and the hit single "I Got You", which marked the emergence of Neil Finn. Through his ownership of Consolidated Rock, which later evolved into the Premier Artists/Harbour Agency group, Gudinski became the major player on the Australian east coast booking circuit, and enjoyed a virtual monopoly on rock music bookings in Melbourne for much of the 1970s. In partnership with others (including Frank Stivala, Philip Jacobsen and Ian James), he diversified his business interests to include most sections of the music industry including venues, concert promoting, merchandise, publishing and recording. In 1988, Gudinski co-founded Melodian Records with Ian Meldrum. In the early 1990s Gudinski sold 49% of Mushroom to News Ltd, who had owned Australia's largest record label, Festival Records since 1961. He sold his remaining 51% share to News in 1999 for a reported A$60 million, claiming that the sale was a protest against the changes to Australia's parallel record importation regulations. In November 2005, shortly after the sale of Festival Mushroom's recording division to Warner Music Australia, Gudinski purchased Festival's publishing division for an undisclosed sum. In 2020, Gudinski created The Sound, a music show for ABC TV which was developed out of an online production called The State of Music, which was created to help Australian musicians during the COVID-19 lockdown. He was also behind the Music from the Home Front concert, which was organised in nine days, so that artists could perform in the concert on ANZAC Day 2020. Personal life Gudinski and his wife Sue had two children: daughter Kate, whom Gudinski signed to Liberation Music in mid-2004, and son Matt. Gudinski was also the god-father of Jimmy Barnes' daughter, Mahalia Barnes. Gudinski was a life-long supporter of the St Kilda Football Club, and once served as their vice president. Public image A "larger-than-life figure", Gudinski was often referred to as the "father of the Australian music industry". Gudinski was a highly visible public figure throughout his career and is considered to be the only Australian record company executive whose name was known by the general public. Death On 2 March 2021, Gudinski died during his sleep at his home in Melbourne, at the age of 68. A private funeral held in Melbourne was attended by numerous celebrity performers including Kylie Minogue, Ed Sheeran, Dannii Minogue, Jimmy Barnes, Paul Kelly and Archie Roach. On 28 October 2021, a toxicology report revealed that he had died