Damien Leith is the latest Australian Idol roadkill. The first single from his forthcoming album has stiffed on the Australian music chart after selling just 1259 units last week.
Leith's '22 Steps' has already fallen out of the Top 20, after plummeting from number 11 to number 27 this week.Last week, the single sold 2816 units, giving it a total of only 4075 units to date.
Leith was last year's Idol winner and joins the long list of people paraded as "stars" who are struggling to make a career for themselves after they lose their television spotlight.
While the first year winner Guy Sebastian earns a decent living from the RSL clubs and casinos, 2004 winner Casey Donovan and 2005 winner Kate DeAraugo have disappeared completely from the radar.
Leith had good sales after Idol with the karaoke version of songs for the hit TV series, but that has not translated into a serious fanbase for his music.
The one and only Idol star who smartly used the show as a bridge to promote his music career was Shannon Noll. Noll, a live performer before Idol, can still pull his own crowd with his own band today.
Noll has been working in the US on his third album, co-writing with 90s hitmaker Richard Marx. The first single 'Loud' will be released on September 1.
He will also perform in the forthcoming Australian production of War of the Worlds.
