It was 2006 when a 30-year-old Damien Leith took out the title of Australian Idol, beating out Jessica Mauboy for the highly coveted crown.
17 years later, the Irish-Australian singer/songwriter has added several other titles to his resume, including author and radio host.
Over the years, the Season 4 winner has released nine studio albums and two novels, to which he has credited the platform the singing competition gave him.
WATCH: Damien Leith performs on tour in 2023. Article continues after video.
In spite of this, the father of three has recently spoken up about his winner’s compensation.
During the 2023 season of I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here!, Ian ‘Dicko’ Dickson reflected on the time he awarded Season 1 winner, Guy Sebastian a $1 million cheque off the back of his debut album.
Damien has since mused on this phenomena, saying this Idol success story was sold based on this event. Notably, this was not the case for the 47-year-old.
Despite taking in more than $5 million worth of records sold after winning the show, Damien still had to sell his car in order to pay rent.
This was due to a dodgy record deal which, upon signing, handed over all his rights to his performances on the show.
Instead of re-recording his songs from the series, his Winner’s Journey album was compiled of his on-air performances – which 19 Entertainment and Fremantle Media had ownership of at the time.
Due to this, the Night Of My Life singer received no royalties.
Speaking to The Daily Telegraph, Damien said, “The million dollar cheque Guy got was their sales pitch for that show back in the day. ‘This is what could happen to you. You go on this show and this is how it can transform your life…but that [cheque] didn’t happen for me.”
In spite of these dodgy industry dealings, the singer went on sign with Sony, where he sold over 800 000 album copies. In 2013, he left the company, where he now works as an independent artist.
Damien currently resides in Wollongong where he hosts the radio show ‘Wake Up With Jade and Damien’, alongside managing his other creative endeavours.
