Singer claims: 'INXS dropped me'

Fortune is working on a solo album, Death of a Motivational Speaker

The singer who won a reality TV competition to front Australian rockers INXS says he is broke and living in his car after the band sacked him.

JD Fortune has told Canada's Entertainment Tonight that he was dismissed with a handshake and a thank you after a world tour.

The singer also admitted he began using cocaine during his time with the band.

INXS, currently on a break, have not commented on Fortune's claims but their website still lists him as singer.

The band had a string of hits in the 1980s and 1990s including New Sensation and Need You Tonight but in 1997 charismatic frontman Michael Hutchence was found dead.

Four different singers have since been in the band's line-up and Rock Star: INXS was their latest attempt to find a permanent front man.

"Really alone"

Canadian Fortune beat ten other finalists to the role. They recorded just one album, Switch, in 2005 and followed the release with a two year world tour.

He said he was hurt by the band's decision to let him go: " I found myself really alone because I had travelled with these guys for 23 months."

Fortune says he has been off drugs for two years and is living in the back of his pickup after putting his remaining INXS earnings into funding his new solo album.