Jump to content

Damien Leith

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 124.189.117.80 (talk) at 15:07, 2 December 2006 (→Early life). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Template:Infobox musical artist 2 Damien Leith (born 18 January, 1976) is a singer. He was the winner of the Network Ten music contest Australian Idol 2006. He was born in Ireland and now lives in Australia with his Australian wife, Eileen, and son Jarvis.

Early life

Leith was raised in Milltown, County Kildare, Ireland. His father travelled as part of his work as an engineer, and their family lived in countries including Libya and Botswana.[1]

As a child he formed a family band, Leaf, with his sister Aine and brothers Paul and Darren. Leaf recorded in New York and then again later under the new name Releaf, which made an appearance in the Irish Top 100.

Since moving to Sydney, he has played in a number of high profile venues across Sydney, as the front man for the band Revelate. His first Australian performance was at The Basement in Sydney's Circular Quay.

He worked as a chemist prior to auditioning for Australian Idol, having qualified with a Bachelor of Science (Honours) in Chemistry from Trinity College Dublin.

Australian Idol

Leith was selected by the judges as one of the final 24 contestants, and was the first person voted into the competition's top twelve as the result of a viewer vote. He was praised by the show's judges for his falsetto technique, which he used regularly in performances.

Despite comments from judges Mark Holden and Kyle Sandilands in relation to Leith's appearance and Irish origin, and a performance of Kool and the Gang's "Celebration" on the "Disco" theme night, which drew ridicule from Holden, the judges' assessments of Leith's performances were usually positive. His renditions of Roy Orbison's "Crying", Chris Isaak's "Wicked Game", Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" and Puccini's "Nessun Dorma" each earned Leith a "touchdown" from Mark Holden, a gesture which has come to be regarded as Holden's ultimate accolade for an excellent performance. Sandilands also stated that the family of Roy Orbison had contacted the Australian Idol producers requesting a copy of Leith's performance of "Crying".

Leith was the last contestant in the 2006 season to be in the bottom three, until the top five verdict on October 30. On Sunday, November 26, during a live broadcast from the Sydney Opera House, Leith was announced the winner, over runner-up Jessica Mauboy. His debut single, "Night of My Life", was released as a paid digital download from Bigpondmusic soon after the conclusion of the grand final, with an official CD release on November 28, which included an original composition written and produced by Leith titled "Come to Me". The single was certified "Gold" (35,000 copies sold) within 72 hours of its release, outsold the rest of the Top 10 singles combined at some record stores, and was the fastest-selling single record label Sony BMG has released during 2006.

It has been stated that his debut album will be released in early 2007.[1]

Australian Idol Performances

Discography

Albums

Cover Album information
File:Thewinner'sjourney.jpg
 Damien Leith - The Winner's Journey

Singles

Trivia

  • He previously never had vocal training before auditioning for Idol.[citation needed]
  • Damien is a permanent resident of Australia. He will soon be receiving Australian citizenship. He is the only non-Australian citizen to have won Australian Idol.[2] The 2003 winner, Guy Sebastian, was born in Malaysia before emigrating to Australia as a child, and in addition to Leith, three other members of the Top 12 from the 2006 series were born outside Australia, including Dean Geyer (South Africa), Lavina Williams (New Zealand), and Guy Mutton (England).

References

  1. ^ a b "Damien Leith Biography". Retrieved November 27. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  2. ^ AAP (2006). Irish Leith enjoying life as Aussie Idol. Retrieved November 28, 2006.


Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Damien_Leith&oldid=91597509"