Rock Star is an American reality competition television series about the search for a lead singer for a rock group.
In this first season the quest is on to find the lead singer for the international Australian rock group INXS.
Synopsis
In 1997 INXS's front man Michael Hutchence was found dead in a hotel room, which changed the group forever. Since his death the group has performed at various venues around the world, using different guest lead singers each time. Those who've performed with them include Jimmy Barnes, Jon Stevens and Suze DeMarchi.
Unable to find a permanent lead singer Rock Star features the group's search for the right person who they'll choose from the 15 musician contestants.
The show combines the world of rock music with relationship-style unscripted drama, performance competition and a weekly contestant elimination.
Each week the performers choose a well-known rock song which they perform for a live audience and viewers votes combined with the opinions of the members of INXS decide who stays and who goes.
The series begins with three episodes a week and later changes to two. Each week's first episode is a Performance episode that features the contestants living together, selecting their material and performing for a live audience.
In between the first and second episode US viewers vote for their favourites and the three contestants with the least votes have to perform again in a 25-minute Elimination episode the next day. The members of INXS then decide which of the three needs to be eliminated.
For the first few weeks this is followed up by a half-hour Reality episode that shows behind-the-scenes footage of the contestants and their relaionships. In later weeks the Reality episode falls away and the Elimination episode extends to an hour.
The last singer standing across the season will join INXS as their lead singer, go on a worldwide concert tour with them and sing lead vocals on the band's next album.
