Personality: 'This Guy Sings Like An Angel'
New Straits Times - Faridul Anwar Farinordin - March 6th, 2004
Look beyond Australian Guy Sebastian’s big Afro-style hair and cherubic face and you’ll find a swell singer with soul. FARIDUL ANWAR FARINORDIN writes.
WHEN Australian singer Guy Sebastian, 23, walked into a room full of reporters
during a Press conference in Singapore recently, the one thing that commanded
everybody’s instant attention was his hair. Big, voluminous, Afro-styled hair.
The crowd was also drawn to his cherubic face and that oh-so-adorable smile
exuding innocence and warmth. So it was only natural to find out if he — the
winner of the first Australian Idol reality TV talent contest — had the voice of
an angel.
And so he sang... and almost immediately the audience gasped in wonder. His
voice, rich and resonant, carried so much soul that it pierced even the hearts
of the most cynical journalists. Right smack in the middle of his performance, a
reporter from one Malaysian magazine was so enchanted with it that he inevitably
sighed out aloud!
Apparently, Sebastian’s voice is known to have a certain kind of effect on
listeners.
At 14, his performance of One Sweet Day (popularised by Mariah Carey and Boyz II
Men) in school reduced his listeners to tears.
"I was looking at my shoes the whole time during the performance because I was
so nervous. When I finished the song and looked up, everybody was crying. That’s
when I thought that I should pursue singing. The performance was a turning point
in my life," he said in an interview with Life & Times prior to the Press
conference.
However, Sebastian explained, his first-ever performance before a big audience
was a disaster.
"When I was 10, I totally freaked out while singing Everything I Do I Do It For
You at my cousin’s wedding. I was so bad that no words came out of my mouth.
People were just laughing and they told me not to sing again. It took a few
years for me to build up the courage to sing again," he recalled.
Following his win in Australian Idol, Sebastian released his debut single Angels
Brought Me Here which sold more than 128,000 copies in just one week. It became
the highest-selling single ever and debuted at No. 1 on Australia’s ARIA charts.
Following the massive success, his debut album Just As I Am was released. It
comprises soul, funk and R&B tunes, and features Sebastian’s song-writing
collaboration on numbers including All I Need Is You, Something Don’t Feel Right
and I 4 U.
"The album is basically who I really am. In fact, I had creative freedom which
allowed me to reject some songs which I didn’t think suit my personality. In the
process, I really stressed some people out. You know, some of the songs were
about sex and stuff and that is not what I’m about. I needed to be me," he
explained.
Also included in the album are cover versions of Prince’s When Doves Cry and
Louis Armstrong’s What A Wonderful World — performed in a unique vocal styling
that is unmistakably Sebastian’s.
"Both songs are very important to me because they helped me get into the final
rounds of the (Australian Idol) competition — you know, getting from being in
the top 40 to the top 10. Another song that means a lot to me was Climb Ev’ry
Mountain from The Sound of Music musical, which I released in my latest single
All I Need Is You."
He grew up listening to old-school R&B by artistes such as Stevie Wonder and
Donnie Hathaway, and plays the guitar, drums and piano. "My next album is going
to be more soul. I am currently writing some songs and I really hope to
collaborate with Brian McKnight."
On his exotic good looks, Sebastian said: "My father Ivan, of Sri
Lankan-Portuguese descent, was born and raised in Malaysia and my mum Nellie was
born in India with an English-Portuguese background. Actually, my mum is very
fair with blue eyes and my dad is really dark. As far as the culture goes, I got
the Indian side from my mother and the Malaysian from my dad."
Sebastian was born in Klang, but his family moved to Melbourne, Australia when
he was seven. After graduating from high school, Sebastian pursued his studies
in medical radiation with a major in radiotherapy when opportunity knocked.
"My best friend told me to give it a go. I had no idea what Australian Idol was
about, so I was really hesitant at first. I didn’t want to be in a show that is
a ‘beauty’ contest more than anything else. I wanted to be judged based on my
musical credibility.
"I later realised that contestants had to sing to a live audience and that the
competition was based on musical talent," he said, adding that he was actually
sick on the day of the audition.
"We had our own version of Simon Cowell. He was not an awful guy actually, but
he had a role to play that could be ruthless because he was not afraid to voice
out his opinions. In fact, he told me (after my performance) ‘you have a good
voice, but you look like crap’."
It was probably the hair, which has, since then, been in vogue Down Under.
"Back home, people are now sticking up posters that say ‘go the Afro!’ People
also have turned up at my show in Afro wigs. But I won’t be having this for
long. I used to shave my head bald when I was in school and I think I will shave
it again next year or so, maybe for charity," said the singer, who is currently
involved in several charitable organisations.