Wes Carr is an Australian singer/songwriter who rose to fame on Australian Idol in 2008 and experienced chart-topping solo success soon afterward. Born in Adelaide, South Australia, he began writing songs as a teenager and performed in a series of bands long before his appearance on Australian Idol. In 2003 he founded the band Tambalane with Silverchair drummer Ben Gillies, who was on hiatus from his band at the time. Tambalane made its commercial debut in 2005 with a self-titled album and a couple singles (“Little Miss Liar,” “Free”). Gillies subsequently reunited with the other members of Silverchair, and Tambalane broke up in the wake of his departure.

Carr proceeded to embark on a solo career as a singer/songwriter. He debuted in 2006 with the Rhythm to Fly EP and followed in 2007 with the full-length album Simple Sum; both were released independently by Carr himself. In 2008 he appeared on the sixth season of Australian Idol and finished as the season winner. The song of his featured in the season finale, “You,” was released digitally as a single and quickly topped the Australian singles chart, knocking Lady GaGa’s “Poker Face” out of the number one spot for a week. Riding high on the smash hit success of “You,” Carr made his full-length album debut with The Way the World Looks. The album, on which he co-wrote almost all of the songs, spawned the follow-up singles “Feels Like Woah” and “Fearless.”