Michael Johns (born 20 October 1978 as Michael John Lee) is an Australian singer-songwriter who finished in eighth place on the seventh season of a United States television series, American Idol, in 2008.

Biography

Early life

Johns was born Michael John Lee in Perth, Western Australia. He attended Newman College. As a teenager, Michael John Lee appeared as The Coachman in Pinocchio at the Regal Theatre and was a choir singer in Anything Goes at His Majesty's Theatre.

He moved to the United States in 1998 on a tennis scholarship and majored in drama at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College in Tifton before dropping out after two quarters. He then lived in Atlanta, Georgia for six years, performing at local venues. He also played Australian rules football for the USAFL club Atlanta Kookaburras. He currently resides in Los Angeles, California with his Texan wife, Stacey Vuduris, who is an interior designer.

Career

After traveling to Los Angeles to showcase for a number of labels in 2001, he formed a rock band called The Rising, where he met his longtime girlfriend Jill Stephens, and performed on several television shows. and at the opening of a Los Angeles Apple Store in 2003. The Rising produced an iTunes album Future Unknown. Although a number of the tracks received some airplay on radio in 2003, the album was not released on iTunes until he was on American Idol.

American Idol

Overview

He auditioned for American Idol Season 7 at San Diego's Qualcomm Stadium in July 2007. At 28 years old, it was his first audition and last year of eligibility. He claimed to be an avid American Idol fan (having watched this show since the beginning) and was one of the first non-US citizens to make the Top 12. He finished eighth place in the Season 7 competition.

Performances

Week #

Theme

Song choice

Original artist

Order #

Result

Top 24 (12 Men)

1960s

"Light My Fire"

The Doors

12

Safe

Top 20 (10 Men)

1970s

"Go Your Own Way"

Fleetwood Mac

1

Safe

Top 16 (8 Men)

1980s

"Don't You (Forget About Me)"

Simple Minds

5

Safe

Top 12

Lennon"McCartney

"Across the Universe"

The Beatles

10

Safe

Top 11

The Beatles

"A Day in the Life"

The Beatles

4

Safe

Top 10

Year They Were Born

"We Will Rock You"/"We Are the Champions"

Queen

6

Safe

Top 9

Dolly Parton

"It's All Wrong But It's All Right"

Dolly Parton

9

Safe

Top 8

Inspirational Music

"Dream On"

Aerosmith

1

Eliminated

Post-Idol

Following the show, he performed on the American Idols LIVE! Tour 2008 which toured 53 cities from 1 July 2008 to 13 September 2008.

Shaun White's documentary DVD Don't Look Down features Johns singing all but one track, along with Rye Randa and Jeff Foxworth. Released on 1 January 2009 by Three Rings Project it consists of 17 songs, 10 of which are vocal.

He released a song, "Another Christmas," on 12 December 2008, which he penned in 2006 when circumstances kept him from returning to his native Australia for Christmas. Proceeds from the song were advertised as going to the Red Cross and MDA's ALS division. In 2009, he released a single called "Heart on my Sleeve" and an album titled Hold back my Heart, which sold 20,000 copies.

Discography

Albums

Release Date	Artist	Album	Label	No. of Tracks
2001	Film	Rolling	Projector Records	6 tracks
16 September 2003	The Rising	Future Unknown	Maverick	11 tracks
26 August 2003		Live at the Apple Store		5 tracks (EP)
2007	Michael Johns	Michael Johns	-	12 tracks
2008		Another Christmas	TRP records	1 track
2009		Don't Look Down " The Height of Competition		17 tracks

Downtown Records

Year	Album details	Peak		Certifications (sales threshold)
		US	US Indie
2009	Hold Back My Heart Release date: 23 June 2009 Label: Downtown Records Format: CD	97	12	US sales: 20,000
2012	Love & Sex Release date: 11 June 2012 Label: BUTR Records Format: Digital Download	193	50	US: 32,000

Singles

Year	Title	Chart Positions	Album
		US AC
2009	"Life Is Okay" (feat. Brooke White)	"?	Don't Look Down " The Height of Competition
	"Heart on My Sleeve"	22	Hold Back My Heart

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