Inside The Band: Mahalia Barnes

For Mahalia Barnes, becoming a professional singer was in many ways, inevitable and predestined. She was born on July 12, 1982 in beautiful Sydney, Australia. Mahalia is the daughter to highly popular Australian rock singer and icon, Jimmy Barnes. He is perhaps most well-known for fronting the Australian pub-rock group Cold Chisel. He also has a successful solo career, touring steadily since 1980 and releasing sixteen studio albums. Drawing inspiration and direction from her father, Mahalia began performing and recoding at a very young age. In fact, one of her first few recording studio experiences were with her father on his album “Two Fires.” A chance to showcase her immense talent came in 2012 when she auditioned for Australia’s The Voice, a vocal competition television show.

After composing and recording three albums with her band Mahalia Barnes and the Soul Mates, Mahalia was ready to branch out and attempt something different and close to her heart. The album “Ooh Yeah” is a tribute to Betty Davis, a funk/soul singer who was briefly married to famed jazz trumpeter, Miles Davis. Mahalia, emulating Betty Davis, has a raw, unapologetic grit to her tone that is synonymous with the 70’s funk era. Upon showing the prolific music producer Kevin Shirley a Betty Davis song, he agreed to work with Mahalia on the project. After pitching the idea to him, blues-rock icon, Joe Bonamassa agreed to record the guitar parts for the album. Bonamassa had collaborated with her father Jimmy on a few songs in the past and loved the pureness of Mahalia’s voice. Just from the album’s opener If I’m Lucky I might Get Picked Up with the thunderous drums, groovy rhythm guitar, high octane solos, and screaming vocals, you get a sense of the sheer talent on this album. Mahalia mentions that “Joe made it fresh and exciting for us, and he really kept us on our toes and pushed us harder.”

The two incredible musicians worked together so well that Joe asked Mahalia to sing back-up vocals on his newest studio album “Blues of Desperation,” adding her edgy, soul flare to a few tunes. Joe even invited Mahalia on a few live tours, most recently his 2017 European tour which continues until May 20th. Joe claims that he has “seven of the greatest musicians in the world, including legendary daughter of a legend,” Mahalia Barnes. We are hoping to see more collaborations between Joe and Mahalia in the future!