Guy Sebastian
Guy Theodore Sebastian (born October 26, 1981) was the winner of the first series of Australian Idol in 2003. Since winning the competition he has released two albums and several singles, which have all achieved success on the Australian music charts, and he has established himself as a popular Australian performer and celebrity.
Australian Idol
Guy Sebastian was born in Malaysia and moved to Adelaide, South Australia as a child.He started singing at the age of fourteen. After moving to Adelaide, he attended school at King's Baptist Grammar School, a Christian private school. He also attended the Paradise Community Church, one of the largest in Australia with over 5,000 people in attendance, associated with the Pentacostal Assemblies of God. While at Paradise, he joined their youth conference band, Planetshakers, and sang as one of the lead singers, touring around Australia and the United States. Sebastian never had any formal voice training but was influenced by artists such asMichael W. Smith and Stevie Wonder.
While working as a recording engineer and a singing teacher, he decided to enter Australian Idol establishing a fanbase and winning praise from the judges, who also made reference to his afro hairstyle, which became a focal part of his image. The final of Australian Idol in which he competed against Shannon Noll was the most popular program broadcast in Australia during 2003 and the second most popular non-sporting broadcast in Australian television history.
In World Idol he sang "What A Wonderful World" by Louis Armstrong which is also on the Australian Idol Final 12 CD and his debut album Just As I Am. He was ranked 7th out of the 10 competitors. There were questions over his song selection for the competition as many fans felt that his dance reggae version "What A Wonderful World" was his weakest performance during the earlier Australian Idol series. He was planning to use his rendition of Prince's "When Doves Cry", but there were legal issues with that choice.
Sebastian has been public about his strong Christian beliefs and has spoken of plans to release a gospel album for the American market in 2006. He has a strong involvement with several large Australian charitable organisations and was a nominee for the "Young Australian of the Year".
He recently became an Ambassador for World Vision and presented a Network Ten television special, "An Idol in Africa", in which he travelled within Africa with World Vision to highlight the the issues of poverty and civil war and its effect on the population.
The following lists Sebastian's Australian Idol performances.
1. "Ribbon in the Sky"
2. "Back at One"
3. "Over the Rainbow"
4. "What a Wonderful World"
5. "The Love You Save"
6. "Everything I Do"
7. "You’re the Voice"
8. "When Doves Cry"
9. "Hidden Agenda"
10. "Hello"
11. "The Way You Look Tonight"
12. "Hit the Road Jack"
13. "Can’t Take My Eyes Off You"
14. "Climb Every Mountain"
15. "I’ll Be There"
16. "When I Get You Alone"
17. "Crazy in Love"
18. "Angels Brought Me Here" – (Finale)
19. "What a Wonderful World" – (World Idol)
20. "Angels Brought Me Here" – (American Idol 3)
Just As I Am
Given the obvious popularity of Australian Idol, BMG signed up Guy Sebastian for a record before Christmas, 2003. His first single "Angels Brought Me Here" debuted at number one having set an Australian record for first week single sales for a debut artist and for an Australian artist. Only the Princess Diana tribute by Elton John sold more singles in its first week of release in Australia. It went on to go platinum (70,000 copies shipped) four times. However, many people considered the album to be rushed (it was recorded in two weeks, in order to comply with the Christmas rush) and lacking any real substance.
Just As I Am was released in December 2003 and debuted at number one on the charts being the best selling album in Australia during the Christmas of 2003. So far it has gone platinum six times, selling over 400,000 copies.
The second single "All I Need Is You" also debuted at number one in the Australian charts. He wrote the song himself which was very important to him, saying on his web page "I think the credibility in having your own stuff makes you as an artist. Credibility is what I've always strived for and I couldn't imagine my first record not having one of my songs on it." He also wrote "I 4 U" and "Something Don't Feel Right" on the record.
Beautiful Life
In October 2004, Sebastian released his second album with included the number one song "Out With My Baby" and the top 20 hits "Kryptonite", and "Oh Oh".
In support of the Album, Guy Sebastian performed at the 20th Anniversary SAFM Sky Show in Adelaide in front of approximately 150,000 people along with Slinkee Minx. This was one of the largest open air concerts held in Australia in 2005.
Discography
Albums:
- Just As I Am (2003) #1 (Platinum x 5)
- Beautiful Life (2004) #2 (Platinum)
Singles
- "Angels Brought Me Here (single)" (2003) Australia #1 New Zealand #1 Malaysia #1
- "All I Need Is You (single)" (2003) #1
- "Out With My Baby (single)" (2004) #1
- "Kryptonite (single)" (2004) #15
- "Oh Oh (single)" (2005) #11