RetroRadio – Guy Sebastian

June 28, 2019
by Rodney Olsen
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RetroRadio is a series of posts of radio interviews from my time working at 98five Sonshine FM covering everything from issues of spirituality to chats with visiting musicians and celebrities.

Hopefully, the interviews spark a few memories and a few thoughts.

These days he’s the newest coach on hit television show, The Voice Australia, but since bursting onto our screens and winning the first series of Australian Idol back in 2003, Guy Sebastian has amassed an amazing list of accomplishments.

He has performed alongside and in front of some of the biggest names in the music business, won a swag of awards and was Australia’s representative at the 2015 Eurovision Song Contest.

Back in my radio days, I had a number of opportunities to chat with Guy. Here are a couple of those interviews.

Firstly, here’s an interview from October 2007. Guy was just about to release his Memphis Album. The wonderful thing about that album was that Guy enlisted the help of top soul musicians such as Steve Cropper, Donald “Duck” Dunn, Steve Potts, Lester Snell, Dave Smith, Rick Steff, Jim Spake, Kirk Smothers, Scott Thompson and Howard Lamb.

Many of those musicians wrote and recorded the original versions of the songs on the album with the likes of Otis Redding, Sam & Dave, Al Green and Wilson Pickett and were members of the MGs, playing with Booker T, and the Blues Brothers Band. Steve Cropper, who co-wrote In The Midnight Hour, Knock On Wood, and (Sittin’ On) The Dock Of The Bay, also produced the album with Guy.

I remember having a representative of the record company in the studio during our interview. She gasped when Guy revealed that some of those giants of the industry would be his backing band for a tour early in 2008.

The only downside of having Guy live in the studio was that he had a terrible flu, which I then managed to catch.

Listen to what he had to say about his music all those years ago using the media player below.

In October 2009 I had the opportunity to catch up with Guy again. Once again we talked about his musical journey and his album at the time, Like it Like That.

Once again he was a delight to interview. I was particularly encouraged, and a little embarrassed, by his final words to me in the interview. I guess he enjoyed the interview as much as I did.

Just click play and enjoy another catch up with Guy Sebastian.

[Note: All RetroRadio interviews on RodneyOlsen.net are a snapshot of the time they were recorded. We all grow and change and so the opinions and thoughts of those in the interviews at the time of recording may or may not necessarily be the same as they are today.]



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Stan Walker on the Morning Café

September 30, 2011
by Rodney Olsen
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It hardly seems like almost two years since Stan Walker won the seventh and final series of Australian Idol.

During his Idol journey International superstar Michael Bublé heard him sing and said, “That voice is like God kissed his throat”.

After one performance during Idol he left Joel and Benji Madden of Good Charlotte speechless. Joel said that listening to Stan sing made him want to sing R&B music and Benji said he’d watch him perform whether he won the competition or not.

Since then Stan Walker has continued to build a strong career with a number of hit singles and a growing fan base. He released the single Loud earlier this year and the new single Light It Up just a couple of weeks ago.

Stan Walker joined me in the studio this morning for the Morning Café on 98.5 Sonshine FM.

I talked to Stan about his new single, the upcoming album and the song he recorded with Jessica Mauboy.

I also asked about his new role as an actor and whether he has big plans for his 21st birthday next month.

You can listen to our conversation by clicking the play button on the audio player at the bottom of this post.

[audio:http://mpegmedia.sonshinefm.ws/feeds/MOR300911_1151.mp3]

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Wes Carr – Been a Long Time

May 19, 2011
by Rodney Olsen
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This is the great new song for Wes Carr.

Born and raised in Adelaide, South Australia, Wes first began to teach himself guitar and piano at the age of twelve. He’s been performing ever since but he finally gained national recognition by becoming the winner of the 2008 series of Australian Idol.

Wes has just released his new single and he joined me on the 98.5 Sonshine FM to talk about his music this morning.

You can hear our chat by clicking the play button on the audio player at the bottom of this post.

[audio:http://mpegmedia.sonshinefm.ws/feeds/MOR190511_1032.mp3]

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Stan Walker’s Idol Year

November 23, 2010
by Rodney Olsen
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Yesterday was the first anniversary of Stan Walker being named the winner of the seventh series of Australian Idol. During his Idol journey International superstar Michael Bublé heard him sing and said, “That voice is like God kissed his throat.”

After one performance during Idol he left Joel and Benji Madden of Good Charlotte speechless. Joel said that listening to Walker sing made him want to sing R&B music and Benji said he’d watch him perform whether he won the competition or not.

Pete Wentz of Fall Out Boy told Stan that if he had no where to go after Idol to give him a call.

A year on and Stan Walker has continued to build a strong career with a number of hit singles and a growing fan base. He’s in Perth for Summerbeatz tonight at Burswood Dome. He joined me in the studio this morning at 98.5 Sonshine FM.

We spoke about everything from his trip to Haiti following the devastating earthquake that took thousands upon thousands of lives to his excitement about having his first holiday in over a year.

We also touched on his recent visit to London, Altiyan Childs winning X Factor, Speedos and Stan scoring the role of singing the theme song for Chronicles of Narnia – The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.

You can hear our conversation by clicking the play button on the audio player below.
[audio:http://mpegmedia.sonshinefm.ws/feeds/MOR231110_1003.mp3]



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Stan Walker on Compassion Day

April 29, 2010
by Rodney Olsen
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2009 Australian Idol Stan WalkerOn Sunday 22 November 2009, 19 year old Stan Walker’s life changed forever. He became the 2009 Australian Idol.

His first single Black Box was an instant hit. His album Introducing Stan Walker was released late last year. His new single Unbroken has just been released and is receiving airplay around Australia.

International superstar Michael Bublé was one of the guest mentors for Australian Idol 2009 and after meeting Stan and hearing him sing he said, “That voice is like God kissed his throat. It’s hard when you’re a singer and you meet a better singer than you and you have to come up and mentor them.” After one performance during Idol he left Joel and Benji Madden of Good Charlotte speechless. Joel said that listening to Walker sing made him want to sing R&B music and Benji said he’d watch him perform wheather he won the competition or not. Pete Wentz of Fall Out Boy told Stan that if he had no where to go after Idol to give him a call.

Stan joined me on the phone this morning on 98.5 Sonshine FM to talk about his new single as well as his very recent trip to earthquake affected Haiti.

Today is Compassion Day so Stan took the opportunity to urge listeners to sponsor a child through Compassion Australia. You can hear our conversation by clicking on the play button of the audio player at the bottom of this post.

[audio:http://mpegmedia.sonshinefm.ws/feeds/MOR290410_1408.mp3]

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