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Shannon first came to prominence as runner-up of the first series of Australian Idol in 2003, which led to him being signed to Sony BMG. He has gone on to release two number one, multi-platinum albums, That's What I'm Talking About and Lift and numerous top five singles. Shannon's style of music is melodic pop-rock, and heavily influenced by the likes of Bryan Adams.



Shannon was born in the Australian town of Orange, New South Wales and grew up in the small town of Condobolin in central western New South Wales. He is the third and youngest of three children to parents Sharon and Neil Noll and along with brothers Damian and Adam, spent the entire of their childhood and teenage years living on the family farm which ran sheep and cattle and grew cereal crops. During his school years, Shannon enjoyed drama s and performed in a number of school productions. Shannon has since expressed a desire to continue his acting work.



During his adult years, Shannon began working on other farms and properties shearing sheep amongst other tasks. It was during this time, Noll and his brothers formed the band called Cypress (named for the fact that they rehearsed in a timber mill), of which Shannon provided vocals and played guitar. The band played numerous small gigs around the Australian outback, playing in country pubs gaining a solid live reputation. Although the majority of songs performed by the band were cover versions of popular songs, the group enjoyed writing original music and would often perform these originals as part of their set.



Shannon's father, Neil, was tragically killed during a farming accident in 2001, which led to Shannon and his brothers to take over the running of the family farm. Following the death and two years of extreme drought, the brothers sold the farm and settled in Condobolin with their mother. Shannon often cites the death of his father as a major inspiration in his musical career, and has penned a song on his latest album Lift titled Now I Run in memorium of his late father.



It was in Condobolin where Shannon met his now wife, Rochelle Ogsten. The pair dated for 8 years before they wed in October 2005 and welcomed the arrival of sons Cody in 2001 and Blake in 2002, and daughter Sienna in 2006.



By 2003, Shannon was in debt and out of work following the sale of his family farm due to extreme drought. It was his brothers who encouraged him to travel to Sydney and audition for the 2003 debut seasion of Australian Idol. Shannon impressed the judges Mark Holden, Marcia Hines and Ian Dickson with his audition in which he performed the Southern Sons' c Hold Me In Your Arms. After his audition, Marcia Hines praised Shannon and told him that she had just discovered "a voice" and Ian Dickson informed Shannon that "...Australia will love you"



Following his initial audition, Shannon made his way into the Top 32 semi-final where he performed a rendition of Robbie Williams' hit Better Man, which impressed the viewing audience enough to vote him in as part of the Top 12. Over the 8 weeks of performance shows, Shannon found himself in the bottom 3 only once, following his performance of Bon Jovi's Livin' On A Prayer during The 80's theme night. Throughout the show, Shannon impressed both the judges and audience with performances of songs as diverse as Powderfinger's Already Gone, to The Beatles Hey Jude to Jimmy Barnes Working Man.