When it comes to talented dashing men, Australia has exported more than its share. Michael Hutchence, Keith Urban, Hugh Jackman, and now count singer Michael Johns as the latest wonder from down under to join this heralded boys club. Since audiences first caught a glimpse of the six-foot-plus Perth native on season 7 of American Idol, and heard the soulful grit of his unbounded voice, Johns has seen a life’s dream come true — he’s finally made a career of music on his own name and terms. Look no further than the 12 songs that make up Hold Back My Heart for proof. Recorded in Los Angeles and produced by Dave Cobb (Shooter Jennings), Johns’ debut delivers blue-eyed-soul as it’s meant to be heard — devoid of the typical glossy veneer applied to most modern albums, but heavy on vibe. “I really wanted to do a Stax record,” says Johns. “That blues-country feel, it’s a very American sound that I was going for.” And with seasoned players (among them Fred Mandel, Elton John’s longtime piano man) laying down tracks in a live environment, Johns achieved just that in record time. The result: swelling strings accenting the delectable pop of the album’s first single, “Heart On My Sleeve,” the Van Morrison-meets-Joe Cocker jam that is “Fool’s Gold,” the drive-it-home horns on “Feeling Alright” and “Little Bear,” and an inspired cover of the Bee Gees’ classic “To Love Somebody.” “This record came from a very natural place and it was the easiest I’ve ever sang in the studio,” he explains. “‘Fool’s Gold,’ for instance, was 100 percent one take. I’ve never had that experience as an artist. It was a joy to do it.” That sense of artistic satisfaction had been a long time coming, because unlike most Idol contestants, Johns didn’t enter the competition as a starting point. As the eldest hopeful to go up against eventual winner David Cook (Johns made it to eighth place), it was more like a last stop. After two major label deals went bust (Johns signed with the now defunct Maverick in 2001 as rock act The Rising, and with Columbia Records in 2005), Johns had settled into a career in film and TV production, which was just starting to flourish. Hopping on the Idol train meant making a major decision at a pivotal time. “I wasn’t bitter, I was burned out,” says Johns of his music industry experience by the middle of 2006. “I started to wonder if maybe it wasn’t in the cards for me to be a lead singer, but I’d never lost faith.” He did, however, lose sight of his true musical passion somewhere along the way, and it took a few choice words from his beloved mum before Johns regained his vocal footing and sense of purpose. “She said, ‘I like your voice most when you sing like Otis Redding,’” Johns recalls of that fateful international phone call. “I was always doing the rock thing, but it wasn’t anything special, and I started remembering all the beautiful music I listened to in my childhood — Sam Cooke, Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett — and it was like a light went off.” Indeed, it was Johns’ natural affinity for soul (coupled with his charming disposition) that got him through to Hollywood with the Otis classic “I’ve Been Loving You For So Long,” which garnered unanimous praise from the Idol judges. But he also had an edgier side, having been raised on a steady diet of The Beatles, David Bowie, Joe Cocker and Led Zeppelin since his teens. Says Johns: “I discovered classic rock at 15 and all of a sudden, it was like, ‘I have to do this.’ And then, the grunge era started.” A self-professed “massive Pearl Jam fan,” Johns got his first taste of rock star adoration when he sang the band’s 1993 hit “Daughter” at a high school party. “I got up on stage and all the girls who never looked at me before were staring,” he laughs. “And then people were telling me, ‘You’ve got something,’ and I’ve taken that with me my whole life.” As Johns tells it, looking back at footage of himself at 18, he can’t fathom where he got the confidence to try his hand at a singing career — in America, no less. “I just had this crazy passion,” he reasons. Fortunately, Johns had another talent that helped subsidize the move: tennis. As a top-ranked player in Australia, a scholarship to Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College in Tifton, Georgia allowed him the opportunity to relocate and explore the local Atlanta music scene. But two years into his stay, money was running out, as were his options, and Johns had to take a menial bar job just to scrape by. It had one perk, however: Johns could sing on Monday nights, and in no time, he’d built a reputation and a fan base. “That’s how I got my schooling in American music,” says Johns. It’s also where he learned how to please a finicky audience. “I’ve heard it all,” he laughs. “Simon Cowell’s comments don’t compare to some drunk dude yelling at you to play Skynyrd.” But the struggle was just beginning for Johns, then using his given name Michael Lee, when he was offered a recording contract with Maverick Records, home to Madonna and Alanis Morissette. He formed the band The Rising, who released a well-received first single, “Cradle” but the album never came out. After Maverick was absorbed by Warner Bros., Johns got picked up by Columbia, but ended up with the same results: an album shelved indefinitely, deemed “too rock-n-roll for radio.” Six months later, Johns recalls, “Wolfmother came out, and that’s the exact sound we had. I was pretty depressed. I would have rather come out and failed then not come out at all, because I never knew. So it was bloody lucky that Idol was there.” Johns had watched American Idol since its inception, but was never in a position to audition before because of existing deals. Once he decided to go for it, he fired his managers and other professional hangers-on and joined the thousands standing in line at San Diego’s Qualcomm Stadium. The rest, as they say, is Idol history. Still, as much as he wanted to showcase his love of classic American soul, Idol’s predetermined theme weeks made that difficult. But post-elimination, it was Johns’ first order of business. “When I traveled across America on the Idol summer tour, I got such a good gauge of the audience,” says Johns. “All the daughters would go for Jason Castro, but the moms, they were in my corner. So I realized, there’s 70 million baby boomers out there that are dying for new music like this. They don’t want to hear Fall Out Boy, but the music industry really only caters to 12 to 24 year olds, so that’s why these women have gone kind of nuts.” Encouraged by his mentor David Foster, who invited Johns to appear on his star-studded David Foster And Friends PBS special in December 2008, Johns chose the road less traveled, and for the first time in his adult life, went to work on an album with no deal in place. “Foster always said that the secret of his success is to look at whatever lane is open in the music industry and take it,” Johns recalls. “And the way my record combines old and new, I could open for Alicia Keys one night and John Mayer the next, it’s right in the middle.” Songwriter Diane Warren, who penned the knee-buckling ballad “Heart Is Weak,” was another key endorsement. “There’s nothing more validating than having these heavyweights behind you,” says Johns. “It’s like, screw winning American Idol when people like David Foster and Diane Warren are saying you have the real thing here.” With an album completed and ready to turn in, Johns had the rare freedom to shop it around, and when Downtown Records, home to Gnarls Barkley, Cold War Kids and Santigold, showed interest in a licensing deal, he jumped at the opportunity to finally control his own fate. “I think we’re in the most exciting period of music ever, because there’s so many ways to do it,” he says. And like most of his plans thus far, Johns is thinking big for his future. “The live show is going to be great,” he says excitedly. “I might even take it old school with different bands in different towns — almost like what Chuck Berry and all those guys used to do.” To that end, a rigorous touring schedule is nothing new for Johns — or, for that matter, his wife of two years, interior designer Stacey Vuduris. “In 2008, I was only home about 22 days out of the entire year,” he surmises. “It wasn’t like the tour stopped and that was it; I’ve been on a plane every week since.” Airports, as it turns out, are a fertile breeding ground for fan husbands. “Guys always asking for a photo for their wife, and it’s cool,” he says. “That’s why we made the type of record we did — to respect that. Some of these women haven’t had someone to look at since Michael Hutchence. But hey, I’ll carry that torch!”