Werribee’s Jimmy Cupples has become an overnight celebrity after making it through the first round of the singing competition The Voice. 80253 Picture: DAMJAN JANEVSKI
By XAVIER SMERDON
AFTER years of struggling to get noticed, a Werribee musician with a love for hard rock is finally on his way to becoming a household name.
Jimmy Cupples has become the talk of the town around Wyndham after he appeared on the most watched television show in Australia at the moment, The Voice.
He blew the judges away in his blind audition with his rendition of Woman by Wolfmother and eventually chose to work with country music legend Keith Urban.
It was his description of his home suburb that got people talking, however.
When he was asked where he came from he told the judges: “I come from an area where all the rich people live, Werribee.”
Jimmy told Star the brief joke, which was soon trending on social networking site Twitter, showed how much he loved the area.
“I can say that because I live here,” Jimmy said.
“I’m very proud to be from here and I tell you what, don’t underestimate Werribee because there is a lot of talent here.”
But Jimmy has not always been the confident man that belts out tunes that defy his size.
“Put it this way, I went to five different schools when I was a kid so my skills at making friends were very poor because I just thought why make friends if I’m going to move again,” he said.
“But music brought me out of my shell and I didn’t have to try and make friends anymore.”
The 46-year-old decided to audition for The Voice after a friend persuaded him and he said he looked at it as one last shot at the big time.
“I have given this a good shot before and it hasn’t been an easy road,” he said.
“I think this has already been my biggest break. The YouTube video got about 35,000 views in just a couple of days and I’ve had videos up there for ages that just have a couple of hundred views.”
Jimmy said that the main thing he wanted to achieve from appearing on the show was to be signed to a record label.
“I want a record deal,” he said.
“I hope that they will allow me to make a hard rock record because no one is really doing that anymore.”
Audiences will have to wait to see if Jimmy has made it through the next round of the show which airs on Channel Nine.
