Mahalia Violet Barnes (born 12 July 1982) is an Australian singer-songwriter, the daughter of Australian rock singer Jimmy Barnes and Jane Mahoney. She began performing as part of children’s pop group The Tin Lids with siblings, Eliza-Jane, Elly-May and Jackie, but has since become a session and backup singer in her own right.
Biography
Mahalia Violet Barnes was born on 12 July 1982 in Sydney. She is the daughter of Jimmy Barnes (born James Swan, 28 April 1956 Glasgow, Scotland) an Australian rock singer, and Jane Mahoney (born Jane Dejakasaya, 1958, Bangkok, Thailand), the stepdaughter of an Australian diplomat. The pair married in Sydney on 22 May 1981, Barnes was named after United States gospel singer, Mahalia Jackson. Barnes has three full siblings, Eliza-Jane Barnes, Elly-may Barnes and Jackie Barnes, who formed the group Tin Lids with Barnes in 1991. Barnes also has an older half-brother, David Campbell (born 6 August 1973, Adelaide), fathered by Jimmy.
Barnes performs regular live gigs around Australia and also backs other artists including R&B singer Jade MacRae, live Sydney band The Hands (whose members include session musicians Clayton and Lachlan Doley) and her father Jimmy. She has worked for MacRae, The Hands, Jimmy (including a duet, “Gonna Take Some Time”, which was released as the second single from his album Double Happiness), Gary Pinto and her uncle Johnny Diesel (married to Jane’s sister).
Her debut album Volume 1 with the Soul Mates was released in June 2008.
Barnes auditioned for the first season of the Australian version of The Voice with the song “Proud Mary”, the episode of which was broadcast on 22 April 2012 on the Nine Network. All coaches pressed their buttons (the first was Keith Urban), then realised that she was in fact Jimmy Barnes’ daughter. Mahalia chose to join Joel Madden’s team. Mahalia was eliminated in the battle ring when she was pitted against Prinnie Stevens, who is very close to Mahalia.
