Guy Sebastian admits he was 'not really OK' while filming The Piano
Last year was a painful one for Guy Sebastian. The musical superstar and former coach on The Voice had two spinal surgeries within the space of a week to relieve the nerve pain he’d been suffering and, not long afterwards, started in his new job as a mentor on The Piano.
Guy, 44, tells TV WEEK he was “not really” feeling OK at that point.
“I couldn’t turn and I had to sit in a certain way. I was just trying not to be difficult on the shoot, but it was pretty uncomfortable having to sit for that long.
“I remember having the thought of, ‘Just push through, just push through, don’t be a drama queen.’”
But as Guy sat next to concert pianist Andrea Lam, listening to ordinary Australians share their stories and their passion for music with host Amanda Keller, he started to get a new perspective. One person whose story deeply affected him was a young woman who was 17 when she was hit by a truck and 18 when she woke up from her coma.
“This accident, blink-of-an-eye moment changes the rest of her life and her family’s life,” Guy explains. “And here I am in that chair going, ‘Oh, I’m a bit uncomfortable.’ Suddenly it shakes you out of your own head.”
Another emotional moment for Guy came when he was unexpectedly reunited with someone from his past.
“The producers didn’t know, no-one knew… It’s someone I sang with as a child growing up, and then, through till I was 21 or something, I hung out with this beautiful person who was just the sweetest person in my life. And then they rock up and I immediately burst into tears.”
Guy says when he was filming The Piano he would find himself bawling – and, not long afterwards, laughing.
“And no competition is what I love about it the most,” he adds.
Not that Guy, who spent six years as a coach on The Voice, has a problem with competitive singing shows.
“I think they both have their place and I thoroughly enjoyed The Voice,” he explains. “They don’t make fun of people and they don’t treat people as just a commodity. They’re so caring.”
It’s been almost 23 years since Guy shot to fame on a competitive singing show: the very first season of Australian Idol. Since then, he’s released 11 albums that have reached the top 10. His many fans include the legendary Celine Dion, who recently announced in a TikTok, “I love sooo much Guy Sebastian!”
Guy says it was “phenomenal” to wake up in the morning and hear what Celine had said about him.
“I fell asleep in this dusty, dirt-covered outfit that I was wearing the day before, because I was moving house down south,” he remembers. “I was on my own and I got some Lean Cuisine from the servo down the road, went to bed and woke up with my phone buzzing that Celine likes me!”
With Guy now feeling “good as gold” physically, he’s gearing up for his 100 Times Around the Sun national tour.
“I’m working out again and I’m feeling fit and feeling definitely, definitely prepared,” he says.
With wife Jules and sons Hudson and Archie.
“He’s getting mind-blowingly good. Technically, the things he’s doing, it’s the things you can’t teach.”
Guy has asked Archie to join him on stage to sing during the tour.
“He said he’s pretty keen. The good thing is he’s got a musical he’s doing at the moment and he’s on stage for that in a month or so and I think he’ll get a real hunger for it. Once he does that, he’ll have a little bit more confidence. He’ll be so nervous, but I reckon he’ll do it. He might pull out on the night, but we’ll try.”
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