During the Australian Idol series, Cosima released her first single "When the War Is Over" and was the first independent artist to reach a platinum certification;[citation needed] whilst being No.
After being voted best new artist for Pop Republic magazine, Cosima launched her hit single “Right Here, Right Now” on Channel 10, with a live performance in October 2012.
Her father, Carlo De Vito, is an Italian-born house painter and contractor and her mother, Maria, is a partner in the family business.
[4] She cited Whitney Houston, Shirley Bassey, Tina Turner and Karen Carpenter as being major influences on her personal style.
[6] In May 2003, Cosima De Vito successfully auditioned for the first season of TV talent quest series, Australian Idol, with a performance of Celine Dion's "I Surrender".
From July to November she appeared on the weekly televised episodes and moved to Sydney that year,[5] she entered as one of the judges' wild card choices.
De Vito finished in third position after having to withdraw from the competition due to a diagnosis of throat nodules when she lost her voice singing "River Deep – Mountain High".
However, following medical advice, she withdrew from the competition and underwent speech therapy allowing fellow contestant Shannon Noll to join Guy Sebastian in the series grand final.
If she hadn't stopped, she would also have lost the ability to sing beyond a narrow series of barked, hoarse notes".Timeline of De Vito on the series: After recovery from her throat nodules, Cosima De Vito was unable to negotiate a suitable record deal and funded her own label, (CDV Records) with the financial help of her family.
[12] An alternate version of the song, with production similar to her live idol performance, was recorded before working with Diane Warren.
[14] On a 2004 episode of A Current Affair, De Vito was shown writing and recording new material with Warren in Los Angeles.
De Vito expressed her disappointment at media reports that declared the throat nodule incident was a publicity stunt.
In May that year De Vito was invited to perform at the 30th Anniversary Gala Dinner for then-Prime Minister, John Howard.
On 23 December, De Vito parted ways with her management team, Nellis and Gardner, who had guided her since the end of Australian Idol.
De Vito had extra production work done on the album version – more guitar, heavier drums and re-recorded vocals.
In October 2005, De Vito previewed some new tracks as support act for United Kingdom soul singer, Roachford on his Australian tour.
Lead single from the album, "Keep It Natural", released on 2 June, showed a rockier edge to her previous works and was written by De Vito and Trevor Steel (singer-songwriter for The Escape Club);[4][23] it became popular at gay nightclubs across Australia.
De Vito has been a regular guest on the Susie Show where she performed the track "Never Be a Woman in Chains" and displayed her heritage when she cooked an Italian dish.
[citation needed] In May, De Vito performed the role of Mother Nature in the Perth production of the rock musical, Hair, to critical acclaim with Rob Mills, Cle Wotton and Nikki Webster.
[26] Jessica Clayden of the 3rd Degree website approved of the former Australian Idol contestants, "De Vito and Wooten shine during their musical numbers and leave the audience wanting to hear more, so much so that you find yourself looking to the on stage balcony to wait for Cosima to appear and belt out another tune.
It was released in October and was placed on Joy FM's latest Album Volume 5 alongside tracks from Australian Idol's Marcia Hines (judge) and Ricki Lee Coulter (contestant).
In July, in Brisbane she undertook an "up close and personal" video documentary leading up to a live stage performance at The Beat Megaclub for a DVD release.
Christian Bowman and Shane Tyler Greaves from Stage Addiction worked with De Vito to produce the film.
In August De Vito appeared as a guest on Channel 9's This Is Your Life to pay tribute to fellow Australian Idol contestant, Shannon Noll.
[29] In June De Vito told New Idea's Jenny Brown, "It's been a huge challenge, emotionally and financially...
[18] During late 2009 to early 2010 she undertook a solo Tribute to the Divas show featuring work by Barbra Streisand, Aretha Franklin, Shirley Bassey, Whitney Houston and Celine Dion.
On 5 November 2013, and to celebrate 10 years since her Australian Idol appearance, DeVito released a cover of Donna Summers "Hot Stuff", a song she performed on the show.
[31] In 2023, De Vito returned to the music industry, and collaborated with Greg Gould to release a cover of "I Want to Spend My Lifetime Loving You".