There are those who will say INXS at least damaged -- even downright ruined -- the band's credibility last year by doing the reality TV show "Rock Star: INXS." On the show, 15 contestants competed each week to become the new lead singer of the Australian band.

Many felt the show was an insult to the group's late singer, Michael Hutchence, who died by apparent suicide in 1997, and a desperate move to restart the career of a band that sold 30 million albums worldwide with Hutchence as the group's dynamic frontman.

But J.D. Fortune, who was selected by INXS to be the band's new singer, has a different view of the whole venture. He believes it was a highly courageous move by INXS to seek out a new singer in such a public way.

"I mean, if this didn't work, their career would have been over. That's another check for them because that's a big risk," Fortune said in a phone interview during a break from rehearsals for INXS's world tour. "I know from speaking with them intimately, they were really, really nervous, and they were nervous due to the fact that it was reality TV. But they still sucked it up and went on with the show."

The fact is, INXS, whose first CD with Fortune, "Switch," was released in November, had been trying to find a new singer for years.

The band members -- keyboardist/guitarist Andrew Farriss, drummer Jon Farriss, guitarist Tim Farriss, bassist Garry Beers and saxophonist/guitarist Kirk Pengilly -- first teamed up with Terence Trent D'Arby, who debuted with the band in June 1999 to play a 20-minute set to open Sydney's Olympic Stadium. But the partnership with D'Arby, who by that time had several successful solo albums to his credit, quickly fell apart.

Then in May 2000, INXS and Jon Stevens, former frontman of Noiseworks, a popular Australian band, signed on. He was on board for a brief tour of the United States in summer 2001, and then for a more extensive outing in 2002. Attempts at songwriting with Stevens, though, never jelled and INXS ended up back at square one in the search for a singer.

Then the band hatched the idea of the reality show and approached Mark Burnett (creator of "Survivor" and "The Apprentice"), who then put together the show.

Ironically, Fortune was hardly a fan favorite during the early weeks of "Rock Star: INXS." Early on he was seen as arrogant -- a perception Fortune now understands -- and he admits his determination to win the slot of INXS singer rubbed other contestants the wrong way.

"I thought to myself if I went to see my best friend in the world playing a hockey game or something and he checked somebody into the boards, I wouldn't stand up and go, 'Oh man, that's not right. Don't do that,' " Fortune said. "He's operating within the parameters of the competition. And that's what I was doing. I kind of got chastised for it at the very beginning by stating the very obvious, that we are here to compete for this and it's not a sort of 'Kumbaya' sort of love fest. I think some of those people just got p-- off because I pointed that out to them."

In the end, though, Fortune persevered and was picked over Marty Casey in the show's final episode. Casey and his band, Lovehammer, are opening the current leg of the INXS tour.

Fortune's sudden ascension into the rock music spotlight actually would make for a pretty good movie script in itself. One of the first singing gigs for the 32-year-old resident of Nova Scotia was as an Elvis Presley impersonator.

He went on to play in a number of bands around Nova Scotia, but nothing ever panned out. And when word of "Rock Star: INXS" went out, Fortune was out of music, homeless and living out of his car.

"I invested in a business where I was living out of the back of the store," Fortune explained. "I had some differences with my partner, and basically when I left I had to put a lot of stuff into storage and put what I could into my car and couch hop for about a week. Then (I thought), 'Oh my God, I'm sort of taking advantage of my friends here.' I'm just going to grin and bear it and basically just stay in my car -- with my dog. I was in my car when I heard about the advertisement for this (the "Rock Star: INXS" auditions) on the radio. Something just went right down my spine. Honest to God, as soon as I heard it, I'm like 'I'm going to win.' And here I am."

What Fortune couldn't have known, though, was that the real work of being in INXS wasn't going to begin until after he was chosen as the new singer.

The day after the finale of the show, Fortune was in the studio, beginning what became a grueling five-week sprint to finish "Switch" in time for a pre-Christmas season release.

Exposure from the show had boosted sales of the INXS album catalog by 200 percent, and the band members realized they needed to strike while the iron was hot.

"We decided as a band that we were going to do like 18-hour days in the studio," Fortune said. "We had four studios going simultaneously within one building."

Ironically, Fortune feels the speed with which "Switch" had to be recorded may have made for a better CD because it created a spontaneity and urgency in the record.

"A lot of times if you have three months or six months to record a record, you do a track and you go I'm going to live with that, take it home for a week and listen to it and see if I have any other ideas," Fortune said. "Then you start second guessing yourself."

The finished version of "Switch" retains many of the musical signatures that made such INXS CDs as "Listen Like Thieves," "Kick" and "X" huge hits. Uptempo songs such as "Devil's Party," "Pretty Vegas" (the CD's first single) and "Perfect Strangers" are funky-ish rockers built around danceable beats, hooky, tightly intertwined guitar lines and Fortune's supple vocals. These uptempo tracks are balanced by several silky ballads like "Afterglow" and "Remember, Who's Your Man."

Overall "Switch" may not match the best INXS records, but it's a solid effort that suggests the reborn group may have some creative fuel let.

Fans will soon be able to judge the new INXS in person as the group embarks on an extensive tour. The group's show Wednesday in Pala is already sold out. Fortune said the band plans to play about 25 songs, a half-dozen of which will come from "Switch."

As for taking over for Hutchence, who was one of rock's most charismatic frontmen, Fortune said he has only recently begun to fathom the task he faces.

"It didn't really sink in until after the record had been released and I started thinking, I just kind of fell into this," Fortune said. "He (Hutchence) has been one of my idols for a long time, and getting to be on stage with those guys who grew up with him, it sort of made me feel a little more comfortable about what I'm doing. At the same time, I'm just trying to fill my own shoes because nobody's ever going to replace Michael. It's just impossible. I'm just hoping to bring my pure and honest self to the stage and hopefully attract people that way."