Honoured blues singer/ guitarist Chris Finnen brings new cultural colour to Adelaide's music palette in 1970s

Chris Finnen shared the stage with some of the world's best, including Buddy Guy, Bo Didley, Jimmy Witherspoon, Roy Buchanan, Eric Burdon, Keb Mo, Bob Brozman, Johnny Copeland, The Holmes Brothers, John Mayall and Mavis Staples.

Guitarist and singer Chris Finnen, inducted into the South Australian and New York (blues) music halls of fame, added colour to the Adelaide music palette from the 1970s.

Born in 1952, Finnen was a child guitarist attracted to the blues before he reached his teens. He also began singing, offering an unusual take on his broad blues repertoire, drawing on music as diverse as Indian, Celtic and Native American origins. Finnen blended these forms around a blues core. Finnen, who also plays percussion, lived and worked in Melbourne, Darwin and Perth before settling in Adelaide.

He led the Adelaide blues band Chris Finnen Offering from 1976-1980. (1976: John Appleby drums; Leon Cameron, keys; Chris Finnen - guitar, vocals; Gerry Hill, bass; Tony Lewis, drums; Paul Stacey, guitar; Michael West, Mike Modson. 1977-80: Chris Finnen, guitar, vocals; Joff Bateman, drums; Neil Kowald, keys; Peter Nixon, bass; Dave Pile, drums; Paul Turner, drums.) The group later resurfaced in 1984 as an experimental heavy rock trio. During the late 1980s and early 1990s, it played blues at the Austral Hotel in Rundle Street Adelaide.

In the late 1980s, Finnen also began involvement with the Indo-fusion band, Indian Pacific, working with singer Dyah Singh, and he has also played with Colin Offord’s Great Bowing Company. After winning national and regional guitar awards, Finnen was still touring in the early 2000s, appearing solo and with his blues band, including bass players Dirk Dubois and Michael Winter and drummer John Freeman. He also worked with Phil Manning and Matt Taylor and with guitarist Joe Lang and Sherilee Hawkins.

Finnen performed for the Dalai Lama in 2005, was a guest of the International Expo in Nagoya, Japan, and shared the stage with some of the world's best, including Buddy Guy, Bo Didley, Jimmy Witherspoon, Roy Buchanan, Eric Burdon, Keb Mo, Bob Brozman, Johnny Copeland, The Holmes Brothers, John Mayall and Mavis Staples. He has worked in Australia with Matt Taylor, Phil Manning, Dutch Tilders, Margaret Roadnight, Jeff Lang, Kevin Borich and Colin Offord.

In 2013, Chris was nominated for a Pride of Australia Medal for his work in community and mentoring. He also became patron of the South Australian Blues and Roots Association, performed with long-time friend Phil Manning at the Adelaide International Guitar Festival and won the Derringers Music blues awards' outstanding instrumentalist prize.