Deanna Johnston

Early life

Johnston (born March 19, 1969 Kingston, Ontario, Canada) first loved sports It was in college where she found her love for music. Johnston graduated with a degree in graphic design. She had been working in this field for approximately a year and a half when she was asked to go on tour with a band. That band was "Mask", based in Willoughby, Ohio which featured Johnston in various costumes dressed as Madonna, Cher, Tina Turner and others, and local drummer Steve Shutts, local male vocalist Dave Richards, and a couple of fellow Canadians. She quit that gig after friends urged her to move on.

Rockstar INXS

Johnston was a competitor on the 2005 TV show Rock Star: INXS, on which the Australian band INXS searched for a new lead singer. Johnston was an early frontrunner after delivering her renditions of Piece of My Heart, The One I Love, and Long Train Runnin'. On week 7 though, INXS chose I Can't Make You Love Me for Johnston to perform and for the first time she landed in the bottom three. Johnston was told to sing Never Tear Us Apart and she saved herself. The next week, Johnston sang her original song My Truth but was once again placed in the bottom three. This time she sang Elegantly Wasted and INXS asked what how she felt singing INXS songs. She said she likes to sing and dance and that their songs allow her to do both. Johnston was eliminated that week.

After RockStar

Johnston has recorded original material and hopes to release a second album. Her first, self-titled release featuring original songs such as "The Other Side" and "Everything For You" was issued in 1996. Johnston also has many tracks on upcoming CDs by the likes of Joe Lynn Turner, Howard Leese, and Justine Stewart. Johnston was also featured on INXS' Switch album.

In July 2007, she reappeared on television as one of the featured singers in the house band for The Singing Bee, an NBC game show hosted by former 'N Sync member Joey Fatone.