John James

Back in March last year I mentioned a radio interview I’d conducted on 98.5 Sonshine FM with John James, former lead singer and co-founder of rock band The Newsboys.

The Newsboys began their life in Queensland, Australia, many years ago, they’ve sold millions of albums, been nominated for Grammies and played to sell out arena shows of up to 200 000 people in the U.S. and Europe.

John has an amazing story to tell of their meteoric rise to fame and the toll it took on his life and his marriage. He left the band in 1997 after becoming addicted to cocaine and battling depression and alcohol abuse.

Today John is very much a changed man. His relationship with his wife and children is restored and he spends his days telling young people about the turn around in his life.

Since my original post I’ve noticed an occasional visitor finding their way to this blog by searching for details on John James so I thought I’d put the interview online in case you’d like to hear what John had to say back then.

You can listen by clicking the play button on the audio player at the bottom of this post.



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About the author

Rodney Olsen

Rodney is a husband, father, cyclist, blogger and podcaster from Perth Western Australia.

He has worked in radio at Perth's media ministry Sonshine for over 25 years and has previously worked at ministries such as Compassion Australia and Bible Society.

The views he expresses here are his own.

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1 Comment

  • We have always liked the Newsboys music in our home, especially the song, “Shine”

    We often blasted our stereo out the back yard and every child in the neighborhood learned the words to “Shine”

    However I am not surprised that negative things happened to this man, it seems there is a lot of negativity associated with “success”.

    It’s good to know that things are better for him now.

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