INXS Announce New Singer After Firing J.D. Fortune

After officially stating they'd parted company with J.D. Fortune last week, INXS have announced the band's new singer is Snow Patrol and Paul McCartney collaborator Ciaran Gribbin.

"It's all so amazing and sometimes overwhelming, especially when I look up and see that my writing partner is one of the greatest songwriters of our time," Gribbin said in a statement Monday, Sept. 24 on the band's site. The Irish singer later tweeted, "I grew up with INXS and I am honored and humbled to make music with this great band."

Gribbin -- who also wrote the music for the new film 'Killing Bono' (relax, it's a comedy about Irish rockers that missed their chance to become U2) -- was confirmed after the group released a demo of new song 'Tiny Summer' last week. The demo also appeared with a handwritten note by INXS' Andrew Farriss who mentioned he met "an Irish bloke" he was playing songs with (early speculation had everyone from U2's Bono to Michael "Rea" Garvey named as the new frontman).

INXS will continue writing and recording with Gribbin for a future studio album but plan to break him in gently with a handful of concerts later this year, beginning with a two-date South American jaunt in early November. Dates in Australia and Europe are confirmed for the following month. The tour is being dubbed, fittingly, INXS 'Now Playing (Like You Have Never Seen Them Before).'

Gribbin's hiring is the latest in a line of replacements following the death of original singer Michael Hutchence back in 1997. Jon Stevens became their lead singer in 2000 but left in 2003 to pursue a solo career. In 2004, the band created 'Rock Star: INXS,' a reality series which ended up with J.D. Fortune becoming the frontman.

But in 2009, things became stressed between Fortune and the founding lineup. Since then he's reportedly been fired twice -- though Fortune begs to differ.

"Prior to this summer's amazing tour, INXS and I agreed that my contracted services as their lead singer for the 'Original Sin' tour would end in Atlanta, GA on August 14," Fortune wrote on his site Sept. 20. "We had a great time and a great tour and are all very proud of those shows.

"To be clear, I did not leave INXS and I was not fired. We have completed this phase of our collaboration on friendly terms and wish each other nothing but the best." The singer made no mention of Gribbin's hiring on his Twitter account.

INXS released their last proper studio album, 'Switch,' in 2005 but issued 'Original Sin' in 2010, a hits package featuring Rob Thomas, John Mayer and Ben Harper among other guest vocalist.