Altijan Juric
(born 10 June 1975), best known by his stage name Altiyan Childs, is an Australian singer-songwriter. He was the winner of the
second season of ''
The X Factor Australia
''The X Factor'' is an Australian television reality music competition, based on the original UK series, to find new singing talent. The first season of the show premiered on Network Ten on 6 February 2005. Ten dropped ''The X Factor'' after ...
'' in 2010, and subsequently signed with
Sony Music Australia
Sony Music Entertainment Australia is the predominant record label operated by American parent company Sony Music Entertainment in Australia. SMEA also formerly published and distributed video games in Australia & New Zealand on behalf of Sony ...
.
His debut single "
Somewhere in the World" reached the top-ten in Australia and New Zealand and his
self-titled debut album peaked at number three on the
ARIA Albums Chart
The ARIA Charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling songs and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA became the offici ...
; and was certified platinum. His second studio album ''Born Before the Sun'' was released in September 2015, and was preceded by the release of six singles. In 2016 he played the title role in a Queensland production of ''Jesus Christ Superstar''.
Biography
1975–2008: Early life
Altiyan Childs was born Altjian Juric
in
Mount Isa
Mount Isa ( ) is a city in the Gulf Country region of Queensland, Australia. It came into existence because of the vast mineral deposits found in the area. Mount Isa Mines (MIM) is one of the most productive single mines in world history, bas ...
,
Queensland
)
, nickname = Sunshine State
, image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Australia
, established_title = Before federation
, established_ ...
but grew up in
Sydney
Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...
. His father is of
Croatian descent and his mother is
Serbian. Childs and his sister, Altiyana, were named after their father's sister Altijana, who was murdered at only two months of age. At the age of 13, while a student at
Chatswood High School, Childs had was the front man for a rock band called Over the Edge
and, less than two years after graduating from high school, he formed a band called
Masonia
Masonia (The name meaning 'Builders of music'), is a five-piece rock band hailing from Sydney, Australia. Also known as the band Blind Verdict. Their debut single reached #41 on the ARIA singles chart, reaching #26 in NSW. The lead singer of ...
with Daniel Rivers, Mo Bloomfield and Nathan Meryment.
The band had minor success in 2004 with their debut single "Simple", which reached number 41 on the
ARIA Singles Chart. Masonia disbanded in 2008 and Childs decided to retire from music.
2010: ''The X Factor Australia''
Childs auditioned for the
second season of ''
The X Factor Australia
''The X Factor'' is an Australian television reality music competition, based on the original UK series, to find new singing talent. The first season of the show premiered on Network Ten on 6 February 2005. Ten dropped ''The X Factor'' after ...
'' in 2010. Falling into the Over 25's category, he was mentored by Irish singer
Ronan Keating
Ronan Patrick John Keating (born 3 March 1977) is an Irish singer. He debuted in 1993 alongside Keith Duffy, Michael Graham, Shane Lynch, and Stephen Gately, as the co-lead singer (with Gately) of Irish pop group Boyzone. His solo career start ...
who selected him for the finals – a series of ten weekly live shows in which contestants are progressively eliminated by public vote. Keating had received criticism by the Australian public for sending Childs through, as he had forgotten his lyrics multiple times during the audition process.
Throughout the finals, however, Childs was praised continually from the judges, specifically for his performances of
Bon Jovi
Bon Jovi is an American Rock music, rock band formed in 1983 in Sayreville, New Jersey. It consists of singer Jon Bon Jovi, keyboardist David Bryan, drummer Tico Torres, guitarist Phil X, and bassist Hugh McDonald (American musician), Hugh McD ...
's "
Livin' on a Prayer
"Livin' on a Prayer" is a song by the American rock band Bon Jovi, and is the band's second chart-topping single from their third album '' Slippery When Wet''. Written by Jon Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora and Desmond Child, the single, released in ...
",
U2's "
Beautiful Day
"Beautiful Day" is a song by Irish rock band U2. It is the first track on their tenth studio album, ''All That You Can't Leave Behind'' (2000), and was released as the album's lead single on 9 October 2000. The song was a commercial success, ...
", "
Eye of the Tiger
"Eye of the Tiger" is a song by American rock band Survivor. It was released as a single from their third album of the same name and was also the theme song for the 1982 film ''Rocky III'', which was released a day before the single. The song ...
", "
Sex on Fire
"Sex on Fire" is the first single released from American rock band Kings of Leon's fourth studio album, ''Only by the Night''. The song gave Kings of Leon their first number-one single in Australia, Finland, Ireland, and the United Kingdom, char ...
" by
Kings of Leon
Kings of Leon is an American rock band formed in Nashville, Tennessee, in 1999. The band is composed of brothers Caleb, Nathan and Jared Followill, and their cousin Matthew Followill.
The band's early music was a blend of Southern rock and gar ...
and also
Bryan Adams
Bryan Guy Adams (born 5 November 1959) is a Canadian musician, singer, songwriter, composer, and photographer. He has been cited as one of the best-selling music artists of all time, and is estimated to have sold between 75 million and mor ...
' "
Summer of '69
"Summer of '69" is a song recorded by the Canadian musician Bryan Adams from his fourth album, '' Reckless''. The song is about a dilemma between settling down or trying to become a rock star. The song was written by Adams and his longtime song ...
". After week five's performance show, Childs disappeared from rehearsals and visited a cave on the
Sydney
Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...
Northern beaches in a need to reconnect with "beautiful sadness".
During a radio interview with
2Day FM, he said "It kind of hit me randomly at about 2 am that I had to reconnect with part of my sadness, it’s my secret power it’s what drives me through the song and ignites that part of me, it’s got to do with sadness, I needed to go back to somewhere where I felt an intimate romantic thing with an ancient memory and it worked".
Throughout the competition, Childs had never landed in the bottom two, and ended up progressing through to the final show with Sally Chatfield and Andrew Lawson. The grand final results show was held on 22 November 2010 and during the early stage of the show it was revealed that Lawson had received the fewest public votes and was automatically eliminated. Chatfield and Childs became the final two and after the public votes had been tallied it was announced that Childs was the winner.
As the winner, Childs received a recording contract with record label
Sony Music Australia
Sony Music Entertainment Australia is the predominant record label operated by American parent company Sony Music Entertainment in Australia. SMEA also formerly published and distributed video games in Australia & New Zealand on behalf of Sony ...
.
2010–present: Debut album and controversies
Childs' debut single "
Somewhere in the World" was made available for
download
In computer networks, download means to ''receive'' data from a remote system, typically a server such as a web server, an FTP server, an email server, or other similar system. This contrasts with uploading, where data is ''sent to'' a remote s ...
following his win on ''The X Factor'' on 22 November 2010.
The song debuted on the ARIA Singles Chart at number eight, and also debuted on the
New Zealand Singles Chart
The Official New Zealand Music Chart ( mi, Te Papa Tātai Waiata Matua o Aotearoa) is the weekly New Zealand top 40 singles and albums charts, issued weekly by Recorded Music NZ (formerly Recording Industry Association of New Zealand). The Music ...
at number five.
His
self-titled debut album was released in Australia and New Zealand on 10 December 2010, featuring re-recorded covers of the songs he performed on ''The X Factor''.
The album peaked at number three on the
ARIA Albums Chart
The ARIA Charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling songs and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA became the offici ...
and was certified platinum by the
Australian Recording Industry Association
The Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) is a trade association representing the Australian recording industry which was established in the 1970s by six major record companies, EMI, Festival, CBS, RCA, WEA and Universal replacing th ...
(ARIA), for shipments of 70,000 copies.
In New Zealand, the album reached number three and was certified platinum by the
Recording Industry Association of New Zealand
Recorded Music NZ (formerly the Recording Industry Association of New Zealand (RIANZ)) is a non-profit trade association of record producers, distributors and recording artists who sell recorded music in New Zealand. Membership of Recorded Mus ...
(RIANZ), for sales of 15,000 copies.
On 4 April 2011, Childs' personal manager was arrested after police uncovered a chemical lab that was used to manufacture large quantities of prohibited drugs. Childs' shared the property with other housemates, including his manager. Childs had moved out of the property days before the raid took place. His manager was also charged over illegal weapons, which included rifles, pellet guns and a Taser. Childs however, was not charged.
In an interview with ''
Today Tonight
''Today Tonight'' is an Australian current affairs television program produced by the Seven Network. It aired from January 1995 to November 2019 in Adelaide and Perth. Editions in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne were previously produced befo ...
'', which was broadcast on the
Seven Network
The Seven Network (commonly known as Channel Seven or simply Seven) is a major Australian commercial free-to-air Television broadcasting in Australia, television network. It is owned by Seven West Media, Seven West Media Limited, and is one of ...
on 11 April 2011, Childs revealed that he was earning less than he had as a forklift driver, despite releasing a single in 2010 and touring across Australia.
He also revealed plans of marrying his 19-year-old girlfriend, Nikki Kingston, who he had met through
Facebook
Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...
.
In June 2011, Childs told Australian radio program ''
The Kyle & Jackie O Show
''The Kyle and Jackie O Show'' is an Australian breakfast radio show hosted by Kyle Sandilands and Jackie O on KIIS 106.5 in Sydney. The show is syndicated in the late drive slot on the KIIS Network following '' Will & Woody'' across Austr ...
'' that he was planning a national tour of Australia in August that year and that, if his record label agreed, he would like to release a second studio album.
In January 2012, Childs was found guilty in Taree Local Court of having methamphetamine and marijuana in his system after being pulled over while driving in November 2011.
His driver's licence was suspended for six months and was fined $600.
As a result of the incident, Rockdale City Council stripped Childs of the
key to the city
The Freedom of the City (or Borough in some parts of the UK) is an honour bestowed by a municipality upon a valued member of the community, or upon a visiting celebrity or dignitary. Arising from the medieval practice of granting respected ...
it had awarded him, prompting Childs to launch a tirade alleging corruption at the council.
The incident also led to Childs falling out with his ''X Factor'' mentor Ronan Keating.
On 24 January 2012, it was announced that Childs had parted ways with Sony Music Australia.
A spokesperson for the record label told
News Limited
News Corp Australia is an Australian media conglomerate and wholly owned subsidiary of the American News Corp. One of Australia's largest media conglomerates, News Corp Australia employs more than 8,000 staff nationwide and approximately 3,0 ...
, "He wanted to move in another direction and the decision was mutual. We wish him all the best."
During this time, Childs announced on his official Facebook page that he would be releasing a tell-all memoir titled ''Altiyan & Goliath'', detailing the "deepest truths" about the rise and fall of his post ''X Factor'' career.
In late 2012, Childs signed with independent label Oxygen Music Group. His second album ''Born Before the Sun'' was expected to be released in 2013. The first single, "Headlines", was released in December 2012 and failed to reach the ARIA Top 100.
[Adams, Cameron (16 November 201]
X Factor winner Altiyan Childs signs with Oxygen Music releases new single and album
news.com.au. Retrieved 16 December 2012 In March 2013 Oxygen Music announced Childs was no longer their client.
[Oxygen Music Group facebook](_blank)
facebook. Retrieved 11 March 2013 He was signed to Vibe Management and it was announced Childs would be going to the US to sign a recording deal, and doing a series of performances and interviews, including shows at
The Viper Room
The Viper Room is a nightclub and live music venue located on the Sunset Strip in West Hollywood, California, United States. It was established as The Viper Room in 1993 and was partly owned by actor Johnny Depp. The other part owner was Sal J ...
in Los Angeles, the
Hard Rock Hotel
Hard Rock Cafe, Inc. is a British-based multinational chain of theme restaurants, memorabilia shops, casinos and museums founded in 1971 by Isaac Tigrett and Peter Morton in London. In 1979, the cafe began covering its walls with rock and ro ...
in San Diego and Tao Nightclub in Las Vegas. An article in the ''
Daily Telegraph
Daily or The Daily may refer to:
Journalism
* Daily newspaper, newspaper issued on five to seven day of most weeks
* ''The Daily'' (podcast), a podcast by ''The New York Times''
* ''The Daily'' (News Corporation), a defunct US-based iPad new ...
'' stated that these venues all denied Childs was performing at them. Childs returned to Australia in May 2013 and made a statement on Facebook saying the trip had not gone as planned because he had been let down by his American agent. He claimed he has now been offered a contract to release his album in the US and France. He also stated he was no longer with Vibe Management.
On 20 December 2013, Childs released "Dreams" as the first single from his second studio album ''Born Before the Sun''.
On 13 March 2014, Childs independently released the album's second single "Girl".
The third single "Celebrity" was released on 4 July 2014.
''Born Before the Sun'' was released on 27 September 2015, through independent label 9LoveRecords.
The album is a collection of material Childs had written over the past 15 years and comes almost five years after his self-titled debut album was released.
''Born Before the Sun'' was made available predominantly in digital format, with physical copies made available to buy from Childs' official website.
In 2016 Altiyan was cast in the title role for Gateway Theatre Production's ''Jesus Christ Superstar''. The show was a success, selling out all six shows in Queensland. The show was held at The Events Centre in Caloundra. Reviews were positive.
In late 2016 Childs married his girlfriend of 4 years, Samantha Greenland, in a private ceremony. Childs announced the marriage on his Facebook page. https://www.facebook.com/127626580620606/photos/pb.100044875701245.-2207520000../1079902308726357/?type=3
On 15 April 2021, Altiyan released a five-hour youtube video on Freemasonry, and its secretly antagonistic relationship with Christianity. Altiyan claims to be a former member of the Masonic fraternity, breaking his Masonic oaths in order to produce his 5 hour presentation. The conclusion of the presentation is that international Freemasonry is in fact Organised Satanism in disguise.
[Archived a]
Ghostarchive
and th
Wayback Machine
Childs stated in his Freemasonry presentation that he has since retired from music and now dedicates his life to leading people to Jesus Christ. It is known that he lives on his own property in NSW with his wife Samantha.
Discography
Studio albums
Singles
Awards and nominations
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Childs, Altiyan
1975 births
Australian people of Croatian descent
Australian people of Serbian descent
Anti-Masonry
The X Factor (Australian TV series) contestants
The X Factor winners
ARIA Award winners
Musicians from Sydney
People from Mount Isa
Living people
21st-century Australian singers
21st-century Australian male singers