Deni Hines

Hines was born in Sydney, New South Wales, and was inspired by her mother's success as a singer to follow a career in show business. She was discovered by a friend when she was singing to the radio and then was encouraged to pursue singing as a career.[1] Her earliest employment was as a backing vocalist for such artists as Kylie Minogue (her Rhythm of Love Tour, Australia and Far East 1991), Jimmy Barnes, Wa Wa Nee and Peter Blakeley before she was approached by the band Rockmelons to provide vocals for several of their songs.[1] The first song that Hines released with the Rockmelons collaboration was a cover version of the Bill Withers 1970s hit "Ain't No Sunshine" in 1991. The song proved to be a success charting at number five on the Australian ARIA Singles Chart.[2] With the success of the first single, the reggae-inspired "That Word (L.O.V.E.)" was the second song released with the collaboration and became another top five single, charting at number four in Australia.[2] The third and final song Hines released with the band was the ballad "It's Not Over". The song was also a success but was not as big as the previous two, charting at number fifteen in Australia.[2] With the success with the Rockmelons, Hines became one of the most well known faces, and voices, in Australia.[1]

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 1992, Hines recorded "Not Enough Time" with INXS and it peaked at number twenty-eight on the Billboard Hot 100,[3] a year later she married the band's guitarist and saxophonist Kirk Pengilly.

After three hit singles with the Rockmelons, Hines was signed to Mushroom Records and released her first solo single "It's Alright" in 1995. The song charting at number four on the Australian ARIA Singles Charts[2] and won an ARIA Award for "Breakthrough Artist – Single".[4] "Imagination" was released at the beginning of 1996 and peaked at number thirty-seven.[2] With two songs released from the album, Hines released her debut album Imagination on 27 May 1996 and charted at number fifteen on the Australia ARIA Albums Chart and was nominated for two ARIA Awards. "I Like the Way" and "I'm Not in Love" (a cover version of a 10cc' song) were the album's third and fourth singles but both failed to chart in to top fifty in Australia.

In order to promote her album internationally, Hines moved to the UK in 1997 and re-issued her album under the title Pay Attention and toured with Lighthouse Family and Earth, Wind & Fire.[5] "It's Alright" was released in the United Kingdom in 1997 and was received well peaking at number thirty-five on the singles chart.[6] The track also managed to peak at number twenty-two in France.[7] Further hits such as "I Like the Way", "Joy" and "Delicious" followed. In 1998, Hines cracked the U.S. market on the dance charts with "Joy" and "I Like the Way" both peaking in the top twenty of the U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Music/Club Play charts.[8] Hines released a remix album titled Remix Your Imagination. This album included the song "Dream Your Dream" which was successful in Japan.

In 2000, Hines did a cover version of the Grace Jones song "Pull Up to the Bumper" the soundtrack for 2000 Australian film The Wog Boy. A Soca version of that same song was performed some 18 years later in 2018 by another Hinds (Alison Hinds "Pull Up" Crop Over 2018).

2002 saw 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 Beyoncé Knowles vocalled for I:AM's release.

In 2004 and 2005, Hines spent most of the time overseas with her then-fiance Ben Steel. Hines was 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. In early 2006, Hines played the part of Reno (a composite character representing a number of Dusty Springfield's lesbian lovers) in the stage musical Dusty – The Original Pop Diva, that premiered in Melbourne, before touring Australia until September 2006. Dusty: The Original Pop Diva grossed $20M at the Australian Box Office.

Hines' single "Water for Chocolate", written by the Family Stand, was released in Australia on 8 July 2006 and just missed the top 100 peaking at number twenty-eight on the Australian Urban Singles Chart. The song was followed up by an album of the same name released on 19 August 2006. Two further singles "Son of a Preacher Man" and "5 Days Of Rain" were released throughout 2007.

2007 she collaborated with trumpeter James Morrison on an album of Jazz standards, The Other Woman. Hines and Morrison performed an Australian National Theatre tour to near sell out audiences and received an ARIA nomination for "Best Jazz Album". They also performed at marquee festivals such as Christchurch Jazz Festival and the Darling Harbour Jazz Festival.

In 2008 she teamed up with Christine Anu for the charity single "Takin' it to The Street". In February 2009 a live DVD with bonus audio disk was released, taken for their 2 national tours.

In mid 2008 Hines received a call from renowned Oscar nominated Film Director Bruce Beresford and agreed to play a small role in Mao's Last Dancer. The film was released on 1 October 2009.

In 9 October Hines became the ambassador for the humanitarian charity Oasis Africa Australia where she visited the foundation's village and school in Kibera, Kenya in January 2010. While there, Hines commenced recording a world music style album featuring some of the local musicians and the kids choir from the Oasis Africa School.

July 2010 saw Hines reunite with Tamsin Carroll from Dusty – The Original Pop Diva, to perform a series of shows, "Dusty the Concert", that featured over 20 hits. There were 16 shows.

On 9 July 2011, Hines released a new single "Finger on the Trigger", a Donna Summer classic. Produced by Rob Taylor and DJ Alex Taylor, its uptempo funky feel failed to get dancefloors moving and bombed on the charts.

From October 2011 Hines featured in The Celebrity Apprentice Australia. She was fired after task 3, in which her team raised $47,400 for Oasis Africa Australia, but returned for the final episodes on Team Unity.

On 31 July 2012, Hines became engaged to Daniel Moses, a Sydney-based financier. This was exclusively reported in Issue 35 of New Idea magazine. They were married on 23 December 2012 in Sydney.[9]

Throughout 2013 and 2014, Hines performed the 'Café Soul Sessions' tour around Australia, and the idea for a soul-inspired album was born.[10][11] The Soul Sessions was available for download only from her website from December 2014. On 18 November 2016, The Soul Sessions was released digitally and physically, with the lead single "What About Love", an original track co-written by Hines and Edward Said. The album also includes two other Hines co-writes, with "I Got Your Back" and "Runnin'".

"—" denotes singles that were released but did not chart or were not released in that territory.

"—" denotes singles that were released but did not chart.