Chrissy Amphlett’s Lost 1998 Songs Found in Garage Set for Release

NewsDesk
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Chrissy Amphlett and Charley Drayton perform with Divinyls in Melbourne. | Wikimedia Commons

Three unreleased songs by the late Divinyls frontwoman Chrissy Amphlett, recorded during a 1998 session with Tim Finn, have surfaced more than a decade after her death following the discovery of a master tape that had been presumed lost. The tracks, which feature Amphlett’s distinctive husky voice alongside Finn and her husband Charley Drayton on drums, will appear on an EP titled Some Times set for release this Friday. BBC News detailed how Finn located the two-inch tape in his garage in 2023 after multiple house moves, with the find coming after Drayton inquired about the recordings.[[1]](https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cmrl6ylzy4zxo)

The collaboration originated after Finn attended a performance by Amphlett in the musical The Boy From Oz in Sydney, where she portrayed Judy Garland, leading to a swift songwriting and recording process that produced the three tracks. According to an article published by Happy Mag, the pair completed the session with plans for further work that never occurred, leaving the tapes untouched for years. Finn later described the material as incredibly important to him, Drayton and those close to Amphlett in a statement carried across several reports.[[2]](https://happymag.tv/chrissy-amphlett-lost-tapes/)

Amphlett, who died in 2013 at age 53 after battling breast cancer and multiple sclerosis, achieved global recognition as the lead singer of Divinyls with hits such as Boys in Town, Pleasure and Pain, and the 1991 chart-topper I Touch Myself. Industry records from the Australian Recording Industry Association confirm that the band received induction into the ARIA Hall of Fame in 2006, underscoring its enduring influence on Australian rock music. The singer’s bold stage persona and subversive lyrics left a lasting mark, as noted in various career retrospectives that highlight her impact across decades.

The release of the EP coincides with a two-part Australian Story documentary on ABC that explores Amphlett’s life, career and personal challenges through unseen footage and interviews with family, friends and former bandmates. TV Blackbox reported that the special includes reflections on her struggles with addiction and her contributions to the music scene, with the newly found songs integrated into the broadcast. Drayton has indicated that the family never achieved full closure on these particular works prior to their rediscovery.[[3]](https://tvblackbox.com.au/page/2026/09/28/chrissy-amphletts-wild-life-featured-on-australian-story/)

Similar recoveries of unreleased recordings have periodically surfaced in the music industry, generating significant fan interest and commercial activity around posthumous catalogs. A feature in Long Live Vinyl outlined how lost projects and bootlegs by major artists often attract attention for their raw quality and historical value, citing examples across rock and pop genres. The Amphlett tracks, described in some coverage as containing a special unpolished magic, fit this pattern as they arrive with endorsement from those who worked with her.[[4]](https://longlivevinyl.net/2019/05/07/vinyls-most-sought-after-bootlegs/)

Finn, a former member of Split Enz and Crowded House, took the tapes home after the 1998 session intending to develop them but set the project aside as life progressed. An ABC News report confirmed that the labeled tape survived several relocations before its recovery, allowing the songs including one called He’s in Love to reach audiences for the first time. The development has prompted renewed attention to Amphlett’s broader body of work, which also included solo projects and theatrical performances in her later years.

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