Deni Hines

Dohnyale "Deni" Hines (born September 4, 1970 in Sydney, Australia) is a singer, and is the daughter of singer Marcia Hines. Hines grew up in Australia and was inspired by her mother's success as a singer to follow a career in show business. Her earliest employment was as a backing vocalist for such artists as Kylie Minogue and Jimmy Barnes before she was approached by the band Rockmelons to provide vocals for several of their songs. Her collaboration with Rockmelons provided them with three consecutive hit singles - a cover version of the Bill Withers hit "Ain't No Sunshine", the reggae inspired "That Word L-O-V-E" and the ballad "It's Not Over". In 1992, entrepreneur Harry M. Miller signed Hines for the role of Mary Magdalene in a revival of the stage musical Jesus Christ Superstar. Miller had discovered and signed her mother Marcia twenty years earlier, and the role of Mary Magdalene had also been one of Marcia's early successes. Deni Hines was well received in the role but left the production the following year. In 1993 she married musician Kirk Pengilly of the band INXS but when the marriage ended in 1995 she focussed her attention on her singing career. Her hit "It's Alright" was a contemporary dance track that contrasted sharply with her earlier Rockmelons performances, and it became one of the year's biggest hits in Australia. It also charted in the United Kingdom two years later, peaking at number 35 on the singles chart. Further hits such as "I Like The Way" followed however her career quickly lost its impetus. She attracted a wide audience and strong sales in Europe and Japan, and continued recording with sporadic successes such as her 1996 cover version of 10cc's "I'm Not In Love" and her 2000 cover of Grace Jones' "Pull Up To The Bumper". Her attempts at breaking into the lucrative American market met with little success, with the exception of the 1998 dance track, "Joy", which reached number 3 on the Billboard Magazine Club Chart. In 2002 Hines released a "Greatest Hits" album ("A Delicious Collection") based on contractual commitments with her then record company Festival Mushroom. In 2003 she spent time in France working with Hip Hop artist I:AM writing and recording for his album in addition to co-writing a track "Welcome" of which Beyonce Knowles vocalled for I:AM's release. In 2004 and 2005 Deni spent most of the time writing for her brand new album in the US with the likes of The Family Stand and Whole 9 and back in Australia with Jarrad Rogers, Vince Pizzinga and many others. As of early 2006, she is playing the part of Reno (a composite character representing a number of Dusty Springfield's lesbian lovers) in the stage musical Dusty, premiering in Melbourne and touring Australia until September 2006. Hines' single "Water for Chocolate", written by the Family Stand, was released in Australia on July 8, and will be followed by an album of the same name on August 19.