“Talent will take you so far, but character will take you all the way,” says Stan Walker, as he reflects on his meteoric rise to fame. Talent certainly played a big part in Stan winning Australian Idol 2009, but time will tell if his character will make him a long-standing success or a brief shooting star. 

Australian Idol was a huge win for Stan, not just because he was ‘the last man standing’, but because he is one of those battlers who, at first glance, looks as though he could never achieve anything much at all. Yet in 2009 he won the hearts of Australian Idol viewers with both his incredible voice and his down to earth recognition of a less-than-perfect life. On the Australian Idol website Stan says, “I want to live by actions and not by words. I want to be an example for those who have been, and who are, in the same position that I’ve been in back in the past, so I want to live by example. I want to be an ambassador for broken people who come from the dark into the light.”

Growing up
Hearing Stan speak, it is evident he has not had the benefits of a good education, or a ‘cultured’ upbringing, and yet his obvious talent, his enthusiasm for life and his respect for others make him a stand out. This is in stark contrast to the little Maori kid who struggled in every school he attended. He reflects, “I’m not how I was like when I was little. I was a little snot! I was always the naughtiest at every school. Every school I’ve been to, I’ve been suspended. But now I’m a good boy!”

Born in Melbourne in 1990, Stan spent much of his life in New Zealand in a violent household, controlled by the double demons of drugs and alcohol. “You learn from every mistake, you learn from every battle and from every little circumstance,” says Stan.“Some people don’t grow – some people do, and I’m one who grew from it.” He hasn’t grown without some help though. Now residing in Coolangatta Queensland, Stan is a regular at Tweed Valley Community Church, where youth pastor Sam Spry is a regular source of support and inspiration. From Sam’s perspective, Stan has remained true to himself during the whole Australian Idol journey, saying, “He’s still the same old dude; [fame] hasn’t gone to his head at all.”

Fame may not have gone to his head, but so far, Stan’s success has taken him places, probably beyond even his own imagining. His hit single Black Box, released immediately after the Idol win on November 22, debuted at #2 on the ARIA charts and reached #1 the following week.  His first album Introducing ... Stan Walker came out on December 9 after only two days in the recording studio. The album peaked at #2 and went double platinum in Australia. He released another single Unbroken in April 2010 with the accompanying album From the Inside Out,  released in August that year.

The heartbreak kid
Stan has also had an opportunity to impact the world stage, visiting Haiti for 10 days after the January 2010 earthquake, where he was filmed for a TV special with Christian aid agency Compassion.  “I want to help out, I want to do what I can as they rebuild their country,” Stan said in the days prior to the trip. “I want to go over there because I want my heart to break. I want to feel this – I want to feel it so I can understand.”

Heartbreak seems to be a consistent thread through Stan’s life, having his own recent personal tragedy to attest to. During 2009, Stan and his ex-girlfriend lost a baby to miscarriage. The Maori word tattooed on his neck ‘Ataahua’ (meaning ‘beautiful’) is the name of the baby girl they lost.  Stan had the tattoo done the week he found out he was in Idol’s top 100.  His strength of character shows, when in reflection he says, “It’s not about how many times we fall but how many times we get back up and keep going . . . my advice for young kids is: if you have a dream, it’s not impossible to achieve it, because I’m living proof that you can.”