By Samantha Trenoweth – (The Australian Women’s Weekly)

Harry Connick Jr and his eldest daughter, Georgia, are soaking up some early morning sun.

The deep blue Indian Ocean rolls onto Cottesloe Beach in Western Australia as they stroll across the sand, chattering, laughing, taking a little father-daughter time out from Harry's schedule as the newest judge on Australian Idol.

The women in Harry's life mean the world to him. That's why he brought his eldest daughter – who had long dreamed of seeing Australia – along for the Idol auditions.

His whole family – wife Jill Goodhew, and Georgia's sisters, Kate and Charlotte – will also be here in February when the competition kicks off in earnest.

"My wife and my girls," he says, "they are a constant source of joy and inspiration for me. There's nothing else that comes even close."

Harry has always lived in a world of women. He can't imagine life any other way and he believes it's influenced the man, the musician and the father he's become.

"I was surrounded by women growing up," he explains, with that slow, warm New Orleans drawl. "First, my mother and my sister – my mother was a very bright, strong, driven woman – but also a lot of other female family members who were powerful people, who commanded my respect. That's the only way I knew women. My perception, from the time I could think, was that women were in a place of power and commanded respect."

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