J.D. loses his Fortune: INXS fired frontman

In what is now considered as a complete reversal of fortune, J.D. Fortune who in 2005 won the CBS reality show “Rock Star: INXS” to become the frontman of the Australian rock group INXS was fired by the band without warning.

The switch to a new lead singer to replace the charismatic Michael Hutchence who committed suicide in 1997 did not earn the following that the band had hoped and their album "Switch" with its carrier “Pretty Vegas” failed to take off despite touring for almost two years after the conclusion of the reality show.


“I found myself really alone because I had traveled with these guys for 23 months,” Fortune who admitted to using cocaine while with the band but has been drug-free for two years told Entertainment Tonight Canada after he was given the boot in Hong Kong with a simple handshake.

The sad reality is that J.D. Fortune did not expect that his fortune with the Aussie band will end up so suddenly and is now broke and homeless, back to the very same situation that he was in before he won the said reality show.


“From the street to the air back to the street again. It’s only me,” J.D. Fortune added.

I guess that’s the way one’s fortune crumbles when you take some stuff lightly and live a life in excess of what you really can afford.

As the old saying goes, "Your body is the baggage you must carry through life. The more excess baggage, the shorter the trip."

In Memoriam: Michael Hutchence (1960- 1997)

Today is the 10th Anniversary of the “mysterious” death of the flamboyant front man, Michael Hutchence of the Aussie band INXS.



(January 22, 1960 – November 22, 1997)


Although they were not that “big” in the Philippines during that time as they were more famous in Down Under and Europe, I was familiar with some of their songs like Original Sin, Disappear and The Stairs just to name a few because I’ve read about them in those small Php 5.00 “Song Hits“ (Yes, fellow music freak, Jingle and Moptop were long dead in the late 80s and early 90s) and of course, with the help of that FM radio from far away Naga City.

Anyway, INXS (In Excess) was formed in Australia in 1977 and attained global success in the 1980s with some songs landing in the Billboards charts.

The surviving members are still around though and making “new” music with JD Fortune who became the lead singer after winning the title in the Rockstar: INXS contest a couple of years ago over runner- up Marty Casey (Where are you now?) and Pinoy Migs Ayesa, among others in a popularity contest determined by the band members themselves and television viewers.

But they will never come close to the Michael Hutchence Era as far as the die-hard and faithful INXS fans are concerned.

R.I.P. and Rock On in Heaven, Michael!



You can visit the INXS’ website and read their tribute to Michael Hutchence--here

Or you can visit the online guest book and profess your undying love for him and his music---here