Hyping up the action

SEEMS you can't turn around lately without seeing Ricki-Lee Coulter's bum.

Australian Idol's most famous seventh-place finisher has turned up in a bikini in Woman's Day and is nude, save for a delicately placed piece of fabric, in the latest edition of Cleo.

So what gives? It seems a rather strange turn of events for a woman who admits being horrified by (unconfirmed) reports last year alleging her dress blew up at a red carpet event, exposing her bum.

"I'm not the kind of girl to just do a shoot like that for nothing . . . I mean no reason," Coulter, 22, says, revealing she fields offers from mags such as Ralph and FHM "every month, basically".

The fact the Cleo shoot gave her a chance to plug her charity Jeans for Genes, and the Woman's Day piece was about promoting healthy body image convinced her to take the leap.

"If I can draw attention to a good cause, that's something I'm willing to do.

"There are a lot of bad role models out there and if I can say, 'Hey, here's me in a bikini, flaws and all', I will.

"I've got a bum and I've got boobs and I've got a bit of cellulite on my legs, but that's OK."

Coulter, who married her builder boyfriend Jamie Babbington in September last year, says her new husband is particularly taken with her Cleo shoot.

"I blew up a big copy of the picture and put it in a frame and gave it to him for Christmas – he was very excited I must say."

It'll probably come in handy as a reminder to Babbington of what his new wife actually looks like, with Coulter set to embark on a hectic year away from home, with an Australian tour in March, a stint on Channel 7's It Takes Two kicking off shortly and her album Brand New Day due to be released by UK club label Ministry of Sound mid-year.

If it takes off, she may have to temporarily relocate to the UK.

Coulter is quickly garnering a reputation as somewhat of a work-aholic, admitting she spent about 10 months of 2007 away from home.

In that time she managed to not only write and record an album – including the monster hit Can't Touch It – but plan a wedding.

At present, she's broadcasting from 6am-8am with the B105 breakfast crew each weekday and will play an Australia Day concert in Brisbane on the weekend before warming up to support US star Hillary Duff on an Australian tour in February.

"I'm already freaking out about how crazy it's going to be this year but hey, that's what we do," Coulter says.

The fact she has gone with an independent record label, rather than a major, means she has to work much harder for success.

"But it does make it so much sweeter when you do achieve it," she says.

It also puts a nice full stop at the end of a messy split from Young Diva's last year, with Coulter saying just that she no longer has contact with any of her former bandmates. "We've all moved on."

Although Coulter's romance with reality TV continues.

Next month she'll take the stage as a celebrity mentor on It Takes Two, saying, she just wants to finish higher than seventh, as she did in Idol. (Interestingly, Coulter is in famous company, with American Idol sensation Sanjaya also knocked out in seventh place).

Looking forward, Coulter's new single, Can't Sing a Different Song, is set for release in March.

"It's very, very edgy – London chaotic crazy beats and full of hooks and I can't wait for people to hear it," she says.

The song was penned on a writing trip to London last year and was picked up by an advertising agency within a month.

"Before I'd even come home from my writing trip that song was already being played on a TV ad in the UK and Europe."

Lyrically, it's "kind of bragging" about how happy she and her husband are – although the relationship did get off to a controversial start because of the couple's eight-year age gap.

Coulter was 15 when she met Babbington, then 23, through a family friend. "My mum was actually trying to hook him up with her sister – they didn't really hit it off, but me and him did."

The pair were friends for about a year before they began dating seriously, with Coulter saying any misgivings vanished once people saw them together.

"When you meet the person that is the one, you know straightaway. That's what it was like for us.

"We just got each other; we just clicked."

* Ricki-Lee Coulter will headline the five-hour Springfield Lakes Summer Extravaganza concert, which kicks off at 2pm Saturday. Her new single Can't Sing a Different Song is out on March 15. Tickets on sale now for a March tour visiting South Logan Diggers on March 6, Kedron Wavell Services Club on March 7 and Southport Sharks on March 8. Tickets from venues.


source; http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,23096640-5003421,00.html