She then recorded a duet with lead singer, Michael Hutchence, on a cover of Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazlewood's hit "Jackson"; it was included as a bonus track on the March 1985 (cassette only) INXS EP, Dekadance, which reached number two on the Australian Kent Music Report Albums Chart.
Jenny Morris was born in Tokoroa, New Zealand, and grew up in Hamilton with three brothers (Alistair, Rhys and Tam) and four sisters (Maxine, Bronte, Joanne and Shanley).
[17] Wide Mouthed Frogs worked with the Spats' members: drummer Bruno Lawrence sometimes played saxophone for them and keyboardist Peter Dasent became their musical director.
In February 1981, following a repeat performance at the Sweetwaters Festival,[22] The Crocodiles moved to Sydney, at the behest of their manager, Chunn, with new band members, Barton Price (drums), Rick 'Rikki' Morris (guitar) and Jonathan Zwartz (bass) only to disband in July.
[4][28] In late 1983, Morris formed QED in Sydney with guitarist Rex Goh (ex-Air Supply) and bassist Ian Belton (ex-Dave Dobbyn, Renée Geyer).
[27] Additional musicians for QED's first album, Animal Magic, included keyboardist Amanda Vincent (Eurogliders, later joined the Jenny Morris band), drummer Steve Fearnly, saxophonist Tony Buchanan, and Fataar on drums.
[4][27] QED only released one album and disbanded by 1985, Morris continued session and touring work with other artists, Belton went on to Mondo Rock, and Goh to Eurogliders.
[33][34] At Murphy's suggestion she teamed with INXS as a backing singer on their 1985 Australian tour—originally just for a few weeks—and stayed on for eighteen months on their 1985–1986 Listen Like Thieves World Tour.
[6][31] Morris recorded and, in November 1985, released her first single for Warner Entertainment Australia (WEA), "Get Some Humour", with a contribution from Dave Dobbyn, which reached the top 100.
[4][27] During the US leg of the Listen Like Thieves World Tour, in January 1986, Morris recorded "You're Gonna Get Hurt", which was written and produced by INXS songwriter and keyboardist, Andrew Farriss.
[31][35] Recorded with backing from INXS' Andrew and Jon Farriss and Garry Gary Beers, together with guitarist Ian Moss (ex-Cold Chisel), it was released in September and peaked at number 24.
[27] In 1986 she performed on The Rock Party's Everything to Live For, a charity project initiated by The National Campaign Against Drug Abuse (NCADA), which included many Australasian musicians such as Big Pig's Sherine Abeyratne; Crowded House's Neil Finn, Tim Finn, Paul Hester, Eddie Rayner and Nick Seymour; Dynamic Hepnotics' Robert Susz; GANGgajang's Mark Callaghan, Robbie James and Geoff Stapleton; Paul Kelly & the Coloured Girls' Michael Barclay and Paul Kelly; Mental As Anything's Reg Mombassa and Martin Plaza; Models' Sean Kelly; The Promise's Greg Herbert; Rockmelons' Mary Azzopardi, Peter Blakeley and Danny De Costa; The Venetians' Rick Swinn; Vitabeats' Andrew Barnum and Lissa Barnum; and Deborah Conway, Spencer P. Jones, and John Kennedy.
[44] On 28 March 1992 Morris performed at the Concert for Life at Centennial Park in Sydney[31]—a fund raiser for the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Centre—with Crowded House, Def FX, Diesel, INXS, Ratcat and Yothu Yindi.
[53] In November, The Best of Jenny Morris: The Story So Far, a best-of compilation was released, it included "Jackson" which was performed as a duet with Michael Hutchence and INXS on a 1985 Countdown episode, and a re-recorded version of an old The Crocodiles' hit "Tears".
Salvation Jane was released in July 1995, nearly four years after her last album, and featured some of her strongest vocal work, including the languid "Rhythm and Flow," with its Aboriginal influences.
[57] Morris made an appearance in the television drama, Water Rats, in 1997[58] she continued her gigs, worked for environmental causes[59] and maintained her family life.
It's a collage of all my influences really.Morris wrote or co-wrote nine of the eleven songs on the album, the others, "Guiding Star", was written by Neil Finn and "The Blacksmith" is a traditional folk song—the first one she learnt on guitar.
The music video for "Downtime" featured a number of well-known Australian actors, including Hugo Weaving, Bryan Brown, Matt Newton and Peter Fenton, miming the words to the song.
[67] In October Morris appeared in Finding Joy,[68] a low budget independent Australian feature film, in a cameo role (Tracey).
[71] In March 2003, Port Fairy's 27th Annual Folk Festival[72] was staged with Archie Roach, John Williamson, Renée Geyer, Morris and emerging Australian band The Waifs were among the popular performers.
[74] In April 2004, Listen: The Very Best of Jenny Morris a repackaging of her 1992 compilation, The Story So Far, was issued with new artwork and a bonus track, "Little Little", an ode to her then unborn baby.
[12] In May 2005, the Alive DVD was released,[75] it was recorded in Sydney at The Basement and features Morris playing her hits with her band: Steve Balbi (Noiseworks); Paul Searles (Skunkhour); James Hasselwood (The Dissociatives); Jared Underwood (Coda) and actor Josh Quong Tart, with special guest appearances from Ian Moss, Andrew Farriss and Midnight Oil drummer Rob Hirst.
[78][79] In October, she appeared on the SBS TV quiz show, RocKwiz, which included a performance of the Crowded House classic, "It's Only Natural", with Don McGlashan.
[85][86] On 22 February 2016, The Australian Taxation Office initiated insolvency proceedings for her company Aymsolo Pty Ltd (aka Jenny Morris Band.
)[87] In May 2017, Morris was the recipient of the Excellence in the Community award in recognition of her achievements behind the microphone and as a fundraiser for charities such as Nordoff-Robbins Music Therapy Australia and Support Act.
The ceremony took place in Sydney with a number of guests'; including Neil Finn, Mark Lizotte and Jimmy Barnes performing Morris' songs.
[89] In May 2021, Morris was cast in the upcoming superhero film Thor: Love and Thunder, set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, in an undisclosed role.
She has two brothers: Tam (a storyboard artist and musician) and Rhys (a graphic designer and web developer),[9] and four sisters: Maxine, Bronte, Joanne and Shanley.