“It’s quite simple,” Damien says with a laugh after I ask him to send a message to the fans who helped him to become our latest Australian Idol. “Thanks a million!”

The down-to-earth dad has barely had time to reflect on his well-deserved win over the last week, with announcements of pending recordings making it perfectly clear that the victorious crooner will have his hands full over the next few months, if not years.

Damien Leith: The Winners Journey is set to hit shop shelves. It’s a retrospective CD/DVD release that features the champ’s Idol performances plus Damien’s Number 1 single, Night of My Life. The release is intended to keep fans sated while SonyBMG provides Damien with the time and resources to create a remarkable debut album. For a man who likes to consider his tastes ‘alternative’, the record label’s attitude is a tonic. “They’ve been fantastic,” he says enthusiastically. “Even with the single, The B-side’s one of my songs and you know what? It’s not a particularly commercial song. So yeah, that’s really encouraging.”

It’s Damien’s integrity as an artist that always came to the fore during his Idol journey. Under fire from a scathing judging panel and faced with challenging themes, Damien remained true to himself. It was one of the qualities that impressed his fans. “Well,” he says thoughtfully. “That’s great because I hoped people would notice that. I always tried to stay true to that throughout the whole series.”

Another admirable quality of our new Australian Idol is his commitment to his family, and it was only when he talked about his wife and child on the show that the tough character lost composure. I asked him if Idol had trained him to cope with the balance between being a star and being a husband/father. “Well, Idol does train you on all sorts of levels,” he admits. “Eileen and I, we’ve discussed it, just last night, and I want them to be involved, every step of the way.”

The most important step of that journey will be the recording of Damien’s debut album, set for release in the new year. Feedback from SonyBMG suggests that the label is absolutely rapt to have such a capable artist on their roster and won’t be rushing the finished product. That’s music to Damien’s ears. “It’s true what they said,” Damien explains. “They want to take their time and we’ll be recording what will hopefully be a great album.”

As for the aspiring Idols, preparing to nervously face the panel during the 2007 Australian Idol Audition Tour, Damien sounded quite amused, probably remembering his original meeting with the larger-than-life judges. “If you’re a performer, you have to audition,” he says without hesitation. “Musically, Idol is the best thing I’ve ever done in my life”.

Damien Leith: The Winners Journey is released on December 7, through Sony BMG.

Taken from : Australian Idol News

Labels: album recording, australian idol, music news, world music idol