Kirk Pengilly

Kirk Pengilly ( ; born 4 July 1958) is an Australian musician and member of the Australian rock group INXS. Pengilly plays saxophone and guitar, and also performs as a backing vocalist.

Early career Pengilly moved to Sydney in 1966, and became best friends with fellow band member Tim Farriss with whom he attended Forest High School. Their first band Guinness, formed in 1971, was a high school band in which Pengilly was the principal songwriter and lead singer. The band included American David Stewart on pedal-steel guitar and Malcolm Walker on drums, and was named after bass player Steve Spencer's dog. Guinness played a style of music inspired by progressive rock bands like Yes, Pink Floyd, Emerson Lake and Palmer and Gentle Giant, as well as Bruce Springsteen and Jimmy Buffett.

Mixing country rock and the concert style of rock music worked well for a while, and the band enjoyed some success on Sydney's Northern Beaches and Sydney city venues like Chequers, Frenchs and others. However, the music was not commercially successful and the band struggled to gain a steady following. In late 1976, the group disbanded when David Stewart returned to America. Malcolm played in the club scene with a number of bands, while Steven embarked upon a career as a sound technician in the UK.

INXS

The Farriss Brothers band was formed in 1977, subsequently changing the band name to INXS in 1979. In the band, Pengilly played guitar and saxophone and provided backing vocals. He co-wrote several songs, including "Don't Change", "By My Side", "Listen Like Thieves", and "Just Keep Walking".

Pengilly was also the band's spokesperson and archivist, logging daily entries in diaries that date back to the beginning of INXS.

INXS toured the world, with highlights including playing to 250,000 people at the US Festival in California in 1983, performing for Prince Charles and Princess Diana in Melbourne in 1985, playing with Queen at Wembley Stadium in 1986, headlining the Rock in Rio festival where they played to over 150,000 people in 1991, headlining their own concert to 75,000 people at Wembley Stadium, also in 1991, and headlining the HFStival in 1993. The band received three Grammy nominations and were inducted into the Australian ARIA Hall of Fame.

Pengilly stated that Michael Hutchence's death in 1997 came as a major shock because Hutchence was in "a great place" and believes it was an accident. After Hutchence's death, INXS continued playing with various singers before disbanding in 2012. In December 1993, Pengilly married singer Deni Hines. The marriage lasted ten months, and the two parted ways in early 1995.

Pengilly is married to seven-time world women's champion professional surfer, Layne Beachley. Their relationship started after a date set up by mutual friend, Jon Stevens. After a seven-year courtship, they were married in a private ceremony on 10 October 2010 at their South Coast home in New South Wales. They renewed their wedding vows in 2014 after Layne had lost her wedding ring whilst surfing. In 2020, they celebrated their 10-year wedding anniversary with a trip to the Blue Mountains and stated that the pandemic lockdown helped to bring them closer together.

Pengilly is an ambassador of Glaucoma Australia, after experiencing glaucoma in 1987 at the age of 29. Pengilly underwent surgery for aggressive prostate cancer in 2015 after indications of the condition started in 2014. After the surgery, he was approached by Movember to become their Key Ambassador and still helps with their Campaigns, etc., every year. Pengilly plays Stratocasters as well as SG1820 Yamaha guitars after being influenced by hearing Carlos Santana playing one.