news articles 3 november

[Inside Australian Idol]

Idol riches await
By Sophie Tedmanson
November 03, 2003


WITH more than a million people ready to text-message their votes, and even more watching from their loungerooms, our new favourite first-name-only celebrities sang their hearts out last night for a place on top of the Australian music charts.


The final three are put through their paces by a dance instructor.

Shannon (Noll - the boy from the bush), Guy (Sebastian - the bloke with the 'fro) and Cosima (de Vito - the everchanging diva) belted out songs from the 60s - including Hey Jude, Climb Every Mountain and River Deep, Mountain High - in one of the last sing-offs of the Ten Network's increasingly popular reality TV talent quest Australian Idol.

The trio, who will be culled to two after the votes are announced tonight, are the last of 10,000 who auditioned for the show. In three weeks, one of them will be crowned the Australian Idol and receive a recording contract from BMG.

But the other two need not worry - the runners-up stand just as good a chance of success as the winner.

For Cosima, 27, a record contract is "a big, big dream".

"I've been trying to get into the music industry for 17 years. I've been almost there but never there," she said.

"I definitely want something to come out of this, even if I don't win I still want to have a career in music."

Her dream may just come true if Australian Idol follows the international versions of the multi-million-dollar franchise, which has seen runners-up soar to the top of the charts alongside the winners.

Gareth Gates, who came second in the original British version, called Pop Idol, has since eclipsed winner Will Young in the British music charts.

And the recent American Idol runner-up Clay Aitken's first single sold more copies than the show's winner, Ruben Studdard, despite losing the competition by 130,000 votes.

The Australian

entertainment.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4459,7752386%255E10229%255E%255Enbv,00.html

[Inside Australian Idol]

Teams and ring-ins work hard for Idol
By Kirsty Needham
November 3, 2003

The show is over for the three singers: today the pressure is on Australian Idol's millions of fans.

With voting lines open until 7.40 this evening, fan bases that have organised around three would-be pop starlets are in overdrive.

Sledging on the television show's official website hit a peak over the weekend: Guy Sebastian's Adelaide church will set up a call centre to vote around the clock for the singer (false); Shannon Noll's fan site is giving away free mobile phones and a chance to win a car (really?); Cosima is a "demanding diva" . . .

Gerry Gannon, owner of the small Perth publicity and conference business where contestant Cosima De Vito works as an office administrator, is one of those "lending a hand" to the De Vito family's campaign to see the singer voted through to the final.

The business's website now features a large image of De Vito's face - and urges clients to vote. Mr Gannon's daughter has plastered posters around the Murdoch University campus, where the singer once studied. The accounting firm the company uses has promised 40 votes from staff.

Even a group of 50 visiting Irish doctors whom Mr Gannon is training on a conference has been enlisted - yesterday the group altered its schedule ( based around the Rugby World Cup) to include the Australian Idol TV screening and voting.

Team Gannon hopes to keep up the momentum of last week, when a local Italian restaurant held a De Vito-themed party on Sunday night, sending 150 SMS votes her way.

Mr Gannon, a former ABC journalist, said the singer's avid fans were "not teeny, boppy kids but adults".

They included a mother-of-four in Brisbane and a former lawyer in Sydney who, concerned that De Vito was having trouble with her voice, (which was pounced on by judges last night) had a homeopathic remedy taken by courier to Australian Idol headquarters on Saturday. "That shows dedication," he said.

www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/11/02/1067708076441.html

[Inside Australian Idol]

Idol's lord of the dance


November 3, 2003

WE know they can sing with the best of them, but can they shake it?


Vocally, the remaining three Idol contestants Cosima, Guy and Shannon have no worries, but it's the other aspect of performing they need a bit of a hand with.

Take last night's group version of Stand By Me – it was up to Gavin Robins, movement coach and choreographer, to create the on-stage action for the performance.




Robins is behind all the dances, steps and hand gestures featured during the Idol performances.


"(Cosima's) fantastic at interpreting the song, she moves quite comfortably on stage, she has an interesting performance energy, which is good to work with," he said.


"(With Shannon) he's taken the ideas on board and he's ready to loosen up, he's got ideas on how he wants to move and that's really helpful.


"Guy's feeling a lot more comfortable. He's got that beautiful rhythm and soul and body and he's got a certain funk to the way he moves, so that's fantastic."

dailytelegraph.news.com.au/story.jsp?sectionid=1266&storyid=429929

[Inside Australian Idol]

End of the dream for Cosima
November 3, 2003

AUSTRALIAN Idol hopeful Cosima De Vito has shocked viewers by withdrawing from the competition after being struck down by a mystery ailment that hampered her singing.

The 26-year-old cried tonight as she announced to the country that she would not seek to go through to the grand final later this month.

Cosima was one of three finalists chosen by Australians who voted with their phones to narrow the field down to her, Shannon Noll and Guy Sebastian.

Guy was voted to be the first to sing at the November 19 final at the Sydney Opera House, leaving the remaining place to be filled by either Cosima or 27-year-old Shannon.

Hosts Andrew G and James Mathison said there was only 0.08 per cent difference between the two, but before the result could be announced Cosima made the announcement from a prepared statement.

"Unfortunately I have a temporary condition that's affecting my voice," she said on the show screened on the Ten Network.

"It's forced me to make the decision to leave the competition."

AAP


news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,7758933%255E1702,00.html

[Inside Australian Idol]

End of the dream, as Cosima quits Idol
By Toby Forage
November 03, 2003


THE producers promised drama, and tonight Cosima De Vito provided just that as she reluctantly withdrew from Australian Idol.
The Perth diva - who made the final three of the nationwide talent search on a second chance wild card - was forced to take herself out of the competition as a result of a condition that is affecting her voice.

Fellow hopeful Guy Sebastian had been voted through already, so Cosima’s withdrawal left Shannon Noll to join him in the grand finale at the Sydney Opera house later this month.

The warning signs for Cosima were evident on Sunday night as she performed Tina Turner’s River Deep Mountain High, her second song of the evening.

Her voice crackled throughout and at one stage, she opened her mouth to produce nothing as her voice disappeared altogether.

Judge Mark Holden had remarked earlier that he had been hearing a huskiness in her voice across the past few weeks. “Are you coping all right?” he asked her, to which she replied yes. It is evident now that she was simply putting on a brave face.

Cosima announced her decision live on stage through a statement written on a crumpled piece of paper. She bravely gritted her teeth and broke the news.

“Unfortunately, I have a temporary condition that’s affecting my voice,” she said. “It’s forced me to make the decision to leave the competition.

“This has been the most difficult decision of my life. But the next few weeks are going to be very, very intense with touring and recording and I am not sure that I can give 100 per cent and that my voice is going to hold up.”<br>
With those words, and with the audience and judges Mark, Ian Dickson and Marcia Hines in stupefied shock, Cosima’s Idol journey was over. But she did close with a defiant statement for her fans.

“Australia, watch this space, because I’ll be back very soon.”<br>
Only 0.8 per cent separated the nation’s preference for Cosima or Shannon, but in the end, it mattered not who was on the right side of that differential. From the look on Shannon’s face, he believed he was the one on the dark side.

Cosima won the hearts of the nation with her transformation from the shy girl that sang through an intense stare under bushy eyebrows to the disco diva that sent pulses racing with racy outfits and soaring performances.

She admitted recently to failing to secure a record contract in New York prior to the Idol process because she could not guarantee a fanbase in Australia.

That is the least of her worries now as she embarks on an intense course of rehabilitation for her tattered and tired vocal chords.

There can be little doubt, though, that along with the winner of Australian Idol - be it Shannon or Guy - a fully recovered Cosima will be capable of gracing the record shop shelves alongside the Delta’s and Tina’s she admits to so admiring.

entertainment.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4459,7759064%255E10431%255E%255Enbv,00.html