TheFeldster
Mr Kite
Wesley Dean Carr is an ARIA nominated Australian singer-songwriter from Adelaide, Australia, who came to fame as the winner of the 6th season of reality TV show "Australian Idol" in 2008.
No wait, come back! This is a rock 'n roller who happened to be on Idol.
Carr began his music career in 2003 with the independent band, Tambalane, which featured and was founded by Silverchair drummer Ben Gillies. They released their self-titled debut in 2005.
A couple of singles ("Free" and "Little Miss Liar") got a small amount of airplay on Australian alternative radio station Triple J.
Ultimately, a power struggle between Carr and Gillies saw Tambalane disband following the album and Gillies returned to Silverchair.
In 2006, Wes Carr kick started his solo career by traveling to L.A. and working closely with, among others, founding member of Steely Dan, Jeff Baxter.
With this experience and an EP entitled Rhythm to Fly under his belt, Carr went on to begin his debut solo album, a very soft and mellow album entitled Simple Sum.
Independently released, Simple Sum failed to make any impact, despite help from founding member of Midnight Oil, Jim Moiginie. A majority of the songs on the debut were written during Carr's teenage years.
Disgruntled by his lack of success, Carr briefly retired from the music industry and began working as a bartender in Sydney. However, he couldn't stay away from the music for long, and soon found himself taking a punt and auditioning for Australian Idol.
This is where he came to my attention. I usually watch the audition episode of Idol for the lulz, so to speak, and Wes blew me away even then with his version of "Come Together".
Wes blitzed the competition and eventually won. Here's some of his best performances.
Desire (U2)
If I Were A Carpenter (The Four Tops)
Get Back (The Beatles) (just ignore the judges at the end if you're not interested )
Having gained exposure, Wes Carr set about recording his second album, The Way The World Looks.
It's lead single, "You" went to No. 1 in the charts after 3 weeks, dislodging Lady GaGa from the top. The album itself peaked at #2.
Other singles included "Feels Like Woah" (generally agreed to be his best song, despite what the charts say about You), "Fearless" and the first song Wes ever wrote, "Love Is An Animal".
Later released of the album included a EP titled Under the Influence which contained covers of popular songs by artists such as The Beatles, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Fleetwood Mac (of the Nicks variety) and John Lennon, as well as this particularly popular cover:
Wes is currently recording his 3rd solo album.