Chris Martin's heartfelt tribute to John Farnham in Melbourne concert

Coldplay frontman Chris Martin has paid tribute to Australian music legend John Farnham with an original song at a charity concert in Melbourne. The sold-out crowd at the Rod Laver Arena show came together to celebrate Farnham's music career and raise money for head and neck cancer.

Martin recorded a special song called 'A Better Singer Than Me' to be played at the concert. In a heartfelt message to Farnham, he said: 'I'm really sorry I can't be with you. John, I send you all my love. Shane Warne is the person that told me about how great you are. And this is a song about that and about you.'

Farnham's son, James Farnham, expressed his surprise at the original song in a social media post, saying: 'I knew Chris Martin was doing the show, but I had no idea what he was actually doing. This video is me out in the crowd, watching it for the first time. I still can’t believe he wrote a song for my dad.'

The song explained how Martin was introduced to Farnham's music during a trip to check in on bushfire-impacted communities in Victoria after the devastation of Black Saturday in 2009. Martin sang: 'My friend Shane said to me, 'There's been a bloody big bushfire. It's something you should see. I'm going in up to Kinglake to check on how they are and I made us a mix tape, we can listen in the car,' And I really do love Coldplay. I love Coldplay, it's true. But my favourite is John Farnham, he's a better singer than you.'

Martin also referred to his past performance with Farnham at the Sound Relief concert in 2009, with tongue-in-cheek lyrics saying singer-songwriter Natalie Imbruglia suggested that Farnham would be the better choice to lead a relief show: 'She said, 'Here's what you can do. You can call John Farnham, he's a better singer than you,'

Farnham was unable to attend the Melbourne concert due to deteriorating health, with his family releasing a statement on the weekend. However, his star power was still felt during the show, as other entertainers took to the stage to perform beloved songs from the 77-year-old's catalogue.

Jessica Mauboy, John Stevens, Jack Jones, Mahalia Barnes and Human Nature opened the show with a medley of Farnham songs. Hugh Jackman and Celine Dion were also beamed into the arena from abroad, both performing Farnham songs that had inspired them. Martin sang that Farnham's songs would keep living even once 'we've all gone'.