Picture caption: Helping hand ... Darren Hayes and Human Nature.

http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/story...5013560,00.html

Darren Hayes helps with high notes for Human Nature
Article from:
The Daily Telegraph
September 27, 2008 12:00am

THEY sang their way through Motown, but when Human Nature started
aiming for higher notes, with a symphonic sound, Aussie singer Darren
Hayes dropped in to lend a hand - and his vocal chords.

Hayes, in Sydney for a role on tomorrow night's Australian Idol, added
his touch to the super group's upcoming album, A Symphony of Hits,
penning and appearing on a track he wrote for them.

Currently recording the final tracks for the new release, Human Nature
recorded the bulk of the CD in Prague with its symphony orchestra and
will hit the road from December with local orchestras.

The former Savage Garden frontman, guest judge alongside Tina Arena
and Ian 'Dicko' Dickson at this year's London audition, has decided to
come home to help the Idol contestants as they prepare for Aussie Hits
week.

Cyndi Lauper will be a special guest judge on Sunday's 80s theme
episode, and will perform her classic hit Time After Time on Monday's
elimination show.

It's the first year Australian Idol has introduced celebrity mentors,
with producers promising more big names to come.

"We are thrilled that the level of talent that Idol has uncovered this
year has attracted so many major international musicians," Network Ten
executive producer Stephen Tate told AAP.

"Watch for more announcements in the coming weeks."

Music director John Foreman, who's been with the Network Ten singing
contest from its beginning in 2003, said there was a lot of exciting
performers to come.

"Producers of the show are aiming very high this year," Foreman told
AAP today.

"There's two reasons for this: number one it's great for the
contestants to have the opportunity to be mentored by people who
really know what they're doing.

"And the other thing is that Australian Idol is pulling such high
viewer numbers now that for an artist to launch an album or promote a
single it's actually a very valuable vehicle for them to do that."

Lauper has been very hands-on with the hopefuls this week, pushing
them outside their comfort zone.

"Cyndi Lauper's approach to performance is probably very different to
how many of these contestants would have approached performing, but
we've just spent the last couple of days working with her and she's
worked quite closely and became quite engaged with each contestant,"
Foreman said.

"She's obviously a fan of the show, she's a fan of each of the
contestants, and was very keen to spend lots of time with them."