Jason Dean Bennison (born September 1, 1973), better known by his stage name J.D. Fortune, is a Canadian singer and songwriter best known for his six-year tenure as the frontman of the Australian
rock
Rock most often refers to:
* Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids
* Rock music, a genre of popular music
Rock or Rocks may also refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...
band
INXS
INXS (a word play, phonetic play on "in excess") were an Australian Rock music, rock band, formed as The Farriss Brothers in 1977 in Sydney, New South Wales. The band's founding members were bassist Garry Gary Beers, main composer and keyboar ...
. He received worldwide recognition and fame after winning the first season of the CBS reality television series '' Rock Star: INXS''; in 2005, replacing its late lead singer
Michael Hutchence
Michael Kelland John Hutchence (22 January 1960 – 22 November 1997) was an Australian musician, singer-songwriter and actor. Hutchence co-founded the rock band INXS, which sold over 75 million records worldwide and was inducted into th ...
. After the show, Fortune fronted INXS through an extended 2 1/2-year world tour performing for millions of fans and supporting the release of the band’s multi-platinum album
Switch
In electrical engineering, a switch is an electrical component that can disconnect or connect the conducting path in an electrical circuit, interrupting the electric current or diverting it from one conductor to another. The most common type of ...
Afterglow
An afterglow in meteorology consists of several atmospheric optical phenomena, with a general definition as a broad arch of whitish or pinkish sunlight in the twilight sky, consisting of the bright segment and the purple light. Purple light mainl ...
" “and “ Devil Party”. Switch was INXS's first studio album with Fortune and the only album with new INXS material after Hutchence's death.
Switch also marked fortune's only album with the band before parting ways in August 2011 due to creative differences and to work on his solo projects. Fortune is a vegetarian and has worked with
PETA
Peta or PETA may refer to:
Acronym
* Pembela Tanah Air, a militia established by the occupying Japanese in Indonesia in 1943
* People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, an American animal rights organization
* People Eating Tasty Animals, an ...
to promote an animal-product-free lifestyle.
Early life
J.D. Fortune was born Jason Bennison on 1 September 1973 in
Mississauga
Mississauga ( ), historically known as Toronto Township, is a city in the Canadian province of Ontario. It is situated on the shores of Lake Ontario in the Regional Municipality of Peel, adjoining the western border of Toronto. With a popul ...
,
Ontario
Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...
and raised in Salt Springs, Pictou County, Nova Scotia to Robert Bennison and Sandra( née fortune). He also has a younger sister Sarah-jane and a dog named Presley(named after
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one ...
)
Bennison's parents divorced when he was 5 years old and he mostly spent his earlier years with his grandparents while his mom worked shifts for a living. Bennison was his estranged father's name. He adopted his mother's maiden name upon starting his career in music.
He had his early education at
Cawthra Park Secondary School
Cawthra Park Secondary School, also known as CPSS, is a public high school built-in 1972 located in Southeast Mississauga, Ontario, Canada. It is one of two Regional Arts Schools in the Peel District School Board. Cawthra Park provides instructi ...
and
West Pictou Consolidated School
West Pictou Consolidated School (WPCS) is a Canadian public school serving the central-western part of Pictou County, Nova Scotia, Pictou County, Nova Scotia.
The school is located in the rural community of Lyons Brook, Nova Scotia, Lyons Brook. ...
but dropped out before graduating after being offered a job on a television show in
Toronto
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...
,
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
.
He began to show his interest in music and performing at a very young age after finding the soundtrack for
Kurt Russell
Kurt Vogel Russell (born March 17, 1951) is an American actor. He began acting on television at the age of 12 in the Westerns on television, western series ''The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters (TV series), The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters'' (19 ...
's movie
Elvis
Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one ...
. He stated, “That was my video game, my TV, my everything back then, I just listened to that album all day long, every day.”
Fortune has done many jobs before finding his way into the music industry. He worked as an extra on the
Jerry O'Connell
Jerry O'Connell (born February 17, 1974) is an American actor and television host. He is known for his roles as Quinn Mallory in the television series ''Sliders'', Andrew Clements in ''My Secret Identity'', Vern Tessio in the film '' Stand by M ...
children's show
My secret identity
''My Secret Identity'' is a television series starring Jerry O'Connell and Derek McGrath. Originally broadcast from October 9, 1988 to May 25, 1991 on CTV in Canada, the series also aired in syndication in the United States. It was later shown ...
, worked at a martial art school as a teacher and an
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one ...
impersonator at a local karaoke bar, briefly worked as a truck driver, and later joined the
Canadian army
The Canadian Army (french: Armée canadienne) is the command responsible for the operational readiness of the conventional ground forces of the Canadian Armed Forces. It maintains regular forces units at bases across Canada, and is also respo ...
, as a radio operator for two years.
Early Music Career
Fortune performed at the Friendship Festival and at
Toronto
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...
's
SkyDome
Rogers Centre (originally SkyDome) is a multi-purpose retractable roof stadium in Downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada, situated at the base of the CN Tower near the northern shore of Lake Ontario. Opened in 1989 on the former Railway Lands, i ...
in front of 50,000 people. He also worked as an entertainer and pop songwriter for an
Ontario
Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...
TV show and Elvis Presley impersonator. He fronted a band named JUICe, which recorded an album named ''In Retrospect''.
Fortune also recorded the song "Always Be In The Game" for the ''
Beyblade
is a line of spinning-top toys originally developed by Takara, first released in Japan in July 1999, along with its debut series. Following Takara's merger with Tomy in 2006, Beyblades are now developed by Takara Tomy. Various toy companies ar ...
'' V-Force: Let It Rip soundtrack and "Round after Round" for the ''Beyblade'' anime series.
''Rock Star: INXS''/INXS
Fortune was living in his car, under a bridge, when he applied for and was selected as a contestant on
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainmen ...
's TV show '' Rock Star: INXS''. On September 20, 2005, after an eleven-week televised audition process, Fortune won and joined INXS.
INXS, with Fortune, released their album ''
Switch
In electrical engineering, a switch is an electrical component that can disconnect or connect the conducting path in an electrical circuit, interrupting the electric current or diverting it from one conductor to another. The most common type of ...
'' in November 2005. Three singles from the album were released over the next twelve months including the track " Pretty Vegas" which was co-written by Fortune and INXS's
Andrew Farriss
Andrew Charles Farriss (born 27 March 1959) is an Australian rock musician and multi-instrumentalist best known as the keyboardist, backing vocalist, and main composer for rock band INXS. Farriss released his debut studio album in 2021.
Care ...
, amongst others. The week of February 25, 2006, "Pretty Vegas" reached its highest charting at Number 7 on the ''
Billboard
A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...
'' Hot Adult Top 40 Tracks.
On February 16, 2009, Fortune revealed in an interview with ''
Entertainment Tonight Canada
''ET Canada'' (previously referred to as ''Entertainment Tonight Canada'') is a Canadian entertainment news television series, using the same format as the American entertainment newsmagazine ''Entertainment Tonight''. ''ET Canada'' is a broadcas ...
'' that INXS fired him from the band with a handshake at a Hong Kong airport. Fortune admitted to heavy cocaine use during the latest INXS tour and acknowledged that his drug habit had likely contributed to INXS's decision. Fortune stated he had been off cocaine for the past 2 years; at the time, he was living out of his car and had put all his remaining money into his solo album ''The Death of a Motivational Speaker''. Former INXS manager and now record company head
Chris Murphy
Christopher Scott Murphy (born August 3, 1973) is an American lawyer, author, and politician serving as the junior United States senator from Connecticut since 2013. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served in the United States Hou ...
responded at the time by saying that Fortune had never been fired by the band, but that the band was reluctant to continue working with him because of the drug-use allegations.
However, later in 2010, Fortune performed with INXS several times. On February 24, 2010, Fortune performed with INXS at the
Vancouver Olympics
The 2010 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XXI Olympic Winter Games (french: XXIes Jeux olympiques d'hiver) and also known as Vancouver 2010 ( lut, K'emk'emeláy̓ 2010), were an international winter multi-sport event held from February 12 ...
in a sold out performance. On July 10, 2010, INXS, fronted by Fortune, performed at an outdoor concert for an estimated 13,000 people at the
2010 Sucrogen Townsville 400
The 2010 Sucrogen Townsville 400 was the eighth race meeting of the 2010 V8 Supercar Championship Series. It featured Races 15 and 16 of the series and was held on the weekend of 9–11 July at the Townsville Street Circuit, in Townsville, i ...
in
Townsville
Townsville is a city on the north-eastern coast of Queensland, Australia. With a population of 180,820 as of June 2018, it is the largest settlement in North Queensland; it is unofficially considered its capital. Estimated resident population, 3 ...
, Australia. On July 16, 2010, Fortune fronted INXS at an outdoor concert at the Mangrove Resort in
Broome, Western Australia
Broome, also known as Rubibi by the Yawuru people, is a coastal pearling and tourist town in the Kimberley region of Western Australia, north of Perth. In the the population was recorded as 14,660. It is the largest town in the Kimberley reg ...
. On September 1, 2010, Fortune and INXS performed before 17,000 attendees of
VMware
VMware, Inc. is an American cloud computing and virtualization technology company with headquarters in Palo Alto, California. VMware was the first commercially successful company to virtualize the x86 architecture.
VMware's desktop software ru ...
's 2010
VMWorld VMworld is a global Multicloud, multi-cloud conference, hosted by VMware. It is the largest multi-cloud-specific event. It has been held in San Diego, California in 2004; Las Vegas Valley, Las Vegas, Nevada in 2005, 2008, 2011, 2016, 2017, and 2018; ...
at the
Moscone Center
The George R. Moscone Convention Center (pronounced ), popularly known as the Moscone Center, is the largest convention and exhibition complex in San Francisco, California. The complex consists of three main halls spread out across three block ...
, San Francisco. On September 25, 2010, INXS and Fortune headlined the pre-match entertainment at the
AFL Grand Final
The AFL Grand Final is an Australian rules football match to determine the premiers for the Australian Football League (AFL) season. From its inception until 1989, it was known as the VFL Grand Final, as the league at that time was the Victori ...
Event in
Melbourne
Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...
, Australia. During a radio interview prior to the performance in
Broome, Western Australia
Broome, also known as Rubibi by the Yawuru people, is a coastal pearling and tourist town in the Kimberley region of Western Australia, north of Perth. In the the population was recorded as 14,660. It is the largest town in the Kimberley reg ...
,
Kirk Pengilly
Kirk Pengilly ( ; born 4 July 1958) is an Australian musician and member of the Australian rock group INXS. Kirk plays saxophone, guitar and also performs as a backing vocalist.
Early career
Pengilly moved to Sydney in 1966, and became best fri ...
confirmed that Fortune was a permanent member of INXS.
On September 29, 2010, INXS announced an Australian tour for early 2011. The tour, with JD Fortune, included eight performances across Australia from January 25, 2011 to February 12, 2011. This was followed by three performances in South America:
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...
, Argentina,
Santiago
Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated region, the Santiago Metropolitan Region, whose ...
, Chile and
Iquique
Iquique () is a port city and commune in northern Chile, capital of both the Iquique Province and Tarapacá Region. It lies on the Pacific coast, west of the Pampa del Tamarugal, which is part of the Atacama Desert. It has a population of 191,468 ...
, Chile in February 2011. JD Fortune and INXS returned to Canada for a performance at the
Sound Academy
Rebel (originally the Docks Nightclub & Concert Theater and then Sound Academy) is a nightclub and concert venue located on the Polson Pier in Toronto, Canada. Relaunched in October 2016 as Rebel Night Club, the complex is on the edge of Lake Onta ...
in
Toronto
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...
Ontario on March 2, 2011.
On October 19, 2010, INXS released the single "
The Stairs
The Stairs are an English rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1990 by vocalist and bassist Edgar "Summertyme" Jones, guitarist Ged Lynn and drummer Paul Maguire.
The band released one album and a handful of singles, prior to Lynn's departure i ...
", featuring Fortune (the original version of "The Stairs" had appeared on INXS' 1990 album, '' X'') on
iTunes
iTunes () is a software program that acts as a media player, media library, mobile device management utility, and the client app for the iTunes Store. Developed by Apple Inc., it is used to purchase, play, download, and organize digital mul ...
Canada. This tune was followed by the November 2010 release of an album of primarily previously released songs as performed by a number of artists. The album, ''
Original Sin
Original sin is the Christian doctrine that holds that humans, through the fact of birth, inherit a tainted nature in need of regeneration and a proclivity to sinful conduct. The biblical basis for the belief is generally found in Genesis 3 (t ...
'', was released in Australia and Canada. A bonus track, "Love Is" with Fortune was released in Australia through iTunes.
In 2011, INXS with Fortune completed shows in Australia, UK, Portugal, South America, Canada, and the United States. In September 2011, Fortune and INXS announced that they had mutually agreed to go their separate ways and pursue different artistic projects. Later Fortune said, "I had no idea I had left INXS the second time to be honest with you. I woke up August 18 and I had to find out from their web site, which, to this day, I still find bizarre."
Solo music
In March 2010, Fortune announced that a previously unreleased solo work, entitled "One More Day", would be used in CBS television on-air campaign for a new television series ''
Miami Medical
''Miami Medical'' (formerly titled ''Miami Trauma'') is an American medical drama television series that aired on CBS from April 2 to July 2, 2010. It follows the professional and private lives of a team of trauma surgeons.
The series was created ...
''. The series aired on April 2, 2010. "One More Day" is a previously unreleased track from a new CD that is being worked on. In September 2011, J.D. Fortune announced that he was developing several projects as a solo artist that were on hold until he had completed his obligations with the INXS tour.
On February 8, 2011, Fortune announced via Twitter that his song "Wicked World" would begin airing in a promotion for an episode of the CBS Television program ''
Criminal Minds
''Criminal Minds'' is an American police procedural crime drama television series created and produced by Jeff Davis (writer), Jeff Davis. The series premiered on CBS on September 22, 2005, and originally concluded on February 19, 2020; it was r ...
''.
On July 10, 2012, he played his first live performance for the public with his new band Fortune. Some of the members of Fortune are fellow Canadians from the band Crush Luther. The show was at
Stone Pony
The Stone Pony is a New Jersey music venue in Asbury Park, New Jersey known for launching the careers of many New Jersey music legends, including Bruce Springsteen, Jon Bon Jovi, and Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes.Seven in 7- Los Angeles project, writing, recording, producing and releasing a new song each day for 7 days and another in 2015, Seven in 7-Ontario . Two "Seven in 7" albums were released through Red Rebel Music.
On January 6, 2015, Fortune signed with manager Gerry Pass of Chrome Artists Management, LLC in Los Angeles. On August 27, 2015, he was in Nashville, Tennessee, working with writers and producers, and preparing to record his new country rock singles, which are available on
Spotify
Spotify (; ) is a proprietary Swedish audio streaming and media services provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. It is one of the largest music streaming service providers, with over 456 million monthly active us ...
,
Youtube
YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...