INXS finds good Fortune

J.D. Fortune, the new frontman in the Australian rock band INXS, is inching toward a careful-what-you-wish-for moment. On Sept. 20 he was crowned the winner on the reality series ''Rock Star: INXS," and the next day the band went into the recording studio for five weeks to record ''Switch," which came out in November. The band shot a video, made the rounds of the morning talk shows -- Fortune is one of those singers for whom 7 a.m. gigs inspire fear and loathing -- and hit the road for a world tour that won't end until the middle of 2007.

Four days ago Fortune quit smoking. Two days ago he was in Vegas with a fever of 102. On the morning of this interview, he is in Denver doing vocal exercises to ease his severely stressed vocal cords.

''There's no easing into this," says Fortune, 31, who was living out of his car prior to the ''Rock Star" auditions. ''I haven't really shifted gears. But I'm pretty serious about this job."

As well he should be. Not only was Fortune anointed on network television in front of millions of expectant fans, he's filling the shoes of the much-loved singer Michael Hutchence, who committed suicide in 1997. INXS, whose hits include ''New Sensation" and ''Never Tear Us Apart," worked for short periods with two other vocalists in the late '90s -- Jon Stephens and Terence Trent D'Arby. But in neither case did the chemistry endure. Andrew Farriss -- keyboardist, guitarist, and (with Hutchence) the main songwriter for INXS -- explains that the wait has been long for a reason.

''It took us quite a long time to come to terms with what we were going to be without Michael," Farriss says. ''It's hard to separate yourself and have a good look and analyze it in a more levelheaded way, and not emotionally. We're lucky to have J.D. He's smart and positive and enthusiastic and sure about who he wants to be, and we're encouraging that. Don't worry about whoever and whatever we were. Go out and be J.D."

Being J.D., it turns out, means singing and strutting in a fashion that evokes none other than Hutchence, and the similarities cut both ways. No doubt it helped him land the job. But it also sets Fortune up for some pretty tough comparisons with the charismatic star he's replaced, and that's a place he refuses to go -- in conversation or practice.

''I don't want anything to do with him," says Fortune. ''It has to be night and day. I'll find myself holding a microphone and someone will go 'that's how Michael did it.' But there are only so many ways for a singer to hold a microphone. I'm not allowed to hold it in my left hand three inches below my chin?"

All things considered, INXS might have done well to consider rebranding itself the way Queen has for it's upcoming tour with the former Bad Company frontman Paul Rodgers singing the late, great Freddie Mercury's parts. Queen + Paul Rodgers feels like truth in advertising. But the newly configured INXS isn't suffering at the box office; many shows on the tour have sold out, including tonight's performance at the Wang Theatre, and audiences, Fortune reports, are enthusiastic. More important, he says, they're been generous.

''It's like, 'Let's give this guy a shot,' even in Australia, which I found interesting," says Fortune. ''That's all we wanted."

Farriss and his bandmates want to reclaim their former glory as international superstars, and to that end were searching for a frontman who would embody the sleek, brash persona INXS lassoed in their 1980s heyday. But they wanted a singer who could write songs, who wouldn't merely be a swaggering centerpiece but also a vital part of the creative process. That, says Farriss, was where Fortune pulled way ahead of the competition.

''J.D. surprised me on a couple of songwriting workshops. He showed that he has that magical thing. It's hard to articulate, but I'm a songwriter and when I meet another writer I know I'm with one," Farriss says. ''That's where he completed the picture."

Fortune co-penned ''Pretty Vegas," the first single from ''Switch" and the group's biggest hit -- it peaked at number 33 on the Billboard charts -- in more than a decade. But the live show is loaded, for obvious reasons, with old INXS hits, and that's something Fortune would like to see change as the tour rolls on.

''This leg we wanted to give fans what they wanted," he says. ''We all agreed on that. But I'd like to see less of the back catalog on the second leg of the tour and more of 'Switch.' It's the same band, but it's a new band, too."

Joan Anderman can be reached at anderman@globe.com.