Reporter: Ben Fordham
Producer: Sandra Cleary
He's the boy from the bush who cracked it big time.
And it couldn't happen to a nicer or more deserving bloke.
For years, Shannon Noll did it tough.
He played the pub circuit by night while sweating it out by day as a shearer.
Then, tragedy - the death of his dad - and the loss of the family farm at the height of the recent drought.
But Shannon dusted himself off, packed up his guitar, and set off for the big smoke to enter a singing competition called "Australian Idol".
And he's never looked back.
He's now one of the country's biggest selling artists, with a swag of top 10 hits.
And, as Ben Fordham discovered, he's now set for international stardom.
It’s all a very long way from his tiny home town of Condoblin.
Special features:
Web chat: read Sunday night's chat with Shannon Noll
Additional information:
For more information about Shannon Noll including his Australian tour dates visit www.shannonnoll.com.au
Full transcript
INTRODUCTION LIAM BARTLETT: He's the boy from the bush who cracked it big-time. And it couldn't happen to a nicer or more deserving bloke. For years, Shannon Noll did it tough. He played the pub circuit by night while sweating it out by day as a shearer. Then, tragedy - the death of his dad and the loss of the family farm at the height of the recent drought. But Shannon dusted himself off, packed up his guitar, and set off for the big smoke to enter a singing competition called 'Australian Idol'. And he has never looked back. He is now one of the country's biggest-selling artists, with a swag of top-10 hits. And, as Ben Fordham discovered, he is now set for international stardom. It is all a very long way from his tiny home town of Condoblin.
STORY - BEN FORDHAM: BEN FORDHAM: Shannon Noll is going home and he is taking us along for the ride.
SHANNON NOLL: # West Virginia # Mountain mama # Country road take me home...#
BEN FORDHAM: Mate, that's great. I didn't want to spoil it by singing along with you. In five short years this kid from the bush has conquered the music world.
SHANNON NOLL: # But sometimes I ask for more..#
BEN FORDHAM: He is the biggest success story to emerge from 'Australian Idol' and one of the country's highest-selling artists.
SHANNON NOLL: # What about me, it isn't fair #
BEN FORDHAM: Let's not beat around the bush here. You were supposed to be a one-hit wonder.
SHANNON NOLL: I know, I know.
BEN FORDHAM: What happened?
SHANNON NOLL: I don't know. I got lucky.
BEN FORDHAM: One of the most-played artists on Australian radio.
SHANNON NOLL: Yeah, it's strange isn't it? And I can shear. Oh, crikey.
BEN FORDHAM: He might call it 'luck' but, as you'll see, his road to stardom was more a matter of survival than a quest for fame.
SHANNON NOLL: #...out there #
BEN FORDHAM: And this is where the journey began - six hours from Sydney, down a dusty road to a speck on the map called Condoblin, population 3,500.
SHANNON NOLL: Don't chase the chooks.
BLAKE NOLL: I've got the most.
SHANNON NOLL: I love this place, that's for sure. I love the bush. The bush is great.
BEN FORDHAM: These days Shannon lives in Sydney but he doesn't want his family to miss out on the magic of the bush. He often takes the boys, Cody and Blake, and the girls, wife Rochelle and little Sienna, back to Condo to stay with family and friends. Growing up in the bush, what was that like?
SHANNON NOLL: I reckon it was the best - one of the best ways to grow up - because you only had your parents. There was no outside influences. You just had your parents to learn about life.
BEN FORDHAM: What he learned from mum and dad was everything involved in running a farm. And a few other tricks along the way. Should I be trusting him? He reckons he's going to knock a stick out of my hand. Is he trustworthy?
ROCHELLE NOLL: Yes, he is.
BLAKE NOLL: Use this stick.
BEN FORDHAM: A big stick, you reckon? Oh mate, you are a champion. Oh!
SHANNON NOLL: Did I get ya?
BEN FORDHAM: Mate, you didn't get me. But you came close. Have you actually seen him shear a sheep before?
ROCHELLE NOLL: Yeah, plenty. That was his job for a while.
BEN FORDHAM: A life on the land was Shannon's destiny but his dream lay elsewhere. Burning deep inside this no-nonsense shearer was the soul of a singer.
SHANNON NOLL: So we used to call ourselves weekend rock stars because we'd be doing this all week and then my brother had a big F100 ute. Friday would come, we'd all jump in that and we'd be hoofing our way to the gig by about 6:00 that night.
BEN FORDHAM: For 10 years, Shannon and his big brothers, Damien and Adam, worked the pub circuit all over NSW. Mum Sharon backed them all the way. You must be proud of him?
SHARON NOLL: I am, extremely so. I'm proud of all three of them but this bloke's done exceptionally well.
BEN FORDHAM: As weekend rock stars the Noll brothers were doing well. But, back on the farm, they were facing some harsh realities. The country was in the middle of the worst drought in a century. Then, in 2001, a tragedy. Their father Neil was killed in an accident when a fuel tank overturned.
ADAM NOLL: Just that point in my life I reckon that just changed me forever.
SHANNON NOLL: Yeah. I said I have two lives - one before it and one after.
ADAM NOLL: We carried him into the hospital and we were waiting for them to come out and say, "Everything is okay", and it just never went that way.
BEN FORDHAM: within days of their father's death another blow - the bank closed in on the farm. They were forced to sell this property that had been in the Noll family for more than 100 years.
ADAM NOLL: I just wish we had met somebody with a bit of money. We could have borrowed off them a long time ago.
SHANNON NOLL: I think we did, that was the problem.
ADAM NOLL: Yeah, well, we did - but they were called a bank.
BEN FORDHAM: Then along came a lifeline - a television show called 'Australian Idol'. You'd lost your father. You'd lost the family farm. How important was it to make this opportunity a winner?
SHANNON NOLL: I still believe that's the most important factor to do with it. If it didn't come then we were all going to be in a lot of trouble.
BEN FORDHAM: It was getting late. The judges were tired. How were you feeling when you first walked into that audition for 'Idol'?
SHANNON NOLL: Mate, I was sitting out the front in the line and there's these people warming up everywhere and I'd never warmed up in my life. # Oh my love, hold me in your arms #
JUDGE: Wow! You have just won me 100%!
MARCIA HINES: We have just discovered a voice.
IAN DICKINSON: I think all three judges really warmed to him because he had this quiet dignity about him.
SHANNON NOLL: # When a man loves a woman #
BEN FORDHAM: Ian Dickinson, 'Dicko' as he's better known, was one of the 'Idol' judges.
IAN DICKINSON: What an absolutely fantastic song for you that was. He had a real fire burning inside him that drew all of us in and sometimes people walk into these auditions and go, "Hello, I'm here!" And you just go, "Steady on, tiger!" But this guy just, I think he knew, he definitely knew, he had something and he allowed just to evolve in front of us.
BEN FORDHAM: Shannon eventually made it all the way to the final.
ANNOUNCER: And the winner of Australian Idol is.. ..Guy Sebastian!
BEN FORDHAM: He didn't win, but as it turned out it didn't matter. Shannon has sold more albums as a runner-up than any of the 'Idol' winners. And he has become an award-winning songwriter.
BEN FORDHAM: His song 'Now I Run' is a tribute to his dad.
SHANNON NOLL: # Taught me to walk, now I run #
BEN FORDHAM: Shannon is now on the cusp of an international career. But despite his popularity with fans and his impressive chart success some in the music industry belittle his achievements because he go his break on a TV show. When someone takes a shot at you, you tend to take them on?
SHANNON NOLL: Well, you've got to I think, you know. That's the difference between where I've come from and where a lot of musicians have come from.
BEN FORDHAM: So, when you hear someone bagging Shannon Noll...
SHANNON NOLL: Yeah. Yeah, I've gone, "What was the story there? Why did you say that for?" And every time just about, you know, and I'm not trying to be no hero about it, I'm just wondering why, what's going on, and 90% of the time they go, "No, nah man, "wasn't meant like that, no. "I didn't mean it like that." Because I've always had knockers...
RADIO HOST: More than I have...
BEN FORDHAM: Shannon can take a joke as well as the next bloke but when comedian Will Anderson told made fun of his dad he didn't see the funny side. He challenged Will to a charity boxing match. Will declined. You wanted to fight him?
SHANNON NOLL: Oh, yeah! Definitely. Well, I mean, that sort of... ..wow, I have seen people punched in the face for way less than that.
BEN FORDHAM: So, have you kissed and made up?
SHANNON NOLL: Yeah. I mean, not really. No.
BEN FORDHAM: What do you think of him?
SHANNON NOLL: Oh, I think he's weak, weak. Another man's bootlace really. but anyway, you know, he dropped all the Shannon Noll gags in the routine after that anyway.
BEN FORDHAM: Have you bumped into him?
SHANNON NOLL: No.
BEN FORDHAM: What will you do?
SHANNON NOLL: Nothing. Better man than that. I'll just look at him and go...
BEN FORDHAM: Why are there so many bad-boy rumours about Shannon Noll?
SHANNON NOLL: I don't know about 'bad boys'. Rascal, maybe. I reckon maybe ratbag. Maybe.
BEN FORDHAM: You're a rock star, easy on the eye I'm told. How do you deal with all the female attention?
SHANNON NOLL: I mean, everyone's pretty good, you know, because they go, like, "He's got a wife so what's - "you know, what are we going to get out of it?" Nothing, you know?
BEN FORDHAM: What's it like for you when you see girls throwing themselves at him?
ROCHELLE NOLL: At first, I suppose, a little bit sort of hard to deal with, but we're a great team. We're good communicators.
SHANNON NOLL: She's seen me naked. She knows there's nothing to worry about.
ROCHELLE NOLL: We talk about everything, so it's fine. I don't lose any sleep over it now.
BEN FORDHAM: It's not unusual for rock and roll to go hand in hand with bad behaviour. Recently, Shannon was accused of being drunk on stage during a performance.
SHANNON NOLL: It was a bit disappointing, you know, because nobody talked about the 350 other ones I did drunk! No, that's a joke. I pride myself on making sure every show my fans see is a unique experience and the best I can give them, and I didn't give them my best that night.
BEN FORDHAM: It's refreshing to find that a bloke who was catapulted to stardom in such a public way remains so personally unaffected. And after spending some time with Shannon Noll it is impossible not to like him. You weren't supposed to make it.
SHANNON NOLL: No.
BEN FORDHAM: The knockers lined up, all the way down the street.
SHANNON NOLL: Yeah, they did.
BEN FORDHAM: It must be nice to know you've proved them wrong.
SHANNON NOLL: Yeah, it is, that's the gratifying point. I think that drives me a lot. My mindset is you only get life once so you can't just idle through it. Are we all going to die or are we all going to live? That's a lyric I put in another song. Everybody dies, but not everybody lives, you know, and I want to live.
