Theatre is Michael Paynter’s ‘idea of hell’ but he’s making an exception for John Farnham

One voice was better than the rest at this year’s AFL grand final, and it wasn’t Kylie Minogue’s. No shade on Kylie but the man who sang the national anthem a cappella had the best pipes on field.

That’s not a controversial statement: there’s a rocking power to Michael Paynter’s voice and those who’ve heard it tend to become fans. Anyone, for instance, who saw him in the 2024/25 stage production of Jesus Christ Superstar, for which he received rave reviews and industry awards in the titular role of Jesus. Those, too, who know him as a much-loved part of the Australian music scene, including as a member of the Jimmy Barnes and Icehouse touring bands.

And those who went to his The Great Australian Songbook concerts, which began in February as seven gigs and ended up as 30 concerts running right through to September, the venue sizes doubling as they went along. Barring the few songs for which a special guest joins him each night, it’s Paynter solo on stage, with a guitar and a piano, singing household hits such as Flame Trees, You’re the Voice, Even When I’m Sleeping and We Are Australian. So popular has it been that a return Songbook tour was recently announced for 2027, to include more than a dozen regional centres as well as every capital city.

Singer, guitarist, pianist – Paynter does the lot, along with being an accomplished songwriter and music producer. But for most at the Melbourne Cricket Ground that last Saturday in September, or watching it on TV, his was not a familiar name. Not like Kylie or even G Flip, her support act.

That’s changing fast, however, and will likely shift again when Paynter takes on the role of The Voice himself, John Farnham, in Whispering Jack: The John Farnham Musical. The Sydney Theatre Company will premiere the show on November 15 ahead of a likely national tour with commercial producer Michael Cassel Group and Gaynor Wheatley, the widow of Farnham’s late manager and best friend, Glenn Wheatley.

There’s a certain synchronicity to Paynter playing Farnham. Paynter was born in 1986, the year Whispering Jack came out. They’ve both been Jesus in Superstar (Farnham in 1992) and have both done versions of the great Australian songbook (Farnham released a Songbook album in 2005). It’s more than that, though. They both know what it’s like to be the next big thing – then not. And just as Farnham’s second wave came at the age of 37, so Paynter, at 40, appears to be moving from a career supporting others into one in which it’s finally him owning centre stage.

I’m meeting Michael Paynter at his favourite cafe in Oakleigh, in Melbourne’s south-east. He walks in punctually and I’m struck by three things I’d noticed at his Sydney Songbook concert back in April. The first: he’s ripped. Paynter is a gym junkie and it’s there in his physique, which he shows off on stage via tight black T-shirts and fitted pants that finish slightly above a set of clean white sneakers, typically worn with invisible socks. Second, he’s a friendly bloke, with more than a dash of the loveable dagginess Farnham was renowned for. Third, he’s a man of God, with a silver cross hanging on a chain around his neck. He wears it offstage and on.

The cross makes sense when Paynter tells me he’s the son of pastors, who left their jobs as an art teacher (mum) and bank manager (dad) to set up a non-denominational church on Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula. That was in 1986; he was christened at their first service. Music was a regular part of life for the family, which included daughter Bethany, who also works for the church. “Dad has a great voice and mum’s a great piano player,” Paynter says. He started piano lessons at the age of five and by 12 had also picked up the guitar, mainly to impress girls.

It was a happy upbringing, which he’s felt embarrassed about in the past. Not very rock ‘n’ roll, and he very much wanted to be rock ‘n’ roll. “I created a bunch of demons in my closet when I signed to a record label but they were of my own making, because I had a very normal, non-traumatic upbringing.”

Paynter orders a cold brew, no milk, which I assume is to do with lactose being bad for the voice, which I’ve heard from singers before. “No,” he says with a laugh. “Where you eat and where you breathe are two different holes, so unless you’re lactose-intolerant and it causes problems … ” Most of the ritualistic things singers do “are up here”, he says, tapping his head. “It’s fine, I have them as well.” It’s simply that he really loves coffee. “It’s like whisky – if you have a good whisky don’t put it with coke or ice, just have a whisky.”

When Paynter finished school he enrolled in a double law/business degree at Victoria University. He’d won a statewide school music competition and was performing on the side, and when Mushroom Records founder Michael Gudinski asked him to play guitar for his teen daughter, who went by the stage name of Kate Alexa, he quit the degree to focus on music.

Gudinski wasn’t the only bigwig to notice Paynter’s talent. So too did then Sony boss Denis Handlin, who put him on the kind of development deal labels offered budding singer-songwriters back then. “They don’t exist any more but it was kind of like, here’s $5000, come back in five months with five songs, and if they’re good, we’ll sign you and turn them into something.” He came back; they signed him.

Paynter spent a decade with Sony, much of it living in Britain and the US, where he joined the songwriting teams for big names including the Black Eyed Peas and James Blunt, and toured with the likes of Seal and Miley Cyrus. “It didn’t make me arrogant – well actually that’s debatable – but it gave me an inner confidence to believe in what I do.” In 2010 he wrote the single Love the Fall, recording it with The Veronicas, who took it to number 19 on the ARIA charts. “Looking back [its success] was because it featured The Veronicas, I’m very aware of that,” he says. “But it was a great song and it opened a lot of doors for me.”

At a certain point the music industry changed, however, and in 2011 Paynter and Sony parted ways. “To invest in a singer or a band and hang in there for the long haul was gone,” he says. “It was the quick buck, TV every night, 10 million eyeballs. It makes complete sense. So they moved to that model and let a lot of singers and bands go.”

In his own version of “if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em”, in 2013 Paynter auditioned for the second Australian season of The Voice, where he got as far as the top four before bombing out. “I sang horribly,” he says of his final performance. “TV can be nerve-wracking at the best of times. There was a lot riding on it for me and I wasn’t my best self.”

He was by now living back in Melbourne, in his late 20s, and keen to start a family with his wife, Keinzley, who he’s known since kindergarten. “That was the end of me wanting to be an artist,” he says. “I just didn’t want to do it any more. I lost the drive to be famous.”

Instead, he started a business with his friend Michael De Lorenzis to write, mix and record songs for other artists. MSquared ran for 15 years, snaring two ARIAs and three Golden Guitars, before the pair decided to close it last year. In tandem Paynter continued working as a session player – at weddings and pubs, for bands such as Bachelor Girl and Killing Heidi, and for a while, was tour manager for The Veronicas. In 2011 he started playing with Icehouse, then from 2020, with Jimmy Barnes’ band.

You’d be lucky to have people speak about you the way people in this industry speak about John.

Michael Paynter

He and Keinzley had three young daughters and between family life, producing and gig work, he was fully occupied. The last thing he was thinking about was a musical.

Then, in 2024, Mahalia Barnes was cast as Mary in a new production of Jesus Christ Superstar. They couldn’t find their Jesus. She knew Paynter through her dad, Jimmy. She knew he dug Jesus. She suggested him and he got the part. “I got two standing ovations a night, in the middle of the show,” says Paynter with incredulity.

As Superstar was coming to an end, word started getting around that a Farnham musical was in the works. There’s always a tension in musicals: do you veer towards an actor who can sing or a singer who can act? With a character like Farnham it was a no-brainer: any musical would be stillborn if the lead didn’t have a knockout voice.

People started suggesting Paynter, but he initially wasn’t keen. “There’s a lot about theatre I don’t like,” he says bluntly. “You’re doing the same thing, in the same place, at the same time, with the same people, in the same clothes, the same way, for a year. That’s my idea of hell.” The world he was used to was much more free-flowing. “Every stage is new, you’re on a plane every second day. Writing songs you’re in a new studio, with a new person, every time. There’s a lot of movement and that keeps me interested.”

It didn’t help that he’d been working at MSquared while doing Jesus Christ Superstar, which meant 9am-5pm songwriting, recording and managing other artists, then jumping in the shower, scoffing down some food, and getting to the theatre for his evening shift.

But … he loved Farnham. His voice, his output, everything about him. And with the closure of MSquared, he wouldn’t have to work during the day then perform in the evening. “His music is among my favourite ever,” he says. “He’s always been the greatest singer this country has ever produced. And he’s the sort of man … you’d be lucky to have people speak about you the way people in this industry speak about John. He’s a hard worker who doesn’t give up, keeps coming back. He’s a larrikin but one who loves his wife and kids.”

Paynter is now pumped for his theatrical return and yes, can see the similarities between his story and Farnham’s. “You get dropped from the label, you miss out on a reality TV show … My whole career has been about trying to keep the flame flickering as the seasons change.”

Life experience means he’s not counting on the musical to change the trajectory of his life. “I’m in an incredible season now, with momentum and acclaim and public attention, which is lovely, but 12 months from now that might not be the case,” he says. “It’s just cool that people are digging me, but they’ll get over it and I’ll have to change again.” We shall see.

Whispering Jack is at Sydney’s Roslyn Packer Theatre, Nov 15 - Jan 3.

More from Spectrum

• The one bad habit David Sedaris can’t break
• Why Robert Pattinson changed his mind about Primetime
• How cinema warned us about AI
• John Malkovich on the film that is generating Oscars buzz

Start the day with a summary of the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter.