Glenn Wheatley Audiobook Recorded Before Passing To Be Released Next Month

Two months after his passing, it has been announced that a new edition and audiobook of Australian music industry legend and FM radio pioneer Glenn Wheatley’s bestselling memoir Paper Paradise will be released next month.

It’s been revealed that one of Wheatley’s final projects was the audiobook, which he recorded late last year and will be released on May 19.

Paper Paradise tells the story of “the man behind the music who broke into America with Little River Band, reinvented John Farnham with Whispering Jack, and brought FM radio to Australia”.

“I have always loved his speaking voice and it doesn’t disappoint in this,” Glenn’s wife Gaynor said. 

“He was never happier than when he had ten balls in the air, with the hope of catching just one.”

The new edition will feature a foreword from Glenn’s son Tim, who has also recorded a cover of The Master’s Apprentices’ Because I Love You (lifted from his forthcoming EP) to accompany the audiobook.

“To know that I have his voice telling his life story, has left me with an odd sense of relief,” Tim said. 

“The fact my old man took it upon himself to record his first book to audio a month before he passed didn’t really surprise me because he was always so sentimental. But there’s no way he would have been happy just telling the first part. So indeed, finishing the rest of his story is something we need to do. He has already done the hard part."

Wheatley passed away earlier this year from COVID complications, ending a five-plus decade career that helped transform the music scene. 

Beginning his career in the '60s as the bass player in seminal Australian rock act The Master's Apprentices, he went on to become one of Australia's best-known music managers.