About Guy
Name: Guy Theodore Sebastian
Birthday: 26th October 1981
Place of Birth: Malaysia
Nationality: His father is Sri Lankan/Malaysian and his mother is English/Spanish (unconfirmed)
Family: He has two younger brothers Chris and Jeremy and an older brother name Ollie!
Occupation: School Music Teacher, Audio Engineer, singer
In 1995, a shy, 14 year old school boy with dark, closely cropped hair walked nervously onto the stage of his Adelaide high school hall and grabbed a microphone. He had never sung in front of his schoolmates before, and he stood trembling on the stage, his eyes transfixed upon his shaking feet. Anxious laughter rumbled through the crowd. Who did he think he was? The laughter grew to a roar. Then something magical happened. The boy began to sing and the room fell silent. And when he finished singing, he raised his eyes and looked out at the crowd. His teachers were crying. And his schoolmates were crying too. And so it was that a young Guy Sebastian learned the most valuable lesson of his singing career: �To touch people, all you need is to give yourself through the music�.
Then, as now, Guy Sebastian played it straight from the heart.
JUST AS I AM. It is hard to believe that just six months ago, Guy Sebastian was an unknown, church going 22 year old from suburban Adelaide who juggled two jobs � a vocal teacher and a recording engineer - and loved nothing more than tearing around the Adelaide Hills district on his beloved Yamaha 250cc motorbike.
Today, the Australian Idol winner is a genuine cultural phenomenon, a pop idol whose mesmerising voice, disarming charisma and gravity defying afro hairdo has not only captivated a nation - it�s set the record books reeling! Guy�s winning performance at the Australian Idol grand finale is the most watched program on Australian TV in 2003. It is also the most watched single non-sporting telecast in the history of Australian broadcasting. 3.65 million Australians tuned in to see Guy take out the Idol crown - proportionately more than watched man walk on the moon!
Guy�s debut single, Angels Brought Me Here debuted at No. 1 on the ARIA charts. Incredibly, in just one week on sale it has sold in excess of 128 000 copies, making it: the fastest selling single in Australian ARIAnet history; the second highest selling single ever in it�s first week of sales (second only to the cultural aberration that was Elton John�s Princess Diana tribute, Candle In the Wind); and the biggest seller ever for first week singles sales by a debut artist.
Now it�s time to unleash the album.
Guy�s debut album � JUST AS I AM � is a genuine revelation, a musically assured slice of funk tinged urban pop and soul that belies the extreme circumstances under which it was recorded. It is testament to Guy�s unswerving commitment and self-discipline � and copious amounts of sushi and peppermint tea � that an intense five and a half day recording schedule has produced an album of such undisputed world class. �I wanted to give the people who believe in me something that they�re proud of�, says Guy. �Not just something that�s considered as good for a six day album, but something which is a great album. Full stop�.
JUST AS I AM utilises the talents of some of the world�s finest songwriters and producers, who collectively have worked with artists as diverse as Delta Goodrem, Britney Spears, Kelly Clarkson, John Farnham and Westlife. But in the end, JUST AS I AM is testament to the singular vocal talents of the golden boy from Golden Grove, the guy next door whose unique interpretative talents allow him to cover iconic songs as stylistically diverse as Prince�s When The Doves Cry or Louis Armstrong�s What A Wonderful World and transform them into tracks unmistakeably his own. Guy doesn�t so much sing a song as live out its emotions. It is this gift, honed through years singing out front of his 2000 strong church congregation, that affords Guy a deep and direct connection with the listener and distinguishes him from myriad pop wannabes.
Guy is the antithesis of the manufactured pop star. He is a multi-instrumentalist (piano, drums and guitar) and a prolific songwriter who by his own estimation has written about 30 finished original songs and has about 150 others in various states of completion. Critically, three of Guy�s original co-compositions are included on JUST AS I AM � All I Need Is You, Something Don�t Feel Right, and i 4 U, a fact of which he is immensely proud.
�It was incredibly important to me to have got some of my own material onto the album � 83 hours in one hit important�, reveals Guy. �I didn�t sleep for three nights writing and composing i 4 u. I think the credibility in having your own stuff just makes you an artist. Credibility is what I�ve always strived for and I couldn�t imagine my first record not having one of my songs on it. I would have been very upset. It�s blown me away the amount of input I�ve had into it�.
Australian Idol may have catapulted Guy to an ever spiralling whirlwind of fame and fortune, but this is one guy who has his feet planted firmly on the ground � a fact reflected in the album�s title, JUST AS I AM.
�I just think it says who I am. I tried to pick songs that weren�t totally restricted one genre like R&B. I don�t have the attitude of the bling bling, that whole �look at me� arrogance. I think I�ve got a bit too much joy for that. So I�ve concentrated on R&B and pop. I don�t think in anyone in Australia has had a totally unique crossover between the two. It�s either R&B and that�s all they do, or pop is all they do. But I want to try to bring a whole �no attitude music�. It�s all about the music. It�s not about being cooler or above anyone, but being on the same level as the people who are listening to it�.
Which brings us back to the lesson Guy learnt all those years ago.
�To touch people, all you need is to give yourself through the music�.
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