Cosima De Vito
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Cosima De Vito (born November 1, 1976), also known simply as Cosima, is an Australian singer-songwriter. She rose to fame as a contestant of the original Australian Idol series in 2003 where she caused controversy, quitting the competition due to a throat condition at short notice, coming in at third place. She has since established an independent music career, releasing two studio albums called Cosima, in 2004, and This Is Now in 2007.

Early years

Of Italian descent, De Vito grew up in Perth and entered various talent contests while in school. She cited Whitney Houston, Shirley Bassey, Tina Turner and Karen Carpenter as being major influences on her personal style. She then went to university and graduated with a Bachelor of Commerce degree, majoring in finance and banking.

Turning to a career in entertainment, De Vito made contact with talent agents who enabled her to travel to Nashville, Tennessee in 2001 to record a demo tape and discuss a recording deal but was turned down because of a lack of fanbase in Australia.

Australian Idol

In 2003 Cosima auditioned for the first season of Logie Award winning series of Australian Idol. Although tipped to take out the Australian Idol crown Cosima finished in third position after unfortunately having to withdraw from the competition after a shock diagnosis of throat nodules when she lost her voice singing River Deep Mountain High. Following medical advice, Cosima withdrew from the competition and underwent speech therapy allowing fellow contestant Shannon Noll to join Guy Sebastion in the Grand Final. It is said by many that De Vito has the best voice of any Australian Idol contestant in any series.

Here is a rundown of how Cosima went on the series:

2004: Cosima

After recovery from throat nodules, De Vito was unable to negotiate a suitable record deal and funded her own label, (CDV Records) with the help of her family. As her manager was sourcing songs for her independent album, she was invited to fly to Los Angeles to record her debut album with songs penned exclusively by songwriter Diane Warren (Celine Dion, Christina Aguilera, and Aerosmith) who commented "Cosima is the younger Celine Dion. She’s a little edgier than Celine, more dynamic."[2]. Despite not having a record deal, Cosima's first single "When the War is Over", a cover of a Cold Chisel ballad was released in Australia on August 9, 2004 on CDV Records, and debuted at #1 in the ARIAnet singles chart ahead of fellow Australian Idol Paulini who came 4th in the competition and Australian singer-songwriter Missy Higgins (both had also reached #1 before her). An alternate version of the song, with production similar to her live idol performance, was recorded before working with Diane Warren. This version was not released as the overall sound was different to the whole album and so a new version (which was later released as the single) was recorded. Her self-titled debut album Cosima was released on 11 October 2004. It debut at #2 on the ARIA charts and #1 on the Independent charts. While it was certified gold, selling an estimated 50,000 units, it quickly left the Top 50 after spending only a few weeks in the ARIAnet charts.

In December 2004, she released the second single from her album, "Now That You Can't Have Me". The single peaked at #42 due to distribution problems and lack of radio airplay. The video for the single was initially popular on Australian music shows such as Video Hits.The single peaked at number 15 on the Australasian Singles Chart.

A third single, "Cost of Love" was in the works, with video clip ideas being draw up. Cosima also had extra production work done on the song (with more guitar and heavier drums). Cosima also stated at the time she had re-recorded the vocals on her official forum. Due to her legal battles with her previous management company, the single was dropped so Cosima could look forth to creating a new album later down the track. The track was penned by fans of De Vito as one of the stronger tracks on the album. The re-vamped version (without a trace of any newly recorded vocals) eventually surfaced on her official myspace for fans to hear and was later removed.

On an episode of an "A Current Affair" it showed Cosima writing and recording new material with Diane Warren in Los Angeles. Cosima expressed her disappointment in the media that they believed the throat nodule incident was a publicity stunt. She also became overwhelmed with emotion over how proud she was of making her debut album.

In 2004 Cosima performed When the War Is Over on Dancing With the Stars.

In 2004 Cosima performed Cost of Love on the Kerrie Anne show.

In 2004 Cosima was a guest on Good Morning Australian with Bert Newton and performed When the War Is Over and Now That You Can't Have Me.

2005-2006: New direction

On 23 December 2004, De Vito parted ways with her management team who had guided her since the end of Idol. The parties had been in dispute over AUD200,000 her managers allege they are owed. Late in 2005, Cosima signed a management deal with the successful Dorry Kordahi of DK Management. [3]According to De Vito, there are still a few things that need to be sorted out from the previous management deal, but she is confident they will turn out well. [4]

In October 2005, De Vito previewed some new tracks written for her album as support act for UK Soul Star, Roachford and his tour of Australia. On March 19, 2006, she appeared in Channel Ten's celebrity special quiz show Australia's Brainiest Musician. Throughout June and July 2006, De Vito completed a successful national tour with legendary Greek singer Demis Roussos. In recent months, De Vito has been making a variety of independent appearances - notably at the Sydney Ferragasto Festival, and the "Soul Divas" show at the Basement in Sydney. These smaller appearances seem to be rebuilding her fanbase and credibility. On September 26, De Vito was on the 2day FM breakfast show with Kyle & Jackie O as the Secret Celebrity on their Where Are They Now? segment.

In October 2006, it was announced by her management that her debut single, When The War Is Over had re-entered the Australian Independent Charts at an astonishing number 11, more than 2 years after it debuted at number one on the ARIA Charts [5]. On November 25th, Cosima headlined the NBL All Star Game in Adelaide[6]. She sang songs from her new album as well as the national anthem, which was broadcasted on FOX Sports.

2007-2008: This Is Now

De Vito has been in the studio working on her second studio album since early 2005.[7]. It is currently scheduled for a 2007 release [8][9]. During an interview at the ARIA Number One Chart Awards in 2005, she hinted that she was in discussion with record labels, saying: "I may do it independently, or I may go with a record label. We'll see what happens".

De Vito is writing for the first time on this follow-up album which is expected to be deeply personal as well as an indication of who she is as an artist[10]. De Vito's management has confirmed the album will be released in the second half of 2007[11].

The first single taken from the album "Keep It Natural", shows a more rockier edge to her previous works and was written by De Vito and Trevor Steel[12] and has proven to be a huge hit at gay nightclubs across Australia.

The album did not chart on the Australian ARIA charts. The second single, "Movin' On", also failed to chart despite positive reviews.

De Vito appeared on Mornings with Kerrie Anne and performed Keep It Natural as well as Channel 9s' Today Show and the Morning Show with Kylie and Larry.

De Vito has been a regular guest on the Susie Show where she performed the track Never Be A Woman in Chains and showed off her Italian side when she cooked an Italian dish.

Recent Events

On January 26 2007, Cosima headlined her first concert at South Juniors Football Club in anticipation for her new album.[13]. On February 11 2007, she sang the national anthem at the Australia VS England Cricket final at the Sydney Cricket Ground in front of 40,000 spectators. On February 22 2007, she debuted her new single "Keep It Natural" at the half time entertainment for the NBL's Sydney Kings v Brisbane Bullets at the Sydney Entertainment Centre.

With a brand new website launched on April 9 2007, Cosima announced her single "Keep It Natural" - co-written with UK songwriter Trevor Steel would be released on June 2 2007[14]. "Keep It Natural" debuted at number thirty-one on the ARIA Club Charts and peaked at number thirty for 8 weeks. It has charted at number 73 on the ARIA Physical single chart^[1] and number 112 on the ARIA single chart.^{citation needed}. It peaked at number 4 on the Australian Independent Charts also for 8 weeks.

In May 2007, Cosima played Mother Nature in the Perth production of the rock musical HAIR to critical acclaim with Rob Mills and Nikki Webster. This production was directed by Chris Kabay and musically directed by Simon Holt of Yellow Glass Theatre.

Cosima is currently in the process of shooting a new video for her second single from her forthcoming album (due in September). The single is called "Movin' On" and has premiered on music video programs all around Australia. It was released in October.

After the October release Cosima's single "Keep It Natural" was placed on Joy FM's latest Album Volumne 5 alongside tracks from Marcia Hines and Ricki Lee Coulter.

Showing off this song and her latest release Movin On, Cosima was found in Melbourne at the club X-Change.

De Vito headlined Gay Fair Day in Sydney in March 2008 and in October 2007 performed at the Sleaze Ball.

The Album 'This is now' includes many potential singles including the songs "Never Be A Woman In Chains" and "Left Waiting."

Cosima also came to Melbourne for World Aids Day, where she revealed that her next single should be out in March 2008.

De Vito recently travelled to Brisbane for an exclusive film production for an upcoming DVD release. This is to be an "Up close and personal" video documentary leading up to a live stage performance at The Beat Megaclub at the end of July, 2008. Christian Bowman and Shane Tyler Greaves from Stage Addiction are working with Cosima to produce this exclusive film.

De Vito recently appeared as a special guest on Channel 9's This Is Your Life to pay tribute to fellow Australian Idol contestant, Shannon Noll along side Guy Sebastian.

Since Australian Idol De Vito has become an icon in the Australian gay and lesbian community appearing at gay nightclubs in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne.

Discography

Singles

"—" indicates singles that were released but did not chart.

Awards

• Pop Republic Best New Artist (2004)
• 2 ARIA Number One Chart Awards (2005)

References

External links

• Official Cosima De Vito website
• Official My Space page