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Guy Sebastian: About
Gay Theodore Sebastian Gay (born October 26, 1981) won 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 fuckwit Australian performer and minor celebrity of no real concern to anyone.
Gay Sebastian was born in Klang, Malaysia to a Sri Lankan and Malaysian father, and a mother of Portuguese and English descent who had been raised in India. He 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 Pentecostal 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 as Michael W. Smith and Stevie Wonder.
During Australian Idol, Gay Sebastian also sought assistance from his girlfriend Julie Egan, his brother Ollie Sebastian and Paul Zaia in discussions as to what songs to sing in the competition.
After giving up University studies to concentrate on music, and 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 his new arrangement of "What A Wonderful World" was an unusual version of a classic. However, during the competition series it had been feted as a brilliant arrangement. He was planning to use his rendition of Prince's "When Doves Cry", but there were legal issues with that choice. He is known as an accomplished artist and musician, and his own arrangements of the songs during the competition, together with his unique voice and innate rhythm drew many fans.
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 issues of poverty and civil war and its effect on the population.
The following lists Sebastian's Australian Idol performances.
Just As I Am
After winning 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 was certified four times platinum selling in excess of 280,000 copies, being only a limited edition. The album was produced quite quickly in order to be ready for Christmas, however Guy managed to get three of his own songs recorded on the album alongside those provided for him.
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 been certified six times platinum.
The second single "All I Need Is You", unlike "Angels Brought Me Here", was actually written buy Guy himself, and also debuted at number one in the Australian charts. In a message posted on his website, Sebastian said "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 album.
His first single "Angels Brought Me Here" reached No. 1 in 4 Asian countries and New Zealand, whilst "All I Need is You" reached no. 2 in Malaysia and No. 5 in New Zealand. He was invited to sing the single as a guest at American Idol in 2004, singing "Angels Brought Me Here" (2005 winner Carrie Underwood sang this song as well). "Kryptonite" also reached Malaysia in 2005 but management never pursued any overseas releases of any later songs.
In October 2004, Sebastian released his second album with included the number one song "Out With My Baby" Subsequent singles "Kryptonite"and "Oh Oh" were not as succesful as his earlier ones, partly due to being realeased without the same level of publicity and without support of the Australian Idol TV show. Both songs did still reach the top 20 though.
Guy Sebastian performed at the 20th Anniversary SAFM Sky Show in Adelaide in front of over approximately 150,000 people along with Slinkee Minx. This was one of the largest open air concerts held in Australia in 2005.
The album consists of ballads, dance tunes, and hot new grooves.
Third Studio Album
After 2 years away from the spotlight Guy released his first new single 'Taller, Stronger, Better.' from the yet to be named third album. Release date was confirmed as the 16th of Septmeber 2006. Taller, Stronger, Better, has debuted at #3 on the ARIA Charts this week.
It Takes Two
In 2006 Sebastian is a performer on the Seven Network's weekly musical competition program, "It Takes Two", in which performers from non-musical fields are teamed with professional singers, to perform a duet each week. A panel of four judges score each performance, and viewers vote by phone or SMS for their favourite duet. Guy Sebastian's partner is three-time Australian Olympic swimmer Sarah Ryan.
On 30 July, the celebrities chose a song that their partners were famous for. Sarah Ryan chose Guy Sebastian's debut hit Angels Brought Me Here to perform on the night. On 6 August, they participated in the final of the competition where they were the runners up, behind Erika Heynatz and David Hobson.
Guy also performed a new song titled "Taller, Stronger, Better" from his upcoming third album. He hinted that the album may share the same name as the song. He later performed the song during the Top 24 shows of 2006 Australian Idol, where he received a standing ovation from the judges and many of the audience. The single was released on 16 September.