Shannon Noll

Shannon Noll (born 16 September 1975) is an Australian singer-songwriter who first came to prominence as runner-up of the first season of Australian Idol in 2003, which led to him being signed to Sony BMG.

He has released five top-ten albums, including two number-one multi-platinum sellers.

Noll's first ten singles all peaked inside the ARIA top ten, including three that reached number one.

He is the only Australian male artist in Australian chart history to have ten consecutive top-ten singles.

Noll was born on 16 September 1975 in Orange, New South Wales, to Neil and Sharyn Noll.

He grew up in the small town of Tullibigeal in central western New South Wales as the youngest of three children with his older brothers Adam and Damian.

Noll spent his entire childhood and teenage years on the family farm, which raised sheep and cattle and grew cereal crops.

At school, he enjoyed drama classes and performed in school productions.

After leaving school, he traveled to Sydney where he met his wife Rochelle Ogston and played AFL.

As an adult, Noll worked shearing sheep among other tasks.

He and his brothers formed the band called Cypress (named after the Cypress pine timber mill where they rehearsed).

He provided vocals and played guitar.

In gigs around the Australian outback, the band played in country pubs.

Although they performed mainly covers, the group also wrote original music.

Noll's father Neil was killed during a farming accident in 2001, which left the farm to him and his brothers.

After two years of extreme drought, Noll leased the farm out and got by on drought support money and odd-jobbing on a friend's farm.

He penned a song on his album Lift titled "Now I Run" in his father's memory.

In 2003, Noll successfully auditioned for the first season of Australian Idol, singing Southern Sons' "Hold Me in Your Arms".

His audition impressed all three judges, including Marcia Hines who told him that she had just discovered "a voice" and Ian Dickson who informed Noll that "Australia will love you".

Following the semi-final process, Noll had advanced through to the top twelve.

He eventually progressed through to the grand final with Guy Sebastian, following contestant Cosima De Vito's withdrawal from the competition.

The grand final was held on 19 November 2003 at the Sydney Opera House.

After the viewer votes had been tallied it was announced that Guy Sebastian was the winner.

Shortly after Idol Noll signed a five-album deal with BMG Australia, which later merged with Sony.

Noll's debut single, "What About Me?", was certified 4× platinum and became the highest-selling single of 2004 in Australia.

With 17 platinum and three gold certifications and combined album and single sales of over 1.3 million in Australia, Noll has the third-highest certification and sales level for an Australian Idol contestant.

Noll has received six ARIA Music Award nominations, including Best Pop Release for his second album Lift, and has won five ARIA No. 1 Chart Awards.

He then embarked on the Australian Idol national tour in January 2004, with eleven other contestants from the top twelve.

That same month Noll released his cover of the Moving Pictures song "What About Me?" as his debut single.

It debuted at number one on the ARIA Singles Chart and spent four consecutive weeks at the top spot.

"What About Me" was the highest selling single of 2004 in Australia and was certified 4× platinum for shipments of 280,000 copies.

The song also reached number two in Ireland and number ten in New Zealand.

Noll's debut album That's What I'm Talking About was released on 9 February 2004, and debuted at number one on the ARIA Albums Chart with first-week sales of 131,680 copies.

Containing a mixture of pop, rock and country tracks, the album spent fourteen weeks in the top ten, including four weeks at number one, and was certified 5× platinum for shipments of 350,000 copies.

The second single "Drive", an uptempo rock track written by Canadian singer Bryan Adams, reached number four in Australia and was certified platinum for shipments of 70,000 copies.

Noll's cover of boy band A1's "Learn to Fly" was released as the third and final single from That's What I'm Talking About.

It became his second number one single and was certified gold for shipments of 35,000 copies.

He also won the MTV Australia Video Music Award for Best Male Artist three years in succession between 2005 and 2007.

In 2010, Noll ended his contract with Sony, briefly signed with Universal Music Australia before signing with Warner Music Australia, to release his fifth studio album Unbroken in February 2018.

In January 2018, he was revealed as a celebrity contestant on the fourth season of the Australian version of I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!, and in August 2022, he was revealed to be the "Blowfly" on the fourth season of Network 10's The Masked Singer Australia.