Michael Gudinski AM

22 AUGUST 1952 — 02 MARCH 2021

Music was in Michael Gudinski’s blood. Often referred to by those in the know as the Godfather of Aussie music, he is widely recognised in his life as the most powerful and influential figure in the Australian music industry.

As Chairman of the Mushroom Group – the largest independent music and entertainment company in Australia and New Zealand, home to Frontier Touring, Chugg Entertainment, eight record labels and over two dozen other specialist divisions – Gudinski’s clout was undeniable. Born and raised in Melbourne, Gudinski’s multi-faceted business and proud advocacy for artists created an empire. His passion for music was legendary. Voted #1 in The Music’s ‘Power 50’ list in 2020, it was his fifth time at the top spot since its inception in 2012… All this, despite not being able to play a single note – music legend Jimmy Barnes once telling his friend to “not even sing in the shower”.

Born 22 August 1952 to Russian immigrant parents, Michael Solomon Gudinski got his first taste of the entrepreneurial life at seven-years-old, charging Caulfield Cup race goers for parking in a vacant block next to his house. At 15, he was organising dances and earning $500 a week, with bands showing up on his parents’ doorstep for payment. Booking acts like The Aztecs and Chain (who he also managed), Gudinski dropped out of his final year of high school and established his first booking agency, Consolidated Rock, in 1970.

1972 would be a pivotal year. Aged 20, with a new business partner in Ray Evans, Gudinski booked a major musical coup: the inaugural Sunbury Festival. Over 35,000 fans paid $6 for a three-day ticket. Spying more opportunity, Gudinski also managed the event’s watermelon stand… which he did up until 1975, when torrential rain left him with thousands of melons to dispose of.

His first international tour as promoter also came in 1972: John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers. “It was the most money I’d ever made in one night in my life,” he later told a biographer.

May 1972 would see Gudinski make his biggest move: the announcement of a new independent record label, Mushroom Records. Based in Wellington Street St Kilda, Mushroom was a ‘360º company’ decades before the industry term was common. Mushroom Records would become the largest independent label ever in Australia’s music history. 1973 saw a complementary sister company form in Mushroom Music Publishing, which remains the most successful independent music publisher in Australasia today.

Mushroom Records scored big in 1975 when one of Gudinski’s management clients, Skyhooks, released their debut album, Living In The 70’s. It was the biggest-selling local album ever released up to that point, spending 16 weeks at #1 and selling over 240,000 copies.

Not long after, Gudinski struck gold again with the signing of New Zealand expatriates Split Enz; their 1980 album True Colours and the hit single ‘I Got You’ were huge successes. Jimmy Barnes celebrated countless #1 solo albums, starting with 1984’s debut Bodyswerve. The artists released on Mushroom Records reads like a who’s who of Australia’s finest talents: Kylie Minogue, Archie Roach, Hunters & Collectors, Paul Kelly, The Angels, Yothu Yindi, and many, many more.

In 1973, Mushroom also became home to what is currently Australia’s most accomplished booking agency for domestic acts: Melbourne based Premier Artists. Sydney’s The Harbour Agency came under the Mushroom fold five years later. In 1979, Gudinski would launch a new international tour promotion arm that would change the game.

Frontier Touring is the most respected, long standing, and proactive concert promoter in Australia and New Zealand. In Pollstar’s Q1 2020 report, Frontier ranked at No. 5 globally, shifting 900,000+ tickets in a mere four months. A year earlier, thanks to the inclusion of a record-breaking run with Ed Sheeran, the company sold a whopping 2.7+ million tickets – 440 shows in 12 months. For over 40 years Gudinski’s Frontier Touring has delivered the world’s biggest acts down under: Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., Liza Minnelli, The Rolling Stones, Madonna, Bruce Springsteen, Guns N’ Roses, Taylor Swift, Paul McCartney, Foo Fighters, Leonard Cohen, Kylie Minogue, Justin Beiber, The Killers, Billy Joel and countless more.

After establishing a Mushroom UK office and new label Infectious Records – which enjoyed global success with signings such as Ash, Muse, Peter Andre, Garbage (four Grammy nominations) and Kylie Minogue’s stratospheric rise – Gudinski would go on to first sell a share of Mushroom Records to Rupert Murdoch’s News Limited Group in 1993.

Gudinski sold his remaining stake in the label to Murdoch five years later, in 1998 – but retained the ‘Mushroom Group’ name. That sale coincided with the label’s 25th Anniversary, which was celebrated with a spectacular concert at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Over 75,000 people caught 60+ artists across nine hours, the concert broadcast on TV and raising $150,000 for Melbourne’s Royal Children’s Hospital.

Today, the Mushroom Group contains an enviable roster of current labels which continue to showcase Gudinski’s enormous enthusiasm for the artists he championed: Vance Joy, The Temper Trap, Dan Sultan, Julia Jacklin (Liberation Music); Jimmy Barnes, Archie Roach, Mark Seymour (Bloodlines); Faith No More, Childish Gambino, CHVRCHES (Liberator); The Rubens, The Teskey Brothers, Alpine (Ivy League Records); Violent Soho, DMA’S, Jack River (I OH YOU) and many more.

Gudinski’s wide-ranging businesses don’t stop with music. There’s Mushroom Pictures, co-founded in 1993, which co-produced feature films such as Chopper, Wolf Creek and Gettin’ Square, plus hit TV productions (“Molly”, “Head First”).

He was also the founding patron of the Australian Music Vault (a free and innovative permanent exhibition celebrating the story of Australian contemporary music) – launched in 2017 in partnership with ARIA, the Victorian Government and located in Arts Centre Melbourne. He is a two-time winner of the prestigious Melbourne Cup horse race, as co-owner of 2016 champion Almandin and 2017 winner Rekindling.

Further cementing the Mushroom Group’s power, in 2019 Gudinski oversaw a joint venture with Chugg Entertainment – reuniting him with former Frontier Touring partner Michael Chugg, the pair having first worked together 40 years previously. In April of the same year, he signed a key partnership with US giant AEG Presents, one of the world’s leading music and sports entertainment companies and the face of Coachella and London’s Hyde Park summer series.

On Anzac Day 2020, Gudinski delivered the most unique televised concert ever screened on Australian television – Music From The Home Front. The concert – created as a response to the global COVID-19 pandemic crisis and as a tribute to frontline workers – featured performances by over 50 of Australia and New Zealand’s most iconic musicians, filmed in isolation. It was the #1 most-watched show on television and reached over two million Australian viewers across two screenings. In June, the accompanying compilation album debuted at #1 on the ARIA Album Charts, with 100% of proceeds going to music industry charity Support Act.

Gudinski also teamed up with the Victorian Government in 2020 to create The State Of Music, a six-part initiative featuring exclusive performances filmed in iconic Melbourne locations, including the Melbourne Cricket Ground, National Gallery of Victoria and State Library. Designed to celebrate Australia’s rich musical talent while encouraging viewers to stay at home during lockdown, it reached a combined audience of two million viewers, from Australia and beyond.

In July 2020, with Gudinski at the helm Mushroom Vision launched the acclaimed music TV series The Sound, screening weekly each Sunday night on ABC and iview. Across 14 episodes and two seasons, The Sound showcased 165 artists filmed at 149 locations for 97 live performances; and included the biggest and best names in Australian music, bringing them to free-to-air TV each week, nationwide. Critics and fans were unanimous: The Sound was a hit, music site Junkee, “The Sound is carving out something entirely new, and completely breathtaking.”

Michael Gudinski worked with enormous enthusiasm across all facets of his companies and was frequently seen trekking from pub gigs to arena and stadium spectaculars in Australia and abroad, looking for the next big thing to promote – be it through his record labels, touring companies, agencies or publishing arm.

Sadly, Michael Solomon Gudinski passed away peacefully in his sleep at home at age 68, on 02 March 2021.

MATT GUDINSKI —

Born into the music industry as the son of Mushroom founder Michael Gudinski, Matt Gudinski now continues the family legacy as the CEO of the Mushroom Group, overseeing over 250 staff and two dozen companies.

Since the Group’s inception in ‘72 when a young Michael Gudinski formed Mushroom Records and Mushroom Music Publishing, Mushroom has grown to an iconic independent force spanning six pillars of services in entertainment. Unparalleled in creating culture, the passion for industry, people and progress is the driving force.

Mushroom Group acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of the land on which we work. We pay our respects to their Elders past, present and emerging.