Anthony Callea

Callea's debut single, a cover of Celine Dion and Andrea Bocelli's song "The Prayer", is the fastest-selling single by an Australian artist; it held the number-one spot on the Aria Singles Chart for five weeks, a record for the debut single of an Australian Idol contestant, and was the second-highest-selling Australian single of the 2000s.

Callea has accumulated a string of awards, including an Aria Music Award, Channel V Artist of the Year, Pop Republic Artist of the Year, MTV Viewers' Choice Award, Variety's Young Entertainer of the Year, an MO Award, and a Gospel Music Award.

He is known for his powerful trained voice and his versatility in a range of genres in releases and live performances.

All but one of the tracks on his second album A New Chapter were co-written by him.

Anthony Cosmo Callea is an Australian singer-songwriter and stage actor who rose to prominence as the runner-up in the 2004 season of Australian Idol.

He was selected for the final 30 in the television series Australian Idol in 2004.

Based on viewer votes, he did not make it through the first round of competition, but was invited back as a "Judge's Choice Wildcard", where his performance earned him a place in the final 12.

The competition concluded in November 2004 with Callea finishing as runner-up to Casey Donovan.

In July 2005, Callea made an east coast of Australia tour adding dates along the way in 2005.

Supporting Callea on tour was Tina Cousins.

Callea's DVD Live in Concert was released on 7 November 2005.

It debuted at No. 3 in the Aria DVD Chart and was awarded platinum status.

Callea released the single "Live for Love" on 26 May from his second album A New Chapter, the only song on the album which he did not co-write.

Both the single and the album, released on 25 November 2006, debuted at number 9.

The album contains a mix of genres characteristic to Callea, including power ballads and more up-tempo songs.

Callea also contributed his version of the Brian McKnight song, "Home", to the compilation album Home: Songs of Hope & Journey, which was released to raise funds for BeyondBlue, an anti-depression organisation.

The second single "Addicted to You" debuted at no. 19 when released in February 2007.

A New Chapter features two exclusive tracks entitled "Whatever It Takes" (originally recorded by Edyta Górniak for the album Invisible) and "Meant for Love" when purchased digitally, which didn't make the album's final cut.

In 2007, Callea was one of the professional voices on a Seven Network's weekly musical competition program, It Takes Two, in which celebrities from non-musical fields were teamed with professional singers to perform a duet each week.

Callea was paired with radio DJ Jo Stanley and finished in second place, competing against Jolene Anderson and David Campbell at the finals.

From July to September 2007, Callea embarked on his A New Chapter tour with his four-piece band.

Callea performed the songs in his album A New Chapter as well as some of his classic songs, playing 18 shows across the country.

In September 2007, in his first musical production, Callea played a supporting role in Dead Man Walking, the true story of Sister Helen Prejean, an unconventional nun, who accompanies murderer Joe de Rocher to his death by execution.

It explores the opposing desires for vengeance and forgiveness in this extreme situation, and the commitment required to love or to hate a fellow human being.

In November 2007, Callea played the lead role Mark Cohen, a filmmaker and video artist, and Roger's roommate, in the Perth production of American Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize-winning rock musical Rent.

This was Callea's second musical production.

In 2008, Callea again performed as one of the professional voices on It Takes Two, and his partner for season three was ironwoman Candice Falzon.

Callea and Falzon were eliminated in week seven, finishing in fifth place.

October 2011 saw Callea release his first new music in four years, a single titled "Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh", self-funded, released and distributed as a fully independent venture through his own production company, Vox Enterprises.

The dance-pop track was co-written in LA with two-time Grammy-nominated and official DJ for the Black Eyed Peas, Poet Name Life.

It signalled a departure from the ballads for which he is known and was released in digital format only.

In March 2013, it was announced Callea signed a record deal with ABC Music and would release his third studio album on 26 April 2013.

The new release, entitled Thirty, was the first of two albums released that year, and were distributed by Universal Music.

The second, released on 8 November 2013 was a Christmas album titled This Is Christmas.

In August 2014 Callea released his third album with ABC music but, in contrast to previous albums, this was a Live DVD/CD Ladies & Gentlemen: The Songs of George Michael filmed and recorded at the Palms at Crown Melbourne.

The DVD debuted at number 1 on the Australian Aria Charts.

On 5 August 2016, after three albums with ABC Music, Callea announced that he had re-signed with Sony Music Australia and would be releasing his sixth album Backbone along with an East Coast tour, due to be released in September 2016.

Anthony Callea started singing and performing at a young age.

In an interview with Sydney Unleashed, he stated:

"I started recording and writing when I was 16. When I turned 18, I started gigging more and eventually was working 2-3 nights a week. I also became a vocal coach and ended up having 32 private students a week. I was 21 when I auditioned for Australian Idol and that was definitely the turning point for me."