.)American Idol contestant Michael Johns dreamed of fame
Reporter Alicia Bridges, Perth Now
http://www.news.com.au/perthnow/story/0,21...5012990,00.html
March 11, 2008 04:44pm
WHEN Perth-born American Idol contestant Michael Johns won a lead role in Pinocchio at age 17, he knew he would be famous.
As Johns prepares to perform to US Idol’s audience of millions tomorrow, Marina Del Basso of local production company Vogue Entertainment remembers his first audition as a Perth teenager.
“When he came to that very first audition he told me he would be famous,” she said.
“I actually said to him ‘you could be with (your) talent’.”
Now aged 29, Johns was one of thirty hopefuls accepted by American Idol judges Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul and Randy Jackson from a crowd of 12,000 in San Diego.
He is one of 12 remaining contestants.
Thousands of devotees across the world are backing the Aussie on internet fan-sites, but Mrs Del Basso knew Johns was a knockout from his very first audition 12 years ago.
She said it was immediately clear he was the “whole package”, with ample stage presence and a cheeky personality.
“He came in and he’d never done a singing lesson in his life and he was a totally raw talent,” she said.
“He just blew us away.
“You’ve got to have that whole package and he was just one of those packages that you don’t come across every day.”
As a teenager, Johns starred as the coachman in Pinocchio at the Regal Theatre and he was a choir singer in Anything Goes at His Majesty’s Theatre.
His acting abilities also scored him a job as “Boomer”, the Western Reds Rugby League mascot.
But Mrs Del Basso said Johns’ determination was the key to his success.
At one point the young singer even spent weeks in the US living in an old car because playing gigs didn’t pay.
“At the end of the day it’s up to your attitude and your determination,” she said.
“He was nearly 19 when he left and he came in and said I’m going to America.
“He had won a tennis scholarship… but he said ‘I’m actually going to go over there to sing’.
“It had absolutely nothing to do with tennis.”
Ten years later, he lives in the US with his Texan wife.
Mrs Del Basso’s company is now assisting a number of teenage singers in the lead-up to Australian Idol auditions in Perth.
For the young West Australian hopefuls, she said Johns’ was already an idol.
“Everyone in Perth; his family and my sister Leanna and I, as far as we’re concerned he’s already made it anyway."