Former Glen Innes High School student turned musician and songwriter Tim Rossington has been thrust into the limelight after his “puntry” (pop/country) first audition on the popular talent show The X Factor.
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Taking the judges by storm Tim performed a unique acoustic cover of Gloria Gaynor’s I Will Survive that brought the crowd to its feet and earned him four yeses from judges Ronan Keating, Dannii Minogue, Natalie Bassing-thwaighte and Redfoo.
“I liked that because it’s got a lot of energy. You put in so much passion and you’ve got that twang and stuff. That’s country, pop – that’s puntry. That’s pop-country.” Redfoo said.
Hurtling through interviews and registrations before making it to the stage, the young hopeful said it was almost a relief to get on stage and perform the cover which he said has been a popular hit among his friends and family.
Coming from a musical family, Tim said his father Geoff Rossing-ton was a great inspiration encouraging him with guitar lessons from the age of 14, Tim said he returned to music after graduating from GIHS in 2007 and living in the UK for a year.
Mixing his talents for covers and creating original content, Tim said he aims to bring something new to his renditions, taking inspirations from the near-immortalised guitar and blues stars of the past decades like Robin Ford, Neil Young and Eric Clapton.
“You don’t want to just cover songs, you want to do something new with them,” he said.
Now taking his talents to The X Factor Boot Camp, the singer songwriter said he has developed his style from as many sources of inspiration as possible and said he is keen to develop his own material more with the help of the industry exposure offered by the X Factor experience.
“Covers get you by and originals get you out there,” Tim said.
Coming from a family of seven children, he said neither he nor his siblings are shy, spending his local school career between school musicals and creative programs. Now, surrounded by the glitz and glamour of the X Factor stage, Tim said he was blown away by the size of the production.
“I couldn’t believe the amount of gear they have here,” he said.
Currently living in Newcastle, Tim said he is surrounded by family and friends who all encouraged him to take up the X Factor challenge and now, having found positive exposure for his unique musical style and taking inspiration from an outstanding host of talent, the upcoming musician said he is sure to come away with a smile.
“I’ll give it a good crack and come away with a smile regardless,” he said.
Set to take the stage again among the under 25s group, Tim said he is looking forward to working closely with the show’s judges to develop his talents and make the best of the prime-time opportunity.
Tim is joined by Jesse Teinaki, son of local performer Shane Teinaki, who made it through his first audition with approval from judges Dannii Minogue, Natalie Bassingthwaighte and Redfoo after performing a cover of the Kings of Leon ‘Sex on Fire’.
Jesse’s audition followed his recent competition win to perform alongside internationally acclaim-ed rock legends Bon Jovi during their Australian tour.
The X Factor airs on Prime7 on Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 7.30pm and Sundays from 6.30pm