Arabic version: كريس مارتن يحيّي جون فارنهام بأغنية أصلية

According to ABC News, Coldplay frontman Chris Martin was beamed into a sold-out John Farnham tribute concert at Melbourne’s Rod Laver Arena, where he performed an original song, A Better Singer Than Me. The charity concert brought international and Australian performers together to celebrate Farnham’s career and raise money for head and neck cancer.

Martin apologised for being unable to attend in person and sent Farnham his love before introducing the song. He said cricket great Shane Warne had told him about Farnham’s talent. Martin’s lyrics recalled travelling with Warne to Victorian communities affected by the Black Saturday bushfires in 2009, when Warne played him a mixtape and told him that Farnham was a better singer.

The song also referenced the 2009 Sound Relief concert at the SCG, where Farnham performed You’re the Voice backed by Coldplay to raise funds for bushfire-affected communities. Martin sang that Natalie Imbruglia had suggested Farnham would be the better person to lead a relief show.

Farnham, 77, was unable to attend the Melbourne concert because of deteriorating health, his family said in a weekend statement. His son, James Farnham, called Martin’s original song a “wild” surprise in a social media post, saying he knew Martin was involved but did not know what he would do. Jessica Mauboy, John Stevens, Jack Jones, Mahalia Barnes and Human Nature opened the concert with a medley of Farnham songs, while Hugh Jackman and Celine Dion were also beamed in from overseas to perform songs that had inspired them.