Idol Runner-up Wins Music Deal

[Meehowski]

November 28, 2003

AUSTRALIAN Idol runner-up Shannon Noll has secured a music deal with BMG Australia, the same recording label as series winner Guy Sebastian.

Sebastian, 21, beat Noll last week in a national phone poll and secured a recording contract with the record label.

However, it seems both singers have won.

"Shannon Noll is a fantastic singer and one of the nicest people I have ever met," BMG Australia managing director Ed St John said.

"But more than that, I think he embodies a sense of Australianness that you simply don't see very often.

"He's real, he's honest, he has integrity and he has strength."

Noll, 27, from Condobolin in NSW, said he was thrilled to take the next step in his career.

"I'm so thankful to the Australian public for their ongoing support that has taken me this far, and now to score a record deal is just amazing," Noll said.

His first single, a cover version of the Moving Pictures hit What About Me, will be released to radio stations on December 15 and to the public on January 26. His debut album will be released early next year.

Sebastian has already released his single – Angels Brought Me Here – with an album due out next month. He is off to London next month to represent Australia in the World Idol series.

The international show will include Sebastian, British winner Will Young, American Idol Kelly Clarkson, and other Idol series winners from South Africa, Poland, Netherlands, Germany, Norway, Middle East, Belgium and Canada.

Viewers in each country will choose the winner by voting over the phone, with the results broadcast during the New Year period.

http://dailytelegraph.news.com.au/story.js...&storyid=558088

[jipper]

....there going to be an international version fo pop idol....I feel sorry for these "winners" because making it in this business is a life sdream for some and yet they are chewed and then spat out, most having a shelf life of a year or 2 albums. Lets not forget the British boyband v girlband series where the boyband manager left them to produce there own single and do there promotion..basically he left the band to there own devices after the program finshed..