A former Ormiston College student has become a national favourite after scoring a spot in the Australian Idol Top 12.
After his audition of a Mamma Mia classic went viral, Ripley Alexander is making sure his name is one you will not forget.
At only 19 years old, Ripley said that 2024 was the perfect time to take a step towards his dream and audition for the ninth season of the Australian singing competition.
“Making the top 12 of Australian Idol is absolutely amazing,” he said.
“I never thought I would get this far in the competition and for it to all be broadcast on TV.”
The 19-year-old singer decided to take a unique audition approach and steer away from the original version of an ABBA favourite.
“I chose to perform Mamma Mia the way I did because I feel like that is what the song needed,” Ripley said.
“Sometimes I hear it in my brain completely differently to the original, and that is kind of what happened with Mamma Mia… I thought it needed to change, and I wanted to be the one to change it.”
Following Stevie Wonder and Elton John’s footsteps, the Australian Idol singer said he hoped to bring that level of emotion and storytelling back into mainstream music.
“I feel like I make music that sounds and feels like the 50s in the 60s,” Alexander said.
“People like Elton John inspire me to be the way I am and sing the way I do with the amount of emotion and feeling in it.”
For local aspiring musicians, Ripley said his biggest piece of advice would be to keep on going.
“It is not my favourite thing in the world to be told no and it definitely hurts, but it is a fact of life, he said.
