JD Fortune
What you need: What kind of a guy can step into the long-empty shoes of Michael Hutchence and take over as the lead singer of INXS? Does he have to bed beautiful, famous women, snort up Peru without sneezing, and be able to perform strange auto-erotic acts in hotel rooms? JD Fortune (above, right) didn't have to do any of the above to win the ultimate rock 'n' roll prize - a chance to succeed the legendary rock star and front one of the biggest bands of the 1980s. The 31-year-old Canadian beat 14 contestants to become the new lead singer of INXS - that's him proudly to the fore on the cover of the band's latest album, Switch. It's the Australian outfit's first studio album since the death of Michael Hutchence in 1997, and the remaining members - Andrew, Tim and Jon Farriss, Kirk Pengilly and Garry Gary Beers - are hoping that their new frontman will help them get back to the forefront of modern rock, just like the good old days of Need You Tonight, Suicide Blonde and Never Tear Us Apart.
King of pain: Jason Dean Bennison was born in Mississauga, Ontario, and grew up in the rugged countryside of Nova Scotia. Inspired by his singing granddad, young JD took up the guitar and learned to play his first song - Devil Inside by INXS. He was 14 when he made his first demo tape, and when he got offered a TV slot, he figured he might as well drop out of high school. But his music career didn't take off the way he'd planned, and JD ended up living in his car and earning a meagre living by doing Elvis impersonations. Disillusioned, he started to slip into drug addiction, but when he saw the callout to audition for a new reality TV show, Rockstar: INXS, he knew his chance to make it big had finally come.
Charm offensive: Despite a disastrous first audition, JD made it onto the show, and proved himself the most intense, and sometimes the most annoying, contestant. A strict vegetarian and martial arts expert, JD used all his discipline to win over his heroes in INXS - and win over the television viewers. In September of last year, an audience of
30 million watched as JD Fortune was chosen to be the new singer of INXS. The band lost no time in going to work - the single, Pretty Vegas, co-written with JD, was INXS's highest-ever entry in the Billboard charts; other tracks on the album feature the songwriting skills of Guy Chambers, Desmond Child, Gregg Alexander and The Matrix.
Dream on: While taking part in Rockstar: INXS, JD kept a blog on which he showed his wit and wisdom: "If anyone calls you a dreamer, remind them that the building they work in came from a dreamer, the car they're driving came from a dreamer. The computer they love, the cell phone they use, movies and music they escape in - all came from dreamers."
