Johnny Farnham was an Australian teen idol and television actor throughout the 60s and 70s. In the early 80s, he recorded an album with producer and Little River Band principal Graeham Goble. When lead singer Glenn Shorrock left that group, Goble recruited John Farnham to be his replacement. The arrangement was unhappy and short-lived. After years of artistic marginalization, Farnham’s star was finally back on the rise and he felt himself anchored to a band that had always been plagued with complicated internal politics, and was then, in addition, simply becoming less popular worldwide. In 1985, Farnham acheived international stardom with his album Whispering Jack and its signature single “You’re the Voice.” Bye-bye, Little River Band. That hit only dented the U.S. charts, and then, only when it was included on a Greenpeace charity compilation three years after its original release. It would be 20 years before Farnham would have his next brush with fame in America – and that would be only vicariously via David Archuleta’s performance of the song during Season 7 of American Idol. (Simon was the only one at the judge’s table who knew the song – and he called Archuleta’s take on it – rightly – a “theme park” performance.) Despite the fact Farnham remains virtually unknown here (I mean, if Randy and Paula haven’t heard of him, right?), he’s still a big star in Australia, and in 1988, he followed up Whispering Jack with the album Age of Reason, whose gorgeous title track is not only awesome, but gave him a No. 1 hit in his home country.