Jesse Fink (born 1973) is a British-Australian author of five books including twin biographies of the hard-rock band AC/DC (The Youngs: The Brothers Who Built AC/DC and Bon: The Last Highway).[1] His books have been translated into several languages, including Spanish, Portuguese, Japanese, German and French.
Jesse Fink | |
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Born | 1973 (age 48–49) London, United Kingdom |
Occupation | Author |
Period | 2007–present |
Genre | Nonfiction |
Website | |
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Born in London, United Kingdom, Fink was educated at schools in Sydney, Australia. He attended the University of Technology, majoring in journalism.
Fink began his writing career in sports journalism, working as an editor of sports and nonfiction titles for the Australian arm of book publisher HarperCollins and later as a deputy editor of Inside Sport. In 2003, he was nominated for a Walkley Award for a feature about the sports memorabilia industry. It was included in the Black Inc. anthology The Best Australian Sportswriting 2004,[2] as was "Safari Politics", a feature on trophy hunting. Another Inside Sport feature, "Silent Witness", about mental illness among high-performance athletes, won an Australian Sports Commission Media Award.
Fink left Inside Sport magazine to work as a soccer writer for Fox Sports Australia in 2006. In 2007, under the moniker Half-Time Orange, he began writing soccer columns for SBS Television's The World Game website as well as columns for ESPN Star Sports (later Fox Sports Asia) in Singapore, Tribal Football and The Roar.
In 2011 SBS informed Fink his contract would not be renewed[3] after an editorial disagreement with late network anchor Les Murray over what he alleged was interference from Murray in his critical reporting of Australia's 2022 World Cup bid and general commentary on Football Federation Australia.[4] Fink appeared on ABC Television's 7.30[5] to give his side of the story and in a number of online editorials, including Qatari network Al Jazeera,[6] accused then-FIFA Ethics Committee member Murray of conflict of interest in his SBS position.[7]
In 2007 Fink published his first book, 15 Days in June, the story of the Socceroos at the 2006 FIFA World Cup. It was re-released by Xoum Publishing in a special e-book edition [8] before the 2014 FIFA World Cup under the new title World Party. Socceroos star Tim Cahill wrote the foreword.[9] In 2021, the book was chosen for the Untapped project and digital and print editions under the original title were released by Ligature.[10]
After battling severe obsessive-compulsive disorder and a marriage breakup, Fink had become "grotesquely fat", developed an addiction to antidepressants and sex. Fink also admits to contemplating suicide often around this time of his life.[11]
In 2012 Fink published his second book, Laid Bare: One Man’s Story of Sex, Love and Other Disorders (Hachette Australia), a memoir of divorce, dating[12], and his sex addiction[13][14]. It was re-published in 2017 by Xoum Publishing (which changed its name to Brio Books in 2018). His writing on relationships regularly appeared in News Limited's Sunday Style magazine.[15]
His third book, The Youngs: The Brothers Who Built AC/DC, a ‘critical appreciation’ of Angus Young, George Young and Malcolm Young, was named one of Public Radio International's The World Books of the Year in 2014.[16] The New Yorker called it "an essential read for fans of the band".[17]
Fink's fourth book, Bon: The Last Highway, was a biography of deceased AC/DC singer Bon Scott. Bon was the cover story in the December 2017 issue of Classic Rock. In the book, Fink concludes that Scott died of a heroin overdose and not the official cause: acute alcohol poisoning. He also addresses and provides new information regarding the conspiracy theory[18] [19] [20][21] that Scott contributed uncredited lyrics to the AC/DC album Back In Black. Fink later responded to comments made by AC/DC singer Brian Johnson in Rolling Stone magazine about the lyrics issue.[22] It was the first time Johnson had publicly addressed Fink's claims that Bon Scott was an uncredited contributor of lyrics to the Back in Black album[23]. Updated editions of the book were released in Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States.[24]
In 2020 Penguin Books Australia announced it was releasing his fifth book, Pure Narco, the life story of Cuban-American cocaine trafficker Luis Antonio Navia, and Navia's criminal career working for the Colombian and Mexican cartels. It was published in the United Kingdom by John Blake and the United States by Rowman & Littlefield.[25]
Fink has one daughter and is divorced. Fink wrote about his 10-year marriage in Laid Bare.
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