| Australian Idol | |
|---|---|
| Season 1 | |
| Broadcast from | 27 July 2003–19 November 2003 |
| Judges | Ian "Dicko" Dickson Marcia Hines Mark Holden |
| Host(s) | Andrew G James Mathison |
| Broadcaster | Network Ten |
| Finals venue | Sydney Opera House |
| Winner: Guy Sebastian |
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| Origin | Adelaide, South Australia, Australia |
| Song | "Angels Brought Me Here" |
| Runner-up | |
| Shannon Noll | |
| Chronology | |
| 2003 ► | |
| Australian Idol (season 1) | |
| Finalists (with dates of elimination) |
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| Guy Sebastian | Winner |
| Shannon Noll | 19 November |
| Cosima De Vito | 3 November |
| Paulini Curuenavuli | 27 October |
| Rob Mills | 20 October |
| Levi Kereama | 13 October |
| Rebekah LaVauney | 6 October |
| Kelly Cavuoto | 6 October |
| Lauren Buckley | 29 September |
| Cle Wootton | 29 September |
| Peter Ryan | 22 September |
| Matthew Chadwick | 22 September |
The first season of Australian Idol was produced by Fremantle Media subsidiary Grundy Television in association with UK company 19TV, and was broadcast on Network Ten for 19 weeks in the latter half of 2003. The judges were Mark Holden, Marcia Hines and Ian "Dicko" Dickson.
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When Network Ten paid $15 million for the first season of Australian Idol they anticipated it to be a critical and financial success, like it had been in other countries such as the UK and the USA. When the show aired for the first time in August 2003 it was very successful, attracting a diverse ranges of viewers, from people wanting the crazy auditions to people who wanted to hear great voices. The audition process went through several major cities in Australia including Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Adelaide and Darwin. Towards the end of its run, Australian Idol became the most popular TV show in the country with more ratings than major events such as the AFL Grand Final. The Grand Final at the Sydney Opera House attracted more than 3 million viewers. It was listed as the ninth highest rating TV show in Australia in the past century in 2007.
The eventual winner of the competition was Guy Sebastian. He beat Shannon Noll who finished in 2nd place, Cosima De Vito who came in 3rd place, Paulini Curuenavuli who came in 4th place & Rob Mills who finished in 5th place. After Idol, it was these five, the Final 5, who were the most successful out of the Top 12.
Other Idol contestants from Season 1 to release music were Levi Kereama (deceased 4 October 2008), Rebekah LaVauney, Peter Ryan and Courtney Act. All of these independent acts achieved very little success at all.
In the third semi final, just before the live verdict, one of the contestants, Anthony Sumbati, was disqualified for taking part in a radio interview without the consent of the producers. He later performed in the Grand Final as one of the performances outside the Sydney Opera House.
In the wildcard show, a contestant named Daniel Wakefield was originally meant to be in the top 12, but due to his contract, he wasn't able to be in the top 12. Instead of having one contestant chosen by the judges and the other chosen by Australia, three contestants were chosen, two by Australia and one by the judges.
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Advancing to the Top 12: Daniel Wakefield and Peter Ryan
Wildcard Contenders: Eli Diache
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Advancing to the Top 12: Matthew Chadwick and Kelly Cavuoto
Wildcard Contenders: Cosima DeVito, Rebecca Tapia and Axle Whitehead
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Advancing to the Top 12: Guy Sebastian and Shannon Noll
Wildcard Contenders: Rebekah LaVauney and Yolande Jackson
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Advancing to the Top 12: Cle Wootton and Lauren Buckley
Wildcard Contenders: Levi Kereama
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Advancing to the Top 12: Paulini Curuenavuli and Rob Mills
Wildcard Contenders: Stu Campbell and Courtney Act
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Advancing to the Top 12: Rebekah LaVauney, Levi Kereama and Cosima DeVito
| Date | Week | Theme |
| 22 September | Top 12 | The '70's |
| 29 September | Top 10 | Australian #1's |
| 6 October | Top 8 | Australian Made |
| 13 October | Top 6 | The '80's |
| 20 October | Top 5 | RnB-Soul |
| 27 October | Top 4 | Big Band |
| 3 November | Top 3 | The '60's |
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Guy Sebastian was the winner of the first series of Australian Idol.
Sebastian's performances on Australian Idol:
Sebastian's first album debuted at #1, gained accredited 6x platinum and sold over 480,000 copies.[1] He has since released five other top ten platinum/multi-platinum albums, and 11 top 15 singles including five #1's.[2][3]
Shannon Noll (born 16 September 1975), was runner-up to winner Guy Sebastian.
Cosima De Vito (born 1 November 1976), came third in Australian Idol after withdrawing because of a sudden diagnosis of throat nodules.
After recovering Cosima signed with an independent label and became the first independent artist to debut at #1 on the charts. Her debut single was the cover of Cold Chisel's "When the War Is Over". Cosima later released several singles and a gold selling self titled album.
Paulini Curuenavuli (born 15 October 1982), was eliminated on 27 October 2003, placed fourth.
Paulini performed "Freeway of Love", "The Voice Within", "Crazy In Love" and "Chains" during the Australian Idol national tour in 2003.
After the competition Paulini signed with Sony BMG and in June 2004 Paulini released a #1 single known as "Angel Eyes" and a #1 album entitled "One Determined Heart". Paulini has released several other albums and singles that have had moderate success in the charts, especially in the Urban and Dance Charts. In 2006 Paulini joined an all girl pop group called the "Young Divas" with other former Idol contestants which included Kate DeAraugo, Emily Williams, Ricki-Lee Coulter and later Jessica Mauboy. They have achieved huge success with platinum selling singles and a platinum selling album.
Rob Mills aka Millsy (born 21 June 1982), was eliminated on 20 October 2003, placed fifth.
Levi Kereama was eliminated on 13 October 2003, placed sixth.
A record contract followed, and he released the Top 40 singles "In My Room" and "Handcuffs Off" from the album "Destiny". Kereama was also part of the band Lethbridge, later named The Bridge.
On 4 October 2008, Kereama was found dead after falling from a Brisbane hotel building, where he had been staying after attending the Parklife Festival that day. The death is suspected to have been suicide, although some media has reported this may not be the case based on posts on his band's Myspace page and statements made by his family. Police have said the death was "non-suspicious", but declined to comment further.[4][5]
Rebekah LaVauney (born 7 October 1977), was eliminated on 6 October 2003, placed seventh.
She released a single cover of Renée Geyer's "Heading In The Right Direction" (which she had previously performed on the show) which was featured on her only commercial release, an EP titled 'Chapter 1' (2005). The EP also featured a collaboration with Joel Turner and the Modern-Day Poets, "Behind Bars", which was also included on their self-titled album.
Kelly Cavuoto (born 3 June 1981), was eliminated on 6 October 2003, placed eighth. Prior to Australian Idol, she had many years singing experience with rock bands throughout South Australia, before auditioning in 2003. Dubbed "The Rock Chick" by judge Ian "Dicko" Dickson, she covered a selection of harder edged rock songs throughout the series, at odds with most other contestants who chose to cover pop songs.
In January 2004, Cavuoto appeared as a co-host for Channel Ten's Video Hits music program.
Lauren Buckley (born 29 March 1986), was eliminated on 29 September 2003, placed ninth. Also memorable was her elimination from the show, in which she broke down and cried while singing her farewell song. She completed the song with the assistance of her fellow Idol contestants.
Lauren Buckley is currently working on recording her debut album with expected release in 2008.
Cle Wootton (born Cleonie Morgan-Wootton on 15 November 1981), was eliminated on 29 September 2003, placed tenth. Of Greek and Jamaican descent, she was an early favourite with the judges, however failed to maintain an interest from fans. She has also appeared in the children's drama program Ship to Shore in 1993 playing the character Babe and appeared on the reality television program Popstars in 2002.
In 2004 she appeared in a musical production called "Gabba Gabba Hey" (a rock musical featuring the music of the Ramones.[6] In 2005, she appeared on an episode of the children's television series Streetsmartz.[7]
It was announced on 28 June 2010, that Cle would play the role of DJ Motormouth Maybelle in Melbourne's theatre musical version of Hairspray.[8]
Peter Ryan, from New South Wales, was eliminated on 22 September 2003, placed eleventh.
Matt Chadwick (born 19 July 1983), was eliminated on 22 September 2003, placed twelfth.
He is now under the management of Richard Macionis, who also manages 2004 idol cast off Ricki-Lee Coulter and Idol's musical maestro, John Foreman. Matthew is now performing in Queensland's Draculas Cabaret Restaurant along with Macionis. Prior to Australian Idol he had played Fred as part of the Scooby Doo section of Warner Brothers Movie World in his home state, Qld.
| Date | Bottom Three | ||
| 22 September |
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| 29 September |
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| 6 October |
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| 13 October |
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| Bottom Two | |||
| 20 October |
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| 27 October |
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| 3 November |
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| 19 November |
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| Did Not Perform | Top 40 | Wild Card | Top 12 |
| Stage: | Semi-Finals | WC | Finals | |||||||||||||||
| Week: | 11/8 | 18/8 | 25/8 | 1/9 | 8/9 | 15/9 | 22/9 | 29/9 | 6/10 | 13/10 | 20/10 | 27/10 | 3/11 | 19/11 | ||||
| Place | Contestant | Result | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Guy Sebastian | Top 12 | Btm 2 | Winner | ||||||||||||||
| 2 | Shannon Noll | Top 12 | Btm 3 | Runner-Up | ||||||||||||||
| 3 | Cosima DeVito | Elim | Top 12 | Btm 2 | WD | |||||||||||||
| 4 | Paulini Curuenavuli | Top 12 | Btm 2 | Elim | ||||||||||||||
| 5 | Rob Mills | Top 12 | Elim | |||||||||||||||
| 6 | Levi Kereama | Elim | Top 12 | Btm 3 | Elim | |||||||||||||
| 7 | Rebekah LaVauney | Elim | Top 12 | Elim | ||||||||||||||
| 8 | Kelly Cavuoto | Top 12 | Btm 3 | Btm 3 | Elim | |||||||||||||
| 9 | Lauren Buckley | Top 12 | Elim | |||||||||||||||
| 10 | Cle Wootton | Top 12 | Elim | |||||||||||||||
| 11 | Peter Ryan | Top 12 | Elim | |||||||||||||||
| 12 | Matthew Chadwick | Top 12 | Elim | |||||||||||||||
| Wild Card |
Courtney Act | Elim | Elim | |||||||||||||||
| Stu Campbell | Elim | |||||||||||||||||
| Eli Diache | Elim | |||||||||||||||||
| Yolande Jackson | Elim | |||||||||||||||||
| Rebecca Tapia | Elim | |||||||||||||||||
| Axle Whitehead | Elim | |||||||||||||||||
| Semi- Final 5 |
Anton Aktila | Elim | ||||||||||||||||
| Marcus Jones | ||||||||||||||||||
| Alex Longstaff | ||||||||||||||||||
| Ben Manusama | ||||||||||||||||||
| Semi- Final 4 |
Brandon Burns | Elim | ||||||||||||||||
| Michelle Cashman | ||||||||||||||||||
| Brielle Davis | ||||||||||||||||||
| Mary Lane | ||||||||||||||||||
| Costa Zacharia | ||||||||||||||||||
| Semi- Final 3 |
Jennifer Pearl | Elim | ||||||||||||||||
| Martine Robert | ||||||||||||||||||
| Ryan Sheppard | ||||||||||||||||||
| Anthony Sumbati | DISQ | |||||||||||||||||
| Semi- Final 2 |
Hailey Cramer | Elim | ||||||||||||||||
| Marc Stockley | ||||||||||||||||||
| Sidney Maynard | ||||||||||||||||||
| Semi- Final 1 |
Lorena Alegria | Elim | ||||||||||||||||
| Natalie Ferguson | ||||||||||||||||||
| Chelsea Gibson | ||||||||||||||||||
| Veronica Stewart | ||||||||||||||||||
| Shannon Thompson | ||||||||||||||||||
| Daniel Wakefield | DISQ | |||||||||||||||||
Since winning Australian Idol Guy Sebastian has released six top 10 albums which have all reached either platinum or multi platinum accreditation. He has also released 11 top 15 singles, eight of which reached the top 10 on the ARIA Charts including five #1's. He has the most #1 singles for an Australian male vocalist in Australian music history, and he is equal third overall with Olivia Newton-John for all Australian acts.[9][10] He has a total of 27 platinum and two gold accreditations, the highest accreditations for any Australian Idol contestant.[3][11] Sebastian's debut album Just As I Am debuted at #1 and reached 6x platinum, eventually selling 480,000 copies.[1][12][13] Just As I Am remains the highest selling album ever released by an Australian Idol contestant.[14] Guy Sebastian's winner's single "Angels Brought Me Here" debuted at #1 and reached 4x platinum.[1][12][15] The song was the highest selling single in Australia in 2003, and won the 2004 Highest Selling Single ARIA Award.[16] In 2010 ARIA announced it was the highest selling song of the previous decade.[14][17]
Sebastian's second and third albums were platinum sellers. Beautiful Life peaked at #2 and sold in excess of 100,000 units,[1] while Closer to the Sun peaked at #4.[18] His fourth album The Memphis Album peaked at #3 and went on to sell 2x platinum.[19] Sebastian's fifth and sixth albums Like It Like That and Twenty Ten both achieved platinum accreditation and produced #1 lead singles.[20][21] "Like it Like That" the triple platinum lead single from his fifth album was the highest selling Australian artist song in 2009.[22][23] "Who's That Girl" the lead single from his sixth album reached 4x platinum accreditation and won the Highest Selling Single ARIA Award in 2011.[24][25] Sebastian has received 14 ARIA Awards nominations during his career.[26] Ten of these nominations, including Best Male Artist, Best Pop Release and Single of the Year were received in 2010 and 2011.[27][28] Sebastian also had success outside of Australia with his first single reaching #1 in Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines and Indonesia and New Zealand in 2004. His first album reached #3 in New Zealand and #2 in Malaysia.[29][30] "Angels Brought Me Here" gained platinum and Just As I Am double platinum accreditation. In 2010 "Art Of Love", a song featuring Jordin Sparks reached #7 on the New Zealand singles chart, achieving gold accreditation there. "Who's That Girl", the lead single from Twenty Ten, reached #1 and gained platinum accreditation in New Zealand in 2011.[31]
Shannon Noll released his first single "What About Me?" in February 2004. It debuted at #1 and remained at the top for four weeks.[32] It was certified 4x Platinum [33] and was the highest selling single in Australia in 2004.[34] His debut album That's What I'm Talking About was also a chart topper gaining 5x Platinum accreditation selling 350,000 copies.[35] Both the single and album were nominated as highest seller at the 2004 ARIA Awards. His second album Lift also reached #1 on the ARIA charts and remained in the top 50 for 53 weeks.[36] It was accredited 3x platinum with 210,000 copies sold.[37] Lift received a nomination for best pop release at the 2006 ARIA Awards and the lead single "Shine" was nominated for highest selling single.[38] "Don't Give Up" a duet with Natalie Bassingthwaighte was also nominated for highest selling single at the 2007 ARIA Awards.[39] His third album, Turn It Up, was released in 2007 peaking at #3 and reaching platinum accreditation.[40][41] His fourth album No Turning Back: The Story So Far released in 2008 peaked at #7 and has not as yet gained accreditiation.[42] He has had ten top 10 singles including three #1's.[43] He is the only artist in Australian music history to achieve ten consecutive top 10 singles.[44] He has achieved 17 platinum and three gold accreditations during his career.[3] Noll has had some success outside Australia with his debut single What About Me reaching #2 in Ireland and #10 in New Zealand. His debut album also peaked at #31 on the New Zealand charts.[45]
Cosima De Vito released "When the War Is Over" as her debut single in mid 2004 through her own independent label, CDV Records. It was a #1 hit and sold over 70,000 copies resulting in Platinum status. Her debut self titled album Cosima peaked at #2 on the charts and sold over 50,000 copies with Gold certification. Her second single "Now That You Can't Have Me" experienced very little radio play and distribution complication resulting a peak at #42 on the charts. Her second album This Is Now that was released in September 2007 was a hit on the Independent Charts and Club Charts, but failed to make an entrance on the ARIA Charts. The album had two Top 20 hits on the Independent Charts.
Paulini Curuenavuli released a debut single titled "Angel Eyes" that was a #1 hit and a Platinum selling success. It stayed at the top spot for a month. Her debut album One Determined Heart was also a #1 hit and receiving Platinum status. Her Christmas EP "Amazing Grace: Songs for Christmas" failed to chart, stalling at #72. Her much anticipated second album Superwoman stalled at #72 and was a major disappointment for Sony BMG. The album did give her two Top 50 hits.
Rob Mills experienced a very short lived career at Sony BMG with one Gold selling single of "Ms. Vanity" and an unsuccessful debut album entitled Up All Night. He was later dropped from the label. He is currently rehearsing for the Australian 2008 production of Wicked in which he plays Fiyero.
| Preceded by Inaugural |
Australian Idol Season 1 (2003) |
Succeeded by Season 2 (2004) |
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