sooo hot!!!! best singer in the world!!! so should have beaten casey but is totally killing casey's song!! and beat guy sebastian's selling record!! go anthony!!!

Anthony Callea is just 22 years of age, but he is already a national phenomenon.

His debut single, that extraordinary version of Andrea Bocelli’s “The Prayer”, not only held the No. 1 position in lockdown for five consecutive weeks, it has set the record books reeling: Anthony Callea’s “The Prayer” is officially the fastest selling Australian single of all time, it is also the highest selling Australian single ever!

These are astounding figures for any artist, but especially for one whose career has only just begun. They hint at Anthony’s rare, cross-generational appeal, but they’re not what make him special. To understand that, you have to cast your mind all the way back to the 10th August, 2004, the morning after the then 21 year old singing teacher from Melbourne was voted out of the first round of Australian Idol. It had been a tough blow to a performer who’d been working towards this moment since he was three years old. But that day, like every other day, he got over it and did what he did best. He sang. Because for Anthony Callea, there was nothing else he could do. “Music is my life. It’s my reason for being”, he says. “And anyway”, he laughs, “I’m crap at everything else”.

There was nothing in Anthony’s family history suggestive of his future profession. No one sang, no one played an instrument. So you can imagine his parents’ complete bewilderment when the then three-year old Anthony asked them if they could take him to singing lessons. “It was a bit wei...