Three 'Lost' Chrissy Amphlett Songs Unearthed in a Garage Will Finally Be Heard

More than ten years after her passing, fans of Australian rock legend Chrissy Amphlett are about to hear her voice in a way they never expected. Three songs the singer recorded in 1998 — long believed to have vanished — have been recovered and will be released to the public on Friday.

The tracks will arrive as an EP titled "Some Times." For admirers of Amphlett, who died in 2013 at the age of 53, the release represents an unexpected final chapter in a career that helped define Australian rock music for a generation.

Amphlett was best known as the trailblazing frontwoman of the band Divinyls. Her husky, instantly recognisable voice and magnetic stage presence made her one of the most compelling performers of her era. She fronted the group alongside guitarist Mark McEntee, and together they produced a string of hits that spanned more than a decade.

Among those hits was "I Touch Myself," which reached number one in 1990 and became the band's signature song worldwide. Earlier releases, including "Pleasure and Pain" in 1985 and "Boys in Town" in 1981, established the group's reputation and showcased Amphlett's raw, theatrical performance style.

The newly discovered recordings date back to a period of significant personal and creative change for the singer. In 1998, Amphlett was navigating life after her relationship with McEntee had ended following a turbulent romance. According to the ABC documentary programme "Australian Story," she was also growing closer to drummer Charley Drayton during this time. The pair would eventually marry.

It was against this backdrop that Amphlett teamed up with Tim Finn, the former lead singer of the New Zealand band Split Enz. Finn recalled the Sydney recording session in an interview with the documentary programme, describing it as a meaningful moment for both artists.

Finn said the timing of their collaboration was fortunate because Amphlett was searching for something new and different musically. Over the course of several days, the two wrote three songs together before heading into the studio to record them, with Drayton providing the drumming.

The sessions left a strong impression on Finn, who spoke admiringly of Amphlett's dedication. He described her as intensely focused and determined to get every detail right, adding that he felt he was in the presence of great talent and great charisma.

Finn also explained what drew him to reach out to Amphlett in the first place. In a social media post on Monday about the 1998 session, he said he had long been a great admirer of her work. Although the two had never met before, he said they immediately felt a bond and a camaraderie rooted in their shared history as former lead singers of two brilliant bands.

When the recording sessions came to an end, Finn took the tapes home with the intention of continuing work on them. However, as he put it, the songs were never fully realised, and the project drifted into limbo for years.

The breakthrough came in 2023, when Drayton contacted Finn to ask about the 1998 recordings. Finn decided to search for the material and made a remarkable discovery in his own garage: the original two-inch tape, still in perfect condition despite the passage of a quarter of a century.

In his social media post, Finn admitted he had assumed the recordings were lost to the universe. Instead, he wrote, they were found remarkably intact, allowing the team to finally share the songs with listeners. He described the tracks as incredibly important to himself, to Drayton, and to those who were close to Amphlett.

The recovery of the tape is a notable example of how fragile musical history can be. Analog recordings from the 1990s were often stored on bulky reels that could degrade, be discarded, or simply be forgotten in the chaos of everyday life. The fact that this tape survived in playable condition is fortunate, and it means the performances captured on it can now be preserved and distributed digitally for future generations.

For fans, the EP offers a rare glimpse of an artist in transition. The 1998 recordings capture Amphlett at a moment when she was moving away from the band that made her famous and exploring a new creative partnership. That context gives the songs an added emotional weight, particularly for those who have followed her career closely.

Amphlett's death in 2013 prompted an outpouring of tributes from across the music world. The singer had continued to be a cultural touchstone in Australia long after Divinyls stopped recording, and her influence on later generations of female rock performers has been widely acknowledged.

The release of "Some Times" also highlights the role that bandmates and collaborators often play in safeguarding an artist's legacy. In this case, it was Drayton's initiative in reaching out to Finn that set the recovery process in motion, years after the original sessions had ended.

Finn's account of the rediscovery has resonated on social media, where he reflected on the importance of the material and the shared history behind it. His words suggest that the project was not simply about releasing unreleased music, but about honouring a friendship and a creative moment that meant a great deal to those involved.

When the EP arrives on Friday, it will give longtime fans and newer listeners alike the chance to hear three songs that were almost lost forever. For an artist whose voice once filled stadiums and whose presence commanded stages around the world, it is a fitting final gift — one that arrived, unexpectedly, from a garage.