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J.D. Fortune
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| J.D. Fortune | |
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Jason Dean Bennison |
| Born | September 1, 1973 1 Mississauga, Ontario |
| Genres | Rock, New Wave |
| Occupations | Musician1 |
| Instruments | vocals, guitar |
| Years active | 1999–present |
| Labels | Sony |
| Associated acts | INXS |
J.D. Fortune (born Jason Dean Bennison on September 1, 19731), is a Canadian rock singer. He was the winner of the 2005 CBS reality television series Rock Star: INXS,1 and was the lead singer of Australian rock band INXS from 2005 to 2009.
On 16 February 2009, J.D. revealed in an interview with Entertainment Tonight Canada that INXS fired him from the band with a shake of the hand at an airport in Hong Kong. Fortune acknowledges his drug habit is likely to have contributed to INXS' decision.2 The band is once again without a permanent frontman. JD is currently in Canada attempting to get his solo album out ("Death of a Motivational Speaker"). He said he's been off cocaine for the past 2 years. 34 However, in a recent interview, Fortune has admitted to heavy cocaine use during the latest INXS tour.5 INXS responded by saying that Fortune had never been fired by the band, but that the band now was reluctant to continue working with him. 6 It was announced in February 2010 that Fortune would "do a special guest appearance" during the INXS show at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.7
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Biography
Bennison was born in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada1 and raised in Salt Springs, Pictou County, Nova Scotia.1 J.D. grew up listening to his grandfather sing and started performing at a very young age.1 He attended Cawthra Park Secondary School and West Pictou Consolidated School but dropped out before graduating.1 Bennison is his estranged father’s name, and Fortune is his mother’s maiden name.1 He has a sister, Sarah-Jane, and a pug named "Presley" (after Elvis Presley).1
After several years in and out of the music world, he finally began to strike gold as an original musician.1 Fortune drew bigger and bigger audiences, ultimately performing at the Friendship Festival and at Toronto's Skydome in front of tens of thousands of people. He also worked as an entertainer and pop songwriter for an Ontario TV show.citation needed He fronted a band named JUICe, which recorded an album named In Retrospect.8
He was living in his car, under a bridge,1 when he applied for and was offered a job on CBS's TV show, Rock Star: INXS. On September 20 2005, after an eleven week audition televised on CBS Rock Star : INXS, Fortune was told "You are right for our band INXS" by Tim Farriss of INXS.9
INXS, complete with Fortune, released their album 'Switch' in November 2005. Three singles from the album were released over the next twelve months including the track 'Pretty Vegas' which was co-written by Fortune and INXS's Andrew Farris, amongst others. The week of February 25, 2006, Pretty Vegas' reached it's highest charting at #7 on billboard.com.10.
On Friday April 7, 2006, J.D. appeared on Australian radio station Triple M with fellow band member, Tim Farriss. Speaking to Triple M's morning show team, The Cage, J.D. and Tim spoke of how much acceptance they were receiving as the new INXS, especially in the United States and Canada. J.D. said that he had always dreamed of singing INXS songs in front of thousands of people where they all sing the words right back at him, but he never thought he'd see the day. J.D. sang acoustic versions of their hit single "Pretty Vegas" and "Mystify", an earlier INXS hit.
J.D. revealed that his first meeting with the brother of INXS' first lead singer, Michael Hutchence, who died of asphyxiation, initially was a scary experience: 11
I met his brother Rhett in Australia a while ago and it wasn't pleasant. He was wearing a t-shirt saying, 'That's not my brother'. His friend had a t-shirt which said, 'Mock Star: INXS'. I had to say something, like, 'You don't know me, I don't know you. We're just humans.'Something changed after that and, by the end of the night, it was a different story. Rhett took the t-shirt off and bought another one. He hugged me and said he was sorry.
—J.D. Fortune, 11
In February 2009, JD alleged in an interview with Entertainment Tonight Canada that INXS fired him from the band with a shake of the hand. He said he is back to living out of his car and put all his remaining money into his solo album "The Death of a Motivational Speaker".12 Former INXS manager and now record company head Chris Murphy responded by saying that Fortune had never been fired by the band, but that the band now was reluctant to continue working with him because of his allegations. 13
On February 24, 2010, JD Fortune performed with INXS at the Vancouver Olympics in a sold out performance. 14
Personal life
He had a brief relationship with Estella Warren 15 after shooting the video clip for INXS's single Afterglow. Fortune is a vegetarian16.
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l "Rock Star INXS: J.D. Fortune". ROCKBANDLOUNGE.COM. April 20, 2007. http://www.rockbandlounge.com/rock-star-inxs/jd-fortune.asp. Retrieved 27 February 2010.
- ^ http://entertainment.oneindia.in/music/international/2009/inxs-dump-lead-singer-200209.html
- ^ http://www.contactmusic.com/news.nsf/article/inxs%20dump%20lead%20singer_1095390
- ^ Stevenson, Jane (March 6, 2009). "J.D. sets record straight ...". Winnipeg Sun. http://www.winnipegsun.com/entertainment/2009/03/05/8653061.html#/entertainment/music/2009/03/06/pf-8647211.html.
- ^ http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20090226/rossi_090226/20090226?hub=Entertainment
- ^ Bosso, Joe (February 24, 2009). "INXS didn't ditch JD Fortune". MusicRadar.com. http://www.musicradar.com/news/guitars/inxs-didnt-ditch-jd-fortune-197964.
- ^ STEVENSON, JANE (February 11, 2010). "INXS, J.D. Fortune to reunite". Toronto Sun. http://www.torontosun.com/entertainment/music/2010/02/10/12831016.html. Retrieved 20 February 2010.
- ^ Bliss, Karen (January 18, 2006). "New INXS singer's dream realized", Jam!. Retrieved on 2009-08-19.
- ^ http://www.cbs/primetime/rock_star/ep11/s?=b
- ^ http://www.billboard.com/#/song/inxs/pretty-vegas/7712297
- ^ a b "J.D. Fortune: "How I Won Over Hutchence Family" - October 13, 2006 MTV One U.K.
- ^ Cashmere, Paul (February 18, 2009). "J.D. Fortune Homeless and Living In Car". Undercover.com.au. http://undercover.com.au/News-Story.aspx?id=7641.
- ^ Bosso, Joe (February 24, 2009). "INXS didn't ditch JD Fortune". MusicRadar.com. http://www.musicradar.com/news/guitars/inxs-didnt-ditch-jd-fortune-197964.
- ^ Shock, Elaine (February 26, 2010). "JD Fortune And INXS Deliver Gold Medal Performance". shockink.com. http://www.shockink.com/index.php?page=press&id_pressrelease=552.
- ^ Wang, Cynthia (February 1, 2006). "J.D. Fortune & Estella Warren". People. http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,1154839,00.html.
- ^ http://www.goveg.com/f-jdfortune.asp