Idol wannabes can take comfort from the career of Michael Buble. The Grammy Award-winning crooner dubbed 'the Canadian Sinatra' spent his formative years as a struggling artist. He tried his luck in local talent shows long before the phenomenon of reality TV shows came along to offer a faster route to stardom for aspiring young singers.
As a celebrity mentor to contestants on The X Factor in 2009, he's seen the intense, high-profile competition of chasing the dream up close - and admits he may not have measured up.
'If I'd been on it I'd have lost,' a laughing Buble says by telephone from Australia, where his worldwide Crazy Love tour has taken him with his 13-piece band. The show comes to Hong Kong on March 11. 'It really depends on the person. I think some people can handle it and some people can't. A lot of people can be good singers. It's really about whether they're a real artist.'
Buble undoubtedly now conforms to that description. After years of slogging around the local gig circuit that included earning US$40 a time as a singing telegram, the son of a poor fisherman has become one of the world's highest-paid entertainers, grossing almost US$20 million last year, placing him seventh on Billboard music magazine's annual cash register of music stars behind leader Lady Gaga with more than US$30 million.
Just over 24 hours before we speak, Buble tucked his second Grammy Award under his belt, winning for best traditional pop vocal album for the October 2009 album Crazy Love, his fourth studio album. He beat fellow nominees Barry Manilow, Johnny Mathis, Rod Stewart and Barbra Streisand.
That kind of company has brought derision from some quarters, but in the world of crooning, Buble, 35, is perhaps the most talented of the young generation, with only Harry Connick Jnr in the same league. He's sold more than 20 million albums in the past decade and makes the lion's share of his wealth from live events such as his three recent Madison Square gigs, which he cites as a career highlight.