LES 3 GROUPES FINALISTES

"3 Wishez "

The three members of 3 Wishez share a common goal and it’s the story behind their chosen name. “We all have one wish and each of our wishes is to be musicians so together it’s three wishes,” Sophia, 20, explains.

Frederico, 18, adds: "All our individual experiences have come together to make something pretty amazing. There’s three of us but all our wishes are the same which is to make it.”

The trio – rounded out by Joseph, 23 - are all students at the Australian Institute of Music in Sydney. While they’ve all been singing and dancing for years, they only formed the group a year ago.

It was Joseph’s suggestion to merge their talents. A top 12 ‘Australian Idol’ finalist in 2006, he prefers working as part of a group than performing solo. “On my own, I don’t feel there’s enough. It’s so much better working with other people who share your passion.”

While he enjoyed his time on the show, Joseph says he was too young to capitalise on the experience. “It happened really quickly and I was much younger. I didn’t know how to take it all in. I wasn’t ready for it. I feel ready now."

Music has long been a passion for each of them. “It’s something we’ve done all our lives,” Sophia says, “what we’ve been given is a gift.” Joseph adds, “My whole family is all about music. My parents met in a band.” They describe their sound as R&B soul. “It’s a very fresh sound,” Joseph says.

Their influences are wide ranging with their record collection boasting everyone from Michael Jackson and John Legend to Christina Aguilera and the Black Eyed Peas, whom they most liken themselves to. “People would most likely compare us to the Black Eyed Peas,” Frederico says, “they all stand out individually but they are also a group.” Sophia adds, “We’re all pretty versatile. We have a rapper, a girl singer, a guy singer and we’re pretty multicultural as well.”

Joseph concludes, “It’s a perfect combination and we’re ready to show Australia exactly what we can do.”






Name: Audio Vixen - Ria, Chris, Ross
Ages: 19-28

Category: Groups

Audition song: Toto - Hold the Line
Bootcamp songs: Fleetwood Mac - The Chain & Fleetwood Mac - Go Your Own Way
Judge house song: Heart - Alone
Musical Influences: Bon Jovi, Fleetwood Mac, The Eagles, The Beatles, Rob Thomas, Jet, John Mayer, Lady Antebellum, Coldplay, Led Zepplin, The Black Crowes, The Faces, Thirsty Merc, Heart, Aerosmith, The Bee Gees.

Interesting/unusual fact: We are a family with an Italian background. Ria won a car in a singing comp. Ross was on Home & Away for one year. We recorded the Horgs Inventions jingle for Hamish & Andy. We are ALWAYS talking.

As children of entertainers, Audio Vixen were always destined for a career in music. The Sydney-based trio - made up of siblings Maria, 28, Christina, 25, and Ross, 19 - are following the path carved out by their parents, Jay and Gisele Pirrelli. “They performed as solo artists when they were single,” Ross says, “they eventually met, fell in love and got married and started an act together. They’ve been performing for about 35 years. And that love of music has carried on with us.”

While Maria and Christina were performing as a duo first, Ross joined the girls about five years ago. Together they’ve recorded an EP and performed across Australia and recently in the USA.

Maria, who’s the only one married (to drummer Troy), is the eldest and plays keyboard and guitar. Second eldest Christina also plays keyboard and guitar while the youngest Ross plays lead guitar. “It’s just the three of us and we get along great,” Ross says.

Describing their sound as adult-contemporary, their influences include Lady Antebellum, The Eagles, Dixie Chicks and John Mayer. “Our music range is quite broad,” Maria says, “but we’re more of a classic rock sound.”

The fact that they’re a family will be a huge advantage for them in the competition. “We really support each other,” Ross says, “it’s quite a demanding competition. To have people you count on is the ultimate.” But their experience could make it difficult for mentor Ronan Keating to mould them. “We’ve developed and worked into a sound of our own and we want to keep that musical integrity,” Ross says, “seeing our family is in the industry and we like to think we know a bit about it, it might be hard to mentor us.”

Away from music, Maria runs her own graphic design business; Christina is an office manager and Ross is studying to be a music teacher.

Ross has also dabbled in acting. He’s appeared in TV shows ‘All Saints’ and ‘Water Rats’ as well as the film ‘Danny Deckchair’. His longest running role was as Matthew Lyons in ‘Home And Away’ from 2008-09.

But their passion lies with music. “Music is something that’s always been in our blood,” Ross says, “for us we’d love to make a long lasting career out of it.”






Young Men’s Society formed only two years ago but they move and sound like it’s been forever.

Andi, 23, and Josh, 22, first met at church when they were 15, and they joined forces with Nathan, 26, after meeting him at their hip hop dance class.

Their name was suggested to them by a friend. Initially they thought it sounded “corny” but now they love it. “We grew into it and now it’s stuck,” Nathan says.

Like their idols Michael Jackson and Chris Brown, they combine their two passions for music and dance and see it as their biggest strength. “It’s a definite advantage we have the ability to both sing and dance,” Nathan says.

They all discovered they could move and sing when they were young. “I remember my mum playing Shania Twain and singing along to that,” Josh laughs.

Nathan adds: “We all had a natural groove.” As an all-male group, they feel blessed to have former Boyzone singer Ronan Keating as their mentor. “He’s from one of the biggest boy bands in the world,” Nathan says. “His experience and knowledge is exactly what we need.”

While Josh was born and bred in Sydney, Andi is originally from Indonesia and Nathan from England. “My family left Jakarta when I was about 10 in search of a better life,” Andi said.

Andi meanwhile was flunking at college and jumped at his brother Damon’s suggestion to join him in Australia six years ago. “I was partying way too much and girls came into play. I wasn’t paying enough attention to my studies. I had no idea what I was going to do with my life. My brother was living here and said, ‘Come out and take some time out and clear your head.’ So I did.”

While they all work in retail and as dance teachers to supplement their music, their dream is to one day make it a full-time career. Andi says, “Our dream is to retire doing what we love to do which is music.”