The lead singer of Australian rock band INXS J.D. Fortune, who was picked to replace the late Michael Hutchence in a contest on a reality TV show, said he has been fired without warning from the band. Fortune, 35, a Canadian rock singer was living out of his car when he won the CBS network’s 2005 reality TV series “Rock Star:INXS.” He became the frontman for the six-man band, taking the place of 37-year-old Hutchence who was found dead in a Sydney hotel room in November 1997 with a coroner ruling he had committed suicide. With Fortune, INXS released the… Read more »
Four years after the launch of “Survivor,” the show’s chief, Mark Burnett, is reuniting with CBS in search of a rock star. After a healthy bidding war, CBS has landed an untitled reality series described as a cross of “American Idol,” “Big Brother” and “Survivor” set in the world of rock music. It will feature aspiring musicians competing for the chance to become the new lead singer of Australian rock band INXS, a gig that opened up after the 1997 suicide of frontman Michael Hutchence. After a multicontinent search with auditions in cities throughout the United States and Canada as… Read more »
Seven years after singer Michael Hutchence’s death, INXS have announced that they will find their new lead singer through a new Mark Burnett reality show, Rock Star. Replacing singers is tricky business. Ian Astbury joined The Doors after an actual history in rock with The Cult, but Jim Morrison he ain’t. Oh, and what about Creedence Clearwater Revisited? Yeah, without John Fogerty’s voice, they’re just a drummer and a bassist who used to be in a good band. I know I don’t ever want to hear Scott Weiland try to be Axl Rose, but seeing Duff McKagan, Matt Sorum and… Read more »
“We’re cranking up the big handle again and heading over yonder,” says INXS guitarist Tim Farriss about his band’s upcoming trek across America, the Aussie group’s first since 1997. “We’re really, really excited about it. It’s going to be a real interesting show.” Beginning May 30th in Anaheim, California, the twenty-four-date jaunt will mark the band’s first stateside gigs since the death of singer Michael Hutchence. Filling in on vocal duties for the time being is longtime friend of the band Jon Stevens, who over the last few years has taken the vocal reins at INXS shows Down Under. “Jon’s… Read more »
More than four years after the suicide of their elegant frontman, Michael Hutchence, the five members of Australian rock band INXS will return to the U.S. concert circuit in May with a substitute vocalist. The group, famed for such hits as “Need You Tonight” and “Devil Inside,” will kick off a 40-city club tour in Anaheim, Calif., on May 30 with Jon Stevens at the helm, the group’s publicist said in a statement on Friday. Stevens, who has performed with INXS on short tours of Australia and Europe, is the former singer with Australian rock band Noiseworks, and a longtime… Read more »
INXS are planning a flurry of releases this year to celebrate their twenty-fifth anniversary, including the worldwide release of a best-of CD later this year on Rhino/Atlantic Records. According to the group’s official Web site, the compilation will feature INXS “classics” as well as previously unreleased material. The band will also release a DVD anthology featuring promotional videos, live performances, photo galleries and rare footage. An INXS coffee table book is also in the works, featuring photos from the band members’ private collections as well as diary entries written over the span of twenty years by guitarist/saxophonist Kirk Pengilly. INXS… Read more »
For the first time in almost four years, one of Australia’s most successful rock bands, INXS, is playing a few shows in North America. But the crowd at their recent Los Angeles stop consisted of about 70 Rhino Records employees and a few reporters, just two of the band’s six members were on stage, and the bespectacled singer looked nothing like Michael Hutchence, the group’s charismatic vocalist. Hutchence committed suicide in November 1997, and his bandmates are having a hard time deciding whether to carry on. In the meantime, they have released a two-CD anthology, “Shine Like It Does,” via… Read more »
In a triple bill of Australian rock heavyweights that would have filled arenas in 1988, INXS, Midnight Oil, and Men At Work will team for a month-long North American tour this summer. The jaunt, with INXS and Midnight Oil alternating in the closing spot each night, begins May 28 in Atlanta and wraps June 27 in Las Vegas. INXS will be fronted by Jon Stevens, replacing Michael Hutchence, who committed suicide in late 1997. The band is also said to be plotting a new studio album, which would be its first since 1997’s “Elegantly Wasted” (Mercury). As previously reported, Rhino… Read more »
Four Year Strong has officially dropped a pop-punk cover of Stone Temple Pilots‘ beloved track “Vasoline.” The cover is set to appear on Pabst Blue Ribbon and Pure Noise Records‘ compilation cover album, Dead Formats: Vol. 3. The record is officially set for release on October 18. You can pre-order your copy here. Alongside Four Year Strong‘s release, Pure Noise Records also revealed Spanish Love Songs‘ “Don’t Change” INXS cover and Grumpster‘s reimagining of Lit‘s “My Own Worst Enemy.” Previous cover releases set to appear on Dead Formats: Vol. 3 include ‘68’s rework of Beastie Boys‘ “Intergalactic,” Bloom‘s cover of… Read more »
For a band on the verge of releasing a new album during a global pandemic, Chase Atlantic is surprisingly chill.
