Hope they dont mind lol: Taken from the Official Idol Website
australianidol.bigpond.com.au/default.aspx?page=latestnews&cid=256IDOL NEWS
DAMIEN LEITH - THE OFFICIAL SITE INTERVEIWIt’s a special day in the Leith family. Not only is Damien settling into his lush temporary home in the mansion known as Idol HQ, but his son, Jarvis, is celebrating his first birthday. Damien knows that this opportunity will never be available again, so after a long history as a performer, the ex-pat Irishman is willing to suffer a short separation from his loved ones if it means a shot at superstardom. The odds of being at Idol HQ as part of the Top 12 must have seemed long as he stood in the audition room, listening to Mark Holden expose his apparent ‘ugliness’.
“Well I watched the show,” he says with a wry smile. “I kind of knew they were going to say something but I didn’t think they would say that; that caught me off guard. I decided before hand that no matter what they said I wasn’t going to let it bother me, but I was surprised! I was like ‘Woo, wait a minute!’”
The charming character can leave the negativity behind after barging into the finals with excellent form. For Damien, Idol has provided an opportunity that has previously eluded him. With his family band in Ireland, Leaf, mainstream success seemed tantalisingly close but after sour experiences with the industry, the promising group split.
“I kind of stayed in but basically the band broke up,” he explains. “There was no disagreement or anything; we were all cool but all the rest of the guys were fed up. I pretty much got back into a band for a short while but it was the end of an era. It was sad, we all went out for beers and had a farewell for the band.”
But as he lamented the end of an era, another was beginning. He may have felt jaded after narrowly missing success in the music industry, but there’s much more to life than music, and Damien was targeted by cupid. Juggling family life and career can be tough for any entertainer, but Damien was blessed when he met his bride. An artist in her own right, Eileen helps to keep Damien focused and inspired.
“I suppose when Jarvis was born there was a change,” Damien says. “I don’t gig as much as I used to. But Eileen’s an artist – she paints and I do music – so we’ve always got that arty thing going and we’ve pretty much stayed focused on it. I was getting a little bit tired – I’m getting a little bit older now – and I was kind of thinking ‘are the opportunities running out?’ Hopefully they’re not!”
If Damien was seeking ‘opportunities’ there can be none greater than a finals berth in this year’s Australian Idol. After a mixed review at his audition, the amiable character breezed through the semi finals and instantly became a crowd favourite, impressing an awe-struck television audience with his range and control. But being part of such a high quality finals group, there’s no possibility of over-confidence.
“If all of us picked the wrong song we’d be done for,” he admits. “So you keep thinking you’re picking the right song but none of us are confident. I’m speaking on behalf of everybody; none of us are 100% confident because of the limitation of the song. If we are going to be doing styles that we don’t want – like Disco wouldn’t be my top style – I wouldn’t even normally sing that sort of stuff, so I’m just going to take it song by song and see how it goes.”
Performing for millions of television viewers, Damien could be excused for letting the Australian Idol experience go to his head but those who have followed his journey know that this individual is well grounded, regardless of the dizzy heights and bright lights. Sure he’s excited today, but not because of the view, the luxury or the media attention. He’s just rapt to have permission to visit his family and celebrate his son’s birthday.
“Actually today I’ll get to see him (Jarvis),” he says excitedly. “But if I wasn’t going to be able to see him that’s just the way it works, you know. When you’re in the house it’s great, but everybody’s ‘Idol, Idol, Idol’ so it’s good to kind of step away and change a nappy or something. Like I said, changing nappies and Jarvis crying; he doesn’t care that I’m on Idol. It very much reminds you that the real world is still out there.”
