, Michael Hutchence’s body was found by a maid in his room at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Sydney. He had been choked with a belt. It was unclear whether he had done it on purpose or whether it was an accident.

Bono devoted a song to his deceased friend. "I never thought you were a fool, but darling, look at you (Oh), you gotta stand up straight, carry your own weight, these tears are going nowhere baby..." The lyrics of 'Stuck in a Moment' (2001) were about a conversation Bono wished he'd had with his friend Michael Hutchence before the Australian tilted towards his fate.

The mother of his child, Paula Yates, did not fare much better. In the last years of her life, Yates fought a custody battle with her ex-husband, Bob Geldof, over their three children. Her addictions became much worse and she died in 2000 of an overdose. Yates' father told The Standard that she'd never gotten over the death of Michael Hutchence.

Michael Hutchence was an inspiring rock star who struggled with personal demons throughout his life. Not only did he battle substance abuse but he also suffered from serious brain damage after his accident in Denmark. As his friends, relatives and fans have grappled with his death in the past decades, the INXS frontman remained a mystifying character, long to be remembered.