By JULIE MIDDLETON
The first Pop Idol in the worldwide franchise, in 2002, was England's Will Young, 24.
His first single broke British first-day sales records, he scored four number one hits, and his first album, From Now On, sold 850,000 copies.
Album number two, Friday's Child, was one of the biggest-selling albums
in Britain last year and is still going strong. He is about to tour Britain, with 10 concerts between May 22 and June 3.
The first American Idol winner, in 2002, was 20-something Kelly Clarkson. Her debut album, Thankful, topped the charts in the US.
Ruben Studdard, 26, took the second series, but the man he beat, 25-year-old Clay Aiken, has become far more popular than both winners.
The first Australian Idol, chosen last year, was Guy Sebastian, 22. Australians flocked to buy his debut single, Angels Brought Me Here, and album, Just As I Am.
"I had absolutely no concept of how much this was going to change my life," says Sebastian. The man he beat, former farmer Shannon Noll, 27, has also become an Aussie star.
The first World Idol, picked from a field of 10 last year, was Norway's Kurt Nilsen, 25.
Told by one critic that he had the voice of an angel but the face of a hobbit, Nilsen won the local Idol competition but did not become a name outside his homeland until he took the world title.
His first single became the biggest-selling single of all time in Norway. More recently he has been courting the English market.
In New Zealand, the advent of television in the early 1960s spawned talent quests such as Have A Shot (1962) and Studio One (1968).
The first winner of the latter's New Faces section was then 16-year-old country singer Brendan Dugan, and it catapulted him into a full-time career. He has recorded 14 albums and still plays all over the world.
Television New Zealand was unable to provide a list of show winners over the years, but in 1971 Shade Smith and The Rumour won.
Now living in Northcote, Smith teaches high-school guitar and has written seven stage musicals popular with schools. The current version of The Rumour, which plays '60s and '70s hits, is for hire.
Shona Laing, then a 17-year-old, made it to the 1972 finals of New Faces with a song called 1905. That exposure launched her long career - Laing is still playing and recording, and spent time while overseas in Manfred Mann's Earth Band.
In 2002, she released a CD containing songs from her entire career.
In 1973, fledgling band Split Enz came second to last - but the power of the tube boosted their fortunes. The group's story is now a cherished part of New Zealand music history.
Entire bands have also been fashioned in front of the telly-viewing public. The Monkees, who at one point in the 1960s outsold the Beatles and Rolling Stones, were a fictional band in an American TV show.
"The success of the Monkees paved the way for other manufactured groups like New Kids on the Block and Milli Vanilli," says rock bible Rolling Stone.
In New Zealand, girl group TrueBliss - Joe Cotton, Carly Binding, Keri Harper, Megan Cassie (now Alatini) and Erika Takacs - was fashioned by reality show PopStars, which, like Pop Idol, is a franchise.
After TrueBliss split, the five women went on to local music, acting or media-related careers.
By JULIE MIDDLETON
The first Pop Idol in the worldwide franchise, in 2002, was England's Will Young, 24.
His first single broke British first-day sales records, he scored four number one hits, and his first album, From Now On, sold 850,000 copies.
Album number two, Friday's Child, was one of the biggest-selling albums
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