Jimmy Barnes: Children Timeline and Family Tree

Jimmy Barnes has one of the most complex and widely discussed family stories in Australian music. Over several decades the singer became the father of eight children from a mix of early relationships and his long marriage to Jane Mahoney. Several of them grew up around music and later built careers in the industry themselves.

This guide brings together publicly known information about the Barnes family. Using interviews, biographies, and widely reported details, it outlines the timeline of his children, identifies their mothers, and explains how the extended family developed over time.

How many children does Jimmy Barnes have?

Jimmy Barnes has eight children in total. Four were born during his marriage to Jane Mahoney, while four others were born from earlier relationships before or around the early years of his career.

His children are David Campbell, Amanda Bennett, Megan Torzyn, an unnamed daughter from an early relationship, and four children with Jane Mahoney: Mahalia Barnes, Jackie Barnes, Elly-May Barnes, and Eliza-Jane Barnes.

Several of the Barnes children later pursued music or entertainment careers. The most well-known is David Campbell, who became a successful singer and television presenter, while Mahalia, Jackie, Elly-May, and Eliza-Jane all worked professionally in music.

Jimmy Barnes children

The timeline and family tree of Jimmy Barnes’s children are based on information from biographies, interviews, and widely reported family details. Birth dates and parentage for the children he had with Jane Mahoney are well documented, while details about children from earlier relationships come mainly from Barnes’s own accounts and later paternity confirmations.

David Campbell (1973)

David Campbell was born in 1973 to Jimmy Barnes and his teenage girlfriend Kim Campbell. The couple were extremely young and facing difficult circumstances at the time, so David was largely raised by his maternal grandmother and was initially told he had been adopted. Barnes later formed a strong relationship with him as an adult. David went on to become a major Australian entertainer, working as a singer, actor, and television presenter.

Amanda Bennett (c. 1979)

Amanda Bennett is one of Barnes’s daughters from an early relationship before his marriage. Barnes did not know she was his child for many years. They first met around 2010 after paternity was confirmed, and Barnes publicly welcomed her into the family. Her story reflects how parts of the singer’s early life only became clear decades later.

Megan Torzyn (c. early 1980s)

Megan Torzyn is another daughter from Barnes’s early relationships during the beginning of his music career. Like Amanda Bennett, she was not raised by Barnes and only later connected with him after paternity testing confirmed the relationship. Barnes has since acknowledged her as part of his extended family.

Unnamed daughter (early 1980s)

Barnes has also acknowledged another daughter from an early relationship whose details have largely remained private. Public sources mention her when discussing the full number of Barnes’s children, but her name and birth date have not been widely reported. Her inclusion brings the total number of Barnes’s children to eight.

Mahalia Barnes (1982)

Mahalia Barnes was born in 1982 to Jimmy Barnes and his wife Jane Mahoney, whom he married in 1981. Growing up in a musical household, she developed her own career as a soul and blues singer. She first appeared publicly as a child in the family band The Tin Lids alongside some of her siblings before later forming Mahalia Barnes & The Soul Mates.

Jackie Barnes (1984)

Jackie Barnes was born in 1984 to Jimmy Barnes and Jane Mahoney. He became a professional drummer and multi-instrumentalist who has worked with several Australian artists. Like his sisters, he appeared in The Tin Lids as a child before continuing his music career as an adult.

Elly-May Barnes (1986)

Elly-May Barnes, born in 1986, is another of the four children Barnes had with Jane Mahoney. She grew up around the Australian rock scene and performed with her siblings in The Tin Lids during the early 1990s. As an adult she has continued to work as a singer and performer.

Eliza-Jane Barnes (1989)

Eliza-Jane Barnes was born in 1989 and is the youngest of Jimmy Barnes and Jane Mahoney’s four children. She also followed the family’s musical path, releasing her own material and building a career as a singer-songwriter. Her 2024 album No Good brought renewed attention to the Barnes family’s next generation of musicians.

The mothers of Jimmy Barnes’s children

Jimmy Barnes’s children were born to several different mothers across different periods of his life. His longest and most stable relationship has been with Jane Mahoney, whom he married in 1981. Together they had four children: Mahalia, Jackie, Elly-May, and Eliza-Jane.

Before that marriage, Barnes had several earlier relationships during his youth and the early years of his music career. His eldest child, David Campbell, was born to Kim Campbell in 1973. Other daughters, including Amanda Bennett and Megan Torzyn, were born from relationships during the same period and were only later confirmed as Barnes’s children.

These relationships created a large blended family that gradually came together over time. Barnes has spoken openly in interviews about reconnecting with some of his children later in life and building relationships with them as adults.

Jimmy Barnes grandchildren

As his children grew older, Jimmy Barnes also became a grandfather. Several of his children now have families of their own, particularly David Campbell and Mahalia Barnes. Through them, Barnes has welcomed multiple grandchildren into the extended Barnes family.

Although Barnes became famous for his intense rock-and-roll career, his later life has increasingly focused on family. The singer often speaks about the importance of his children and grandchildren and frequently shares moments with them publicly.