Legendary rocker hits back at John Farnham claim their former manager ‘drugged me for years’

A veteran Australian rocker has hit back at John Farnham’s shock claim that his former manager Darryl Sambell secretly drugged him for years.

Peter Tilbrook, who was the guitarist for iconic Aussie rock band The Masters Apprentices in the 60s, has taken to social media.

‘Sambell was a brilliant and skilful manager to us, and from what we saw and heard, definitely to Farnham as well,’ Tilbrook began.

‘I find it very hard to believe that any another manager at the time could have done any more to further Johnny’s incredible career.’

Sambell, who died in 2001 aged 55, managed Farnham’s early career from 1967 – 1976, and helped him launch his debut song Sadie the Cleaning Lady. 

The talent agent also managed The Masters around the same time, and Tilbrook asserted his experience with the late manager was nothing like Farnham’s.

‘He was an amazing, caring and resourceful manager,’ Tilbrook said. 

Farnham recently made shocking claims about Sambell in his new memoir, The Voice Inside.

The singer claimed Sambell slipped substances into his coffee during an early period of his career when he held tight control over nearly every aspect of his life.

‘He drugged me for years and I had no f**king idea,’ Farnham wrote.

Daily Mail Australia does not suggest that John Farnham’s claims about being drugged are not true. 

Farnham first became alarmed when he found a half-dissolved pill at the bottom of his coffee cup.

When confronted, Sambell allegedly downplayed the situation, telling him: ‘That’s just something to help you stay awake.’ 

Peter Tilbrook, who was the guitarist for iconic Aussie rock band The Masters Apprentices in the 60s, has taken to social media to hit back at Farnham’s claims about his former manager. Farnham and Sambell pictured together in the late 60s

Tilbrook asserted his own experience with the late manager was nothing like Farnham’s. Pictured in 1987

‘He isolated me from friends and family, tried to keep me away from [my wife] Jill, he drugged me, and he made me believe all my success, everything I had, was because of him.’ 

He said the manager’s influence was so pervasive he didn’t recognise the manipulation at the time. 

Sambell ‘controlled where and when I worked, what I sang, wore, what I ate,’ Farnham says.