Irish pharmacist scoops Australian Idol title

THE Irish singer crowned Australian Idol winner was last night congratulated by the Government.

Pharmacist Damien Leith, 30, from Co Kildare, won most public votes in the popular Network Ten reality TV show in Sydney.

Irish Arts Minster John O’Donoghue said: “I want to heartily congratulate Damien on his success on behalf of the Irish people and wish him well in his music career.”

Leith, who lives in Sydney with his wife Eileen and son Jarvis, competed against Australian teenager Jessica Mauboy in the final in the Sydney Opera House.

His parents flew out to support him in the competition.

The singer chose some songs by Irish artists on his way to the title: The Blower’s Daughter by Damien Rice and With or Without You by U2.

He sang Nessun Dorma and his own original single, The Night of My Life, in the final.

More than 25,000 aspiring stars auditioned for the fourth series of Australian Idol.

Living in the Sydney suburb of Newtown, Damien is due to receive Australian citizenship soon.

The singer formed a band with his siblings in his early years in Miltown, Co Kildare, before he emigrated to Australia.

He has been gigging in Sydney as the frontman for Revelate and is due to release an album in coming weeks.

Leith, reportedly a surprise winner, beat favourite Mauboy, 17, in the contest at the Sydney Opera House.

He was the first foreigner to win the coveted prize which includes a AUS$1m recording deal.

His brother Paul said the whole family was delighted. “Luckily enough we actually had a cameraman over in Channel 10 in Australia who was able to hook up a live feed across to us via the internet so we’ve been able to watch the whole event unfolding today which is great,” he said.

“All the neighbours have crammed into our house and we’ve been watching it since about 8 o’clock this morning,” he said yesterday. “You’ve never seen anything so spectacular in all your life. It ended up being billed as the biggest event in Australia this year. They took over the whole of the Sydney Opera House, it was packed with thousands of thousand of people. You could even see whole areas that were a sea of green, of supporters for Damien.”