Australian Idol season 1
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.
When Network Ten paid $15 million for the first season of Australian Idol[citation needed] they anticipated it to be a critical and financial success, like it had been in other countries such as the UK and the USA.
[citation needed] 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.
Other Idol contestants from Season 1 to release music were Rebekah LaVauney, Peter Ryan and Courtney Act.
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.
Cosima De Vito (born 1 November 1976), came third in Australian Idol after withdrawing because of a sudden diagnosis of throat nodules.
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.
Prior to Australian Idol, she had many years singing experience with rock bands throughout South Australia, before auditioning in 2004.
Of English and Jamaican descent, she was an early favourite with the judges, however failed to maintain an interest from fans.
[2] She performed in Hair in 2007; and Hairspray in 2010, in the role of DJ Motormouth Maybelle in Melbourne's theatre musical version of .
Prior to Australian Idol he had played Fred as part of the Scooby Doo section of Warner Brothers Movie World in his home state of Queensland.
[6] He has a total of 69 platinum and seven gold certifications in Australia, the highest accreditations for any Australian Idol contestant.
[20] "Like it Like That", the 4× platinum title track from his fifth album, reached #1 and was the highest selling Australian artist song of 2009.
During his career Sebastian has received 34 ARIA Award nominations, winning seven of them including Best Pop Release and Best Live Act.
[27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34] 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.
[38] Sebastian has achieved five further top ten singles in New Zealand since then, including another #1 with "Who's That Girl", and now has a total of six platinum and three gold certifications there.
He finished 5th, and his song "Tonight Again" charted in the top 50 in a number of European countries, including No.6 in Iceland and 16 in Austria.
[55] "Don't Give Up" a duet with Natalie Bassingthwaighte was also nominated for highest selling single at the 2007 ARIA Awards.
[61] Cosima De Vito released "When the War Is Over" as her debut single in mid-2004 through her own independent label, CDV Records.
Paulini Curuenavuli released a debut single titled "Angel Eyes" which reached #1 and platinum certification.
In 2006 Paulini joined an all girl pop group called the "Young Divas" with other former Idol contestants including Kate DeAraugo, Emily Williams, Ricki-Lee Coulter and later Jessica Mauboy.
In July 2014, Courtney Act became the first drag performer in history to sing live with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra.
In September 2014, Courtney Act, along with Willam Belli and Alaska Thunderfuck 5000, were the first drag queens to become ad girls for American Apparel.
Act covered the presidential election of 2016 for the site, attending rallies of both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump.
Rob Mills experienced a very short lived career at Sony BMG with one gold selling single "Ms. Vanity" and an album titled Up All Night which peaked at #21.
