Shannon Noll

Shannon Noll (born 16 September 1975) is an Australian singer-songwriter. Noll first came to prominence as runner-up of the first series of Australian Idol (2003) which led to him being signed to Sony BMG. Since Idol he has had more success than any other Idol contestant to date. He has gone on to release two number one, multi-platinum albums, That's What I'm Talking About and Lift and numerous top five singles including three number one debuts and an additional seven single releases reaching the top 10. Noll's style of music is pop-rock influenced by the likes of Bryan Adams. Noll is the cousin of former Australian Test cricketers, Mark and Steve Waugh. By 2003, Noll was in debt and out of work following the sale of the farm. His brothers encouraged him to travel to Sydney to audition for the 2003 debut season of "Australian Idol". Noll impressed the judges Mark Holden, Marcia Hines, and Ian Dickson with his audition in which he performed the Southern Sons' Hold Me In Your Arms. After his audition, Marcia Hines praised Shannon and told him that she had just discovered "a voice" and Ian Dickson informed Shannon that "...Australia will love you" Following his initial audition, Noll made his way into the Top 32 semi-final where he performed a rendition of Robbie Williams' hit "Better Man". The viewing audience voted Noll into the Top 12. Over eight weeks of performance shows, Noll found himself in the bottom three only once – following his performance of Bon Jovi's "Livin' On A Prayer" during The 80's theme night. Throughout the show, Noll impressed both the judges and audience with performances of songs as diverse as Powderfinger's "Already Gone", to The Beatles "Hey Jude" to Jimmy Barnes "Working Class Man". In the weeks leading up to the Grand Final of Idol, Noll recorded his version of the winner's single "Angels Brought Me Here" and filmed the music video for the song, which was to be released the week after the winner was announced. Copies of Noll's version of the song were released to radio stations in anticipation of his win, however Nolls' version of the song was subsequently never aired on radio and the music video was never released for television broadcast. In the week before the Grand Final, Noll and fellow finalist Guy Sebastian embarked on a whirlwind Australia-wide promotional tour. Tens of thousands of fans turned out in support, including 20,000 people in Adelaide and 15,000 in Melbourne. Noll reached the Grand Final on November 19, 2003 alongside eventual winner Guy Sebastian following fellow contestant, Cosima De Vito's withdrawal from the competition. During the Grand Final show, Noll performed an encore performance of "What About Me", which helped cement the popularity of his version of the song and lead it to being chosen for release as his debut single.