ABC News (AU)
· collected 2026-09-27 · by Leisa Scott and Ben Cheshire
But since her death in 2013, Chrissy's story has not been told on screen.
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story → tell → screen
In a two-part series, Australian Story discovers the private woman behind the rock star, interviewing original Divinyls members and unearthing behind-the-scenes footage and photos of Chrissy and the band that brought us hits such as I Touch Myself and Pleasure and Pain.
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I → discover → Myself
It also exclusively reveals the story behind three new songs set to be released later this week — songs Chrissy wrote and recorded with singer/songwriter Tim Finn in the years before she died.
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she → reveal → years
Before Chrissy, no Australian female singer had brought her brand of edginess to the stage — picking fights with band members, heckling the audience and channelling a serious "don't mess with me" vibe.
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singer → bring → vibe
Wild male singers were as common as soggy beer coasters in the 1980s pub rock scene; picture the vodka-chugging Jimmy Barnes out front of Cold Chisel or The Angels' Doc Neeson hanging from stage rigging.
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singers → picture → rigging
But it was Chrissy, says record producer Mark Opitz, who "carved a path" and "created an icon ... for Australian music and particularly women in Australian music".
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who → say → music
"She set out just to be good at what she did and just follow her dream," Opitz tells Australian Story.
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Opitz → set → Story
"But in doing so, [she] created this fiercely independent woman that other women in this country — and men — looked up to."
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that → do → country
The voice, the drive was all Chrissy, but without what Opitz calls her on-stage "charisma coat", the girl from Victoria's Geelong was shy and vulnerable.
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girl → call → Geelong
Her cousin, Patricia Amphlett, better known as the girl-next-door 1960s pop singer Little Pattie, says Chrissy's wild persona began as an act, a character she created to overcome her shyness.
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she → know → shyness
"I'm really sad that not many people knew the real Chrissy because I was lucky enough to know how caring, how soft, how sweet she was," she says.
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she → know → Chrissy
But it is a fine line between role-play and reality, and as Chrissy's fame grew, alcohol became a crutch and she started to morph into her on-stage persona.
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she → grow → persona
"It just became part of her," Patricia says, "because of the alcohol."
And the drinking continued after the show.
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drinking → become → show
"She would come off stage dripping with sweat in a elevated state of euphoria, and she would want the party to keep going," says her biographer, Larry Writer.
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biographer → come → euphoria
"So she drank more and more."
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she → drink → ?
In an interview in 2006, Chrissy admitted that, for a while, "alcohol was my everything".
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alcohol → admit → while
"It was my quick fix," she said.
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she → say → ?
"And it was how I coped in the beginning.
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I → cop → beginning
And then it was the only way I knew how to cope."
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I → know → ?
Her addiction came to a head at a tumultuous family Christmas in 1996, and with the support of the man who would become her husband, American drummer Charley Drayton, Chrissy kicked the booze in the late 90s.
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Chrissy → come → 90s
In the early 2000s, Chrissy was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS).
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Chrissy → diagnose → sclerosis
Then, in 2010, she was diagnosed with breast cancer.
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she → diagnose → cancer
She was 53 when she died.
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she → die → ?
"She wanted to be here, but her body gave up on her," Drayton says.
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Drayton → want → her
"That was more disappointing for her than anything … she had a lot more to do, a lot more to say."
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she → have → lot
He is thrilled, however, that the songs Chrissy recorded with Finn — in what Finn calls a "special, definitely magical … and real" collaboration — have been unearthed and will soon hit the airwaves.
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Finn → record → airwaves
Says Finn: "People are going to hear Chrissy Amphlett's voice again.
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People → say → voice
Lost band footage found in storage
The whirr of a film projector fills the darkened room, and suddenly there they are: the fresh-faced Divinyls band members on the rooftop of a building in Sydney, circa 1982.
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they → lose → 1982
Chrissy walks past the camera and pokes her tongue out, goofing off between takes for the video clip for Only Lonely, Divinyls' second single after their debut hit, Boys in Town.
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Chrissy → walk → Town
Now, as Bjarne Ohlin, the band's original keyboardist/guitarist, watches the film for the first time in decades, he is transfixed.
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he → watch → decades
"It's fabulous," he says of the Super 8 footage he filmed and only recently discovered in storage.
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he → say → storage
We had a record contract, and music was being released overseas.
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music → have → contract
We were about to tour.
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We → tour → ?
It all began as the brainchild of Jeremy Paul, a former bass player with the soft rock sensation Air Supply, who brought together two musos he respected — Chrissy and guitarist Mark McEntee.
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he → begin → musos
As Chrissy delved into her "adventurous" teenage years, the duo began songwriting, and Boys in Town emerged.
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Boys → delve → Town
Soon after, it arrived on the desk of record producer Mark Opitz.
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it → arrive → Opitz
"The sound really caught my ear through its intensity, its energy," he says.
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he → catch → intensity
"[She's] expressing frustration," Opitz says.
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Opitz → express → frustration
"She'd had enough; she actually says, 'Get me out of here.
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she → have → me
I've had enough of this.
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I → have → this
…and 75 more, not listed.
The Aporia
