Undercover has heard that James Freud, the singer with Models, has taken his life in his Melbourne home this morning.
Freud was noticeably absent when his band Models were inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame last week. Sean Kelly commented that James “had another bicycle accident but we know he will climb back up on that bike again”.
Freud was born Colin Joseph McGlinchey in June 29, 1959.
In his autobiography, Freud described his life as “not without a few old-fashioned rock’n’roll excesses”. He had a long-term battle with alcoholism and recounted those battles in his two books ‘I Am The Voice Left From Drinking’ (2002) and ‘I Am The Voice Left From Rehab’ (2007).
Freud was 16 when he started his first band ‘Sabre’ with future Models guitarist Sean Kelly. In 1977, he formed Teenage Radio Stars and had a hit with ‘Modern Girl’ in 1979.
After Mark Ferrie left Models in 1982, James joined his old mate Sean’s band.
In 1985, Models, with Freud, had their greatest commercial breakthrough with the Freud penned ‘Out of Mind, Out of Sight’ (No.1) and ‘Barbados’ (No. 2).
He was with the band until the breakup in 1988.
His next project was Beatfish with Mental As Anything’s Martin Plaza. Freud sang lead. In 2008, he released his solo album ‘See You In Hell’.
James had been sober since 2004 but Kelly’s comments that the ARIA Hall of Fame last week suggested that he had gone back to alcohol.
Freud was 51-years old. His son's Jackson and Harrison are in Melbourne band Attack of the Mannequins.
