INXS has X’d out its time together.
The Aussie band is calling it quits after 35 years, having weathered highs that included chart-topping hits like “Need You Tonight,” as well as a rock-bottom low brought on by the untimely death of frontman Michael Hutchence in 1997.
Per Perth Now, drummer Jon Farriss broke the news Sunday night during a show in Perth, telling the audience, “I’m getting teary.”
Under Hutchence’s watch, the band scored a string of ’80s hits including “New Sensation” and “Devil Inside.”
But the group was rocked by tragedy when, in 1997, Hutchence was found dead in a hotel room in Sydney hanging from a door with a leather belt around his neck.
The cause of death has remained a grisly fixation among fans, with speculation that he died while attempting auto-erotic asphyxiation. A coroner, however, officially ruled his death as suicide caused by depression.
The group, which formed in Sydney in 1977, has since collaborated with a bevy of erstwhile frontmen, including Terence Trent D’Arby.
In 2005, they were featured in the CBS reality show Rock Star: INXS as they searched for a new frontman—a gig that eventually went to Canadian musician J.D. Fortune.
by Alexis L. Loinaz
