Wheatley engineered one of music's great comebacks, when he connected Farnham with "You're The Voice," a protest song written by Chris Thompson, Andy Qunta, Maggie Ryder and Keith Reid.

Glenn Wheatley, the former musician who earned a place in the ARIA Hall of Fame with The Masters Apprentices before pivoting into artist management, whereupon he guided some of Australia’s most successful recording artists, including John Farnham, Little River Band and Delta Goodrem, has died at the age of 74.

The music man was reportedly hospitalized with COVID-19 prior to his death Tuesday (Feb. 1) in Melbourne.

It was Wheatley who put all his chips on Farnham in the mid-‘80s, when the singer’s own chips were down. Wheatley engineered one of music’s great comebacks by connecting Farnham with “You’re The Voice,” a protest song written by Chris Thompson, Andy Qunta, Maggie Ryder and Keith Reid.

He presented it to Farnham, a ‘60s pop star who had replaced Glenn Shorrock in Little River Band before himself departing, and was, at the time, hunkered down in Bulleen, an unremarkable town in regional Victoria.

“I ended up mortgaging my house, putting everything on the line because no one else was going to pay for it, but I knew we had something,” Wheatley recounted in a 2020 interview for the Australian Music Vault.

That something was Whispering Jack, a collection that logged 25 weeks at No. 1 on the ARIA Albums Chart following its release in October 1986, and remains the highest-selling album by a homegrown artist in Australian chart history, shifting more than 1.7 million units. It was said that one-in-four Australian homes had a copy of the album. “You’re The Voice” gave Farnham his first No. 1 for 17 years, and it would impact charts around the globe.

Wheatley repeated the feat when he guided the early career of Delta Goodrem, who, like so many pop singers before her, had achieved cult status on the soap Neighbours. Goodrem’s debut album Innocent Eyes was a sales juggernaut, logging a then-record 29 weeks atop the ARIA Albums Chart, and winning ARIA Awards for highest-selling album in both 2003 and 2004.

Born in Brisbane, Queensland, the son of a truck driver, Wheatley got his break with the local blues-rock outfit Bay City Union, whose frontman Matt Taylor would later front breakout blues outfit Chain.

In the late 1960s, Wheatley co-founded The Masters Apprentices, whose output included the hit singles “Turn Up Your Radio,” “Because I Love You” and the 1971 album Choice Cuts, recorded at London’s iconic Abbey Road Studios. The Masters Apprentices would call it a day in 1972, after a whirlwind four-year span during which they would become one of the country’s leading rock bands. Their popularity was confirmed in 1998 with elevation into the ARIA Hall of Fame.

A serial entrepreneur, he established the Wheatley Organisation in 1975, founded Eon FM in 1981, was founding director of Triple M Network in 1989, and, in 2017, Wheatley’s Talentworks struck a joint venture with Sony Music to form Talentworks Parade.

If Wheatley tasted the trappings of fame as bass player with The Masters Apprentices, his profile would climb further as an artist manager. Wheatley became a household name in Australia, a rare achievement for a music industry professional.

It would all come unstuck in 2007 when Wheatley was charged with tax evasion. He would serve a 15-month jail term, and five months more home detention.

Speaking at the 2009 Bigsound conference in his hometown, Wheatley discussed his mistake. “When a deal sounds too good to be true, it is,” he said. “I took advice from a lawyer on how to avoid tax. It was bad advice.”

Wheatley is survived by his wife Gaynor Martin and three children.

As news of his death broke early Wednesday, the Australian entertainment industry remembered a whip-smart exec with great ears, who would give time to people who asked for it.

Farnham led tributes, remarking that Wheatley was a one-off. “Devastating news… there are no words, our hearts are broken,” he tweeted. “Our love and thoughts to all who loved Glenn, especially his family… he was one of a kind, special to so many.”

Goodrem wrote, “Glenn impacted the lives of so many, including mine. I will always remember him calling my family about my music after hearing a demo CD from when I was just 13 years old. What followed was many treasured memories. I am forever grateful for our time together in my early career. May he Rest In Peace. All my love and prayers are with his family at this time.”