Michael Kelland Hutchence

January 22, 1960  - - -  November 22, 1997

An icon of the alternative music scene in the 1980s, he was the lead singer of the successful band INXS.   Hutchence had spent time in Southern California with his mother and soon joined a band.  They relocated back to Australia.  Michael was known for his substance abuse and womanizing, but he always held it together onstage to please his fans.   When taking a break from music, he was considered a great actor.  

His father, Kelland Hutchence (Kell) is a successful Sydney businessman who lives near Double Bay in Bellevue Hill, a neighborhood of mansions overlooking Sydney Harbour which is home to some of Australia's richest.  His father dined with him for the last time that evening.  Later that early morning his son would be found dead by a hotel maid.

In 1992 he was suffering from depression and prescribed Prozac after after a bicycle accident.  While riding home from a nightclub in Copenhagen, an altercation with a taxi driver resulted in him falling and hitting head on the pavement. The result was a fractured skull along with severed nerves that left him with only about 10% of his senses of taste and smell. 

He was dating British television host Paula Yates who had also been a Penthouse model.  She was in the middle of a messy custody battle over her 3 daughters, and Michael was caught in the middle.  The night of his death there were several phone calls he made, including afuedal phone call with Sir Robert Geldof at 5:30 a.m.   A few hours later he was found hung by his own belt in the Ritz Carlton Hotel Sidney, Double Bay, Australia.  There was presence of alcohol, cocaine, Prozac and other prescription drugs in his blood at the time of suicide at age 37.   While the coroner ruled out foul play and auto-erotocism (Hutchence was known for his kinky sexual habits), many felt that he was in good spirits and this was a sexual experiment.  Others say the drugs, loss of senses, the battle with Geldof and decline of the popularity of INXS ultimately caused his death.

At the time of his death there was a 20th Anniversary tour of the band scheduled and the group had been in rehearsals. Hutchence had dated many beautiful women including Kylie Minogue and supermodel Helena Christensen, the last being Paula Yates, from which they had their daughter Heavenly Hiraani Tiger Lily in 1996.  While his estate was valued at over $30 Million, he was technically bankrupt due to the nature of the investments.

For More Official Information, Please Visit... www.inxs.com

  

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