Introducing the Next 'Rock Star'

By Rick Porter, Zap2It.com | September 13, 2006

Lukas Rossi

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Lukas Rossi will front the band formerly known as Supernova

LOS ANGELES -- Lukas Rossi was crowned the "Rock Star" winner Wednesday night, but he probably won't be singing for Supernova.

Now, Lukas will be fronting a band made up of Tommy Lee, Jason Newsted and Gilby Clarke -- but because of a court injunction granted Tuesday, the band has been barred from performing or recording under the name "Supernova." (An Orange County band, also called Supernova, successfully claimed it had the name first.)

So, on Wednesday night's finale, host Brooke Burke still refers to the show as the "'Rock Star: Supernova' season finale," and the name is still in the show's logo, but when she introduces the band, it's just "Gilby, Tommy and Jason."

Tuesday's final performance episode features the final four singers, and Brooke informs Magni and Toby that they're the bottom two based on audience voting; Dilana and Lukas are guaranteed spots in the last round. The band prefers Toby's cover of Billy Idol's "White Wedding" to Magni's version of Jimi Hendrix's "Fire," and, not surprisingly, the Icelander is sent home.

The final three then perform one last time, each reprising songs they've done earlier in the season: "Bittersweet Symphony" for Lukas, "Zombie" for Dilana and "Somebody Told Me" for Toby. They're all strong, with no one clearly standing apart from the others.

In a bit of an upset, Toby gets the hook next. He had been coming on strong of late, and in the past few weeks no contestant had more consistently engaged the crowd. To his credit, he's entirely gracious in his exit.

So that leaves Dilana and Lukas -- "the edgy ones," as co-host Dave Navarro calls them. They've also been among the favorites right from the start. We also know they were the two top vote-getters after Tuesday's show, so the band's decision on the final two matches the audience's.

Tommy then informs us that the winner had the highest number of votes last night, and it's Lukas, making it two Canadians in a row to win on "Rock Star." Dilana gets a nice consolation prize, though, with Gilby and Dave both offering to help her record an album and an apparent offer to join the House Band on the not-Supernova tour.

Hearing Lukas close the show with the band, it's hard to argue with their choice. On both songs, he sounds like a pretty natural fit for ... uh, whatever they're called. Apparently the band didn't come up with a new name by showtime.

Whatever they're called, the Lukas-Tommy-Gilby-Jason Experience is slated to release an album later this year and kick off a tour in Las Vegas on New Year's Eve.