Marty Casey - he was on Rockstar INXS, too!

So I've learned that JD Fortune has been working on a solo project after INXS stopped touring. As I await to learn more about it, I thought I'd take a quick look back at Rock Star: INXS, the show that basically catapulted him to stardom.


In that pic (taken from Rock Star: INXS) you can see (from left to right) Marty Casey, JD Fortune, and MiG Ayesa. All three were anticipating the decision from INXS on who would be INXS's new lead singer. Doesn't JD look so adorable there? I have to admit though...I was actually rooting for Marty Casey at the time.

I was very impressed by Marty's performances. To put it simply, his performances kicked @ss (I wasn't sure if blogger would allow me to publish the actual word I meant - but I think you know what I meant)! One I especially got a real kick out of watching was his dark rendition of Baby One More Time - yes, that Britney Spears hit song. Check out the video of Marty Casey's version on YouTube here.

While Marty didn't win the contest to become INXS's new lead singer, he and his band, The Lovehammers,were fortunate to be able to perform with INXS for a great part of the concert tour.

I purchased a CD of Marty Casey and the Lovehammers as soon as it became available. I was quite pleased with the album which included the song Trees that Marty co-wrote and performed on Rockstar INXS. It's one album I definitely feel was worth buying.


If you're interested in getting more news and information about Marty Casey, please visit his official website:

You can also check out Marty Casey on myspace:


To hear the demos of JD's solo music, you can check out his myspace site, too:


Oh yeah, I found JD Fortune's official website. Here's the link:


I didn't mean to leave MiG Ayesa out, but here's a link to his official website in case you're interested in learning more about him, too:



By the way, that's a collage I put together of Marty Casey shortly after Rockstar INXS ended its run. I just thought I'd share it here. (Wow, can you believe that was almost three years ago?!)

Once upon a rock star...

It's always such a pity when someone who is lucky enough to have talent, good looks and a lucky break such as winning in a reality TV show contest chooses to mess with drugs and alcohol and lose all that good fortune. Fortune...that apparently was what eluded JD Fortune after spending the last couple years performing as INXS's frontman following his win on the reality TV show "Rock Star: INXS".

For those who watched the series, remember him here? This was taken that night he beat out Marty Casey and MiG Ayesa to become INXS's new lead singer.


Despite the famous tattoos (he has HUMAN BEING tattooed on his forearms), he still looked like the kind of guy every nice girl would want to take home to meet the parents. He was adorably cute with a little bad boy touch in him.



I don't know how much of it is rumor and how much of it is true, but I read somewhere that the reason why INXS let him go was that he became a habitual cocaine user and alcoholic and just could not kick the habit. Supposedly, after their tragic experience losing Michael Hutchence to this kind of behavior (and his eventual suicide), the band just didn't want to have to deal with it again. This article I read about him on People.com doesn't really go into much detail about it either.

www.people.com/people/article/0,,20261068,00.html?xid=rss-topheadlines

I tried to find information on the official INXS website, but the latest news on the site is a Happy Birthday to the late Michael Hutchence who would have been 49 years old on 01-22-2009. Obviously, that wasn't much help.

I know that other famous talents have gone the same way. Many psychologists theorize that this behavior is due to an inability to cope with their stardom. And while I still find it hard to believe that such a talented young man like JD Fortune could fall into such a spiral of self-destructive patterns, seeing pictures of how he's changed over the years just make it hard not to see some truth to the rumors. Just look at him on stage here, drinking and smoking, looking like he's not really happy to be there.


Photo found at http://www.flickr.com/photos/sofija_m/431911671/

And in this one, he just looks like some drunk guy who happened to fumble his way on stage. Makes me wonder what kind of a show he put on that night. I imagine that must've been a stark contrast to his dazzling performances on Rock Star: INXS.


Photo found at http://www.flickr.com/photos/lisatodd