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\n\tThe late Chris \u201cCM\u201d Murphy, the enigmatic entrepreneur who guided the career of INXS<\/a>, and mapped out a raft of projects which kept their music alive, well after the band had called time on touring or creating new music, is posthumously awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM).<\/p>\n \n\tMurphy, who died in January 2021<\/a> following a battle with cancer<\/a>, is awarded for \u201cservice to the performing arts through music,\u201d and is one of 1,042 Australians recognized \u201cfor distinguished and conspicuous service\u201d on Australia Day, Jan. 26.<\/p>\n \n\tMurphy managed the new wave legends from 1979 until 1995, and again in the 2000s \u2013 following the death of frontman Michael Hutchence.<\/p>\n \n\tFormed in Western Australia in 1977, INXS summited the mountain that is popular music with six U.K. top 10 albums (including a No. 1 with Welcome To Wherever You Are<\/em> from 1992) and five U.S. top 20 albums, a BRIT Award (in 1991 for best international group) and, in 2001, elevation into the ARIA Hall of Fame.<\/p>\n \n\tThe band\u2019s journey was tragically derailed by the 1997 death of Hutchence, at the age of just 37, though INXS continued with replacement singers. The end of the road came in 2012<\/a> with a show in Perth, where the group\u2019s journey began all those years ago.<\/p>\n \n\tIt was Murphy who saw a golden future \u2014 and opportunity \u2014 for INXS and its catalog, which didn\u2019t rely on performance or new music.<\/p>\n \n\tThrough a combination of strategic music releases, remixes, film, exhibitions, merch, media partnerships and more, INXS would become the biggest-selling act in Australia in 2014, a full two years after the band played its final gig. Indeed, the band\u2019s best-of collection from 2011 was the best-selling album by a homegrown act in Australia last year<\/a>. <\/p>\n \n\tThe surviving members of INXS last year reunited in Sydney to launch Calling All Nations<\/em>, a 400-plus \u201clove letter\u201d created by a global fanbase and the band<\/a>, and released through a partnership of Murphy\u2019s Petrol Records, UMe, uDiscover Music and This Day In Music Books.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cChris was hungry,\u201d recounted founding saxophone player and guitarist Kirk Pengilly during that rare reunion. \u201cHe just took no prisoners\u201d.<\/p>\n \n\tOther music industry standouts named in the Australia Day 2024 Honours List include Milly Petriella<\/a>, managing director of Milk and Honey\u2019s operations in Australia and New Zealand, who is lauded with an OAM for \u201cservice to music and the performing arts.\u201d That service included a 27-year stint as director, member relations and partnerships at APRA AMCOS, from 1995 to 2022, where she earned a reputation for moving mountains for the PRO\u2019s members. <\/p>\n \n\tDuring her time at APRA AMCOS, Petriella founded the Vanda and Young Global Songwriting Competition, which has raised over A$2 million for Nordoff-Robbins since its launch in 2009; served as creative producer of the APRA Music Awards; championed the SongHubs program; administered the society\u2019s Ambassador program; the Professional Development Awards; the Women In Music Mentorship program; the Vanda and Young Global Songwriting Competition; and grew its Los Angeles, London and Nashville as director, Global Music Export Offices. <\/p>\n \n\tOthers music figures feted today include Dennis Burgess, chairman of the Australian Songwriters Association and patron of the Association of Artist Managers, who earns an OAM \u201cfor service to the performing arts, and to the music industry\u201d; John Foreman OAM, the musical director, event director, pianist and composer, who now receives an AM; and Max Lambert, the composer and musical director for the 2000 Sydney Olympics, and ARIA Award winner for The Boy From Oz<\/em> (2000) and Playschool<\/em> (1998), who receives an AM.<\/p>\n \n\tRead the full list here<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n