2003: Australian Idol In May 2003, Cosima De Vito successfully auditioned for the first season of TV talent quest series,
Australian Idol, with a performance of
Celine Dion's "
I Surrender". From July to November she appeared on the weekly televised episodes and moved to Sydney that year, For her independent album,
Cosima, she flew to Los Angeles to have ten of its eleven tracks penned by
Diane Warren (Celine Dion,
Christina Aguilera, and
Aerosmith) who commented "When I heard her sing I was blown away ... Cosima is a younger, edgier Celine Dion". On 9 August 2004 Cosima's first single, the
double A-sided, "
When the War Is Over" / "
One Night Without You", was released. "When the War Is Over" is a cover of a
Cold Chisel ballad and "One Night Without Your" was one of Warren's tracks. The single was certified platinum by ARIA for shipment of 70,000 units by December 2004. An alternate version of the song, with production similar to her live idol performance, was recorded before working with Diane Warren. This version was not released as the overall sound was different from the rest of the album and so a new version (which was later released as the single) was recorded. On 11 October 2004 her self-titled debut album,
Cosima, was released. It debut at No. 2 on the ARIA Albums Chart and No. 1 on the Independent charts. While it was certified gold, for shipment of 35,000 units by ARIA, it quickly left the Top 50 after spending only a few weeks in the charts. On a 2004 episode of
A Current Affair, De Vito was shown writing and recording new material with Warren in Los Angeles. De Vito expressed her disappointment at media reports that declared the throat nodule incident was a publicity stunt. In 2004 Cosima performed "When the War Is Over" on
Dancing with the Stars and "Cost of Love" on the
Kerri-Anne show; she guested on
Good Morning Australia with
Bert Newton and performed "When the War Is Over" and "Now That You Can't Have Me". In May that year De Vito was invited to perform at the 30th Anniversary Gala Dinner for then-Prime Minister,
John Howard. In December, she released her second single, "
Now That You Can't Have Me", which peaked at No. 42. The video for the single was initially popular on Australian music shows such as
Video Hits. There were distribution problems and lack of radio airplay. On 23 December, De Vito parted ways with her management team, Nellis and Gardner, who had guided her since the end of
Australian Idol. The parties were in dispute over
A$500,000, that her managers alleged they were owed. According to De Vito, there were still things to be sorted out with her previous management, but she was confident they would turn out well. However, negotiations failed and, from November 2007, Nellis and Gardner appeared in court suing for "breach of contract, claiming lost earnings" while De Vito counter claimed that "the management team were 'negligent' in guiding her career". Since early 2005 De Vito had been in the studio working on her second studio album,
This Is Now. was dedicated to her mother. In October 2005, De Vito previewed some new tracks as support act for United Kingdom soul singer,
Roachford on his Australian tour. In October, her management announced that her debut single, "When the War Is Over" had re-entered the
Australian Independent Charts at No. 11, more than 2 years after it debuted at No. 1 on the ARIA Charts. On 11 February, she sang the national anthem at the Australia vs England Cricket final at the Sydney Cricket Ground in front of 40,000 spectators. Lead single from the album, "Keep It Natural", released on 2 June, showed a rockier edge to her previous works and was written by De Vito and
Trevor Steel (singer-songwriter for
The Escape Club); it became popular at gay nightclubs across Australia. On 22 February, she debuted "Keep It Natural" at the half time entertainment for the NBL's Sydney Kings v Brisbane Bullets game at the Sydney Entertainment Centre. The album did not chart on the Australian ARIA charts. In October the second single, "Movin' On", also failed to chart despite positive reviews. She appeared on
Kerri-Anne and performed "Keep It Natural", as well as on Channel 9's
Today Show and the
Morning Show hosted by
Kylie Gillies and
Larry Emdur. De Vito has been a regular guest on the Susie Show where she performed the track "Never Be a Woman in Chains" and displayed her heritage when she cooked an Italian dish. "Keep It Natural" peaked at No. 30 on the ARIA Club Charts and No. 3 on the ARIA Physical Singles Chart and No. 112 on the ARIA Singles Chart. It peaked at No. 4 on the Australian Independent Charts also for 8 weeks. In May, De Vito performed the role of Mother Nature in the Perth production of the rock musical,
Hair, to critical acclaim with
Rob Mills, Cle Wotton and
Nikki Webster. This production was directed by Chris Kabay with musically director, Simon Holt, of Yellow Glass Theatre. Jessica Clayden of the 3rd Degree website approved of the former
Australian Idol contestants, "De Vito and Wooten shine during their musical numbers and leave the audience wanting to hear more, so much so that you find yourself looking to the on stage balcony to wait for Cosima to appear and belt out another tune. Her rendition of 'Aquarius' will send chills down your spine". In October she launched her album at the Sleaze Ball as the headlining act. De Vito shot a video for "Movin' On", which was premiered on music video programs in Australia. It was released in October and was placed on Joy FM's latest Album Volume 5 alongside tracks from
Australian Idols
Marcia Hines (judge) and
Ricki Lee Coulter (contestant). In March 2008 De Vito headlined Gay Fair Day in Sydney.
This Is Now includes "Never Be a Woman in Chains"; and "Left Waiting" written by the
Veronicas. De Vito travelled to Melbourne for
World Aids Day. In July, in Brisbane she undertook an "up close and personal" video documentary leading up to a live stage performance at The Beat Megaclub for a DVD release. Christian Bowman and Shane Tyler Greaves from Stage Addiction worked with De Vito to produce the film. In August De Vito appeared as a guest on Channel 9's
This Is Your Life to pay tribute to fellow
Australian Idol contestant,
Shannon Noll. She appeared with 2003 winner,
Guy Sebastian, where it was revealed that her withdrawal from the competition gave the green light for Noll to compete against Sebastian in the grand final.
2009–present: later events By April 2009 Cosima De Vito was a sponsor for Girls with a Purpose, a program by charity organisation, Lifehouse Project, to address issues of concern for 13- to 18-year-old girls: "body image, family conflict and coping with stress". In May De Vito lost her long running legal battle with former managers, Nellis and Gardner, and was ordered to pay Nellis $30,000, plus $7,000 legal fees.
Supreme Court of New South Wales Justice Nigel Rein, ruled in the case,
CN Presents Pty Ltd v De Vito [2009] NSWSC 388, that De Vito should pay Nellis and stated, "[i]t does seem his work was minimal but it was his idea and he prepared a budget or proposal". The claim of $500,000 for breach of management contract or lost royalties was denied. In 2023, De Vito returned to the music industry, and collaborated with Greg Gould to release a cover of "
I Want to Spend My Lifetime Loving You". In October 2025, De Vito was announced as a contestant for the forthcoming third season of
The Traitors Australia, set to appear alongside for
Australian Idol judge
Ian 'Dicko' Dickson. The season will air on
Network 10 in 2026. ==Discography==