The Rock Star: Drew Wright

On The Bay magazine

Grassroots Heroes: 10 people who made an impact in 2008

Drew Wright

He stole hearts, he wowed the crowds and he got out the vote – all the while putting his hometown on Canada’s musical map like never before.

Local singer, songwriter, and musician Drew Wright was the story of the summer this year in Collingwood, achieving a top-three finish on Canadian Idol, the talent-slash-reality show that draws millions of viewers every week. It’s one of the most popular shows on Canadian television and this year, Wright became one of its most popular stars.

His boyish good looks, heartfelt guitar playing and strong voice made him a favourite of fans all over the country, but nowhere more so than in Collingwood. Signs all over town proclaimed their support and week after week, thousands of people voted for the 28-year-old’s continued presence on the show. Drew says he heard some people even voted hundreds of times.

It helps that Wright had already established a solid fan base in Collingwood. Born in Toronto and moving to Collingwood when he was five, Drew grew up in a musical family and has been pursuing it for nearly his whole life. His former band, Malleaus, achieved local notoriety by performing at local venues and even earned radio play by winning a Barrie radio station’s battle of the bands-style competition, ‘Local and Loud.’

But the realities of the music industry were starting to wear on him – false promises, tons of work with little financial reward – and when the opportunity to try out for Idol came up, he decided to go for it. The payback has been substantial.

Since being voted off in the second-final round of Idol in September – after ‘beating’ hundreds of contestants before him – Drew has been “recording and writing like crazy,” working on a new record and embarking on a cross-country Canadian Idol tour in the fall. It’s a “Top Three” tour, featuring Drew, runner-up Mitch Macdonald and winner Theo Tams. The tour, Drew hopes, will be the perfect catalyst between finishing up Idol and releasing his new record.

“The idea is to strike while the iron is hot and while your face is still fresh in people’s minds,” he says. “The tour is going to help with that by keeping us in the limelight until the record comes out. But at the same time, you don’t want to [rush and] put anything out there that you’re not proud of.”

And quality is rewarded: it’s a well-known fact that finishing in the top-five of an Idol competition can be almost as good as winning it. American Idol finalist Chris Daughtry, who finished in fourth place on the 2006 season, went on to massively eclipse the success of that year’s winner, selling a million copies of his record in the first five weeks of its release.

While selling a million records right off the bat would be nice, Drew recognizes that right now he’s in an extremely lucky position, having just gotten a free crash course in how the entertainment industry works at the mass-media level. It was, literally, an invaluable experience.

“I was a skeptic going into it,” he recalls; “I didn’t really watch the show before going into it. But I had a lot of support from friends and family so I thought I’d give it a go. I never thought I’d make it as far as I did and it was a great promotional tool – you can’t pay for that kind of promotion. It was an amazing education as well – seeing how they run the show and watching everyone behind the scenes.”

In the meanwhile, Drew has used his newfound fame to boost the profile of a variety of local benefit events. He performed with local musician Larry Jensen in a fundraiser for the medical care of Jensen’s wife Katherine, who is suffering from cancer and heart problems. He also sang and played in September’s “Pink Pearls and Parfaits” cancer benefit in Owen Sound, and rallied a “Drew Crew” team for the CIBC Run for the Cure, raising thousands for the cause. (“Please mention a ‘thank you’ to them from me again,” he adds).

Maintaining that kind of connection to the community in the future is important to him, he says, especially since everyone has been so supportive of his career all the way along.

“I won’t stray far from Collingwood regardless of what happens in my music career,” he says. “It is home to me and will remain that way. I will always be involved somehow, be it a big or small role.”
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