Photo: Snapper Media/Graeme Taylor

She’s sold millions of albums worldwide and starred in the Australian music industry for 20 years. Now Deni Hines, daughter of one of Australia’s best-loved entertainers, is carving out an even bigger name for herself

WORDS HUGH BALDWIN

While conducting this interview a school kid walked past and yelled out: “Are you Marcia Hines’ daughter?” Deni’s response?

Deni and James Morrison blow
the lid off a concert
Photo: Karen Watson
“No, I’m Deni Hines and Marcia Hines is my mother.”

This short interchange sums up Deni Hines. A successful singer, songwriter and performer she is, nonetheless, still her mother’s daughter. And this is one mother who ranks so highly in the Australian public consciousness that the link between Deni and Marcia can never be severed. Despite this family connection, Deni has carved out her own distinctive and distinguished career. And it looks set to snowball.

Testament to this is her most recent flurry of activity. There are two collaborative projects of different flavours: one with Australia’s acclaimed jazz trumpeter James Morrison and another with soul-pop singer Christine Anu. Deni has also landed a role in her first feature film, titled Mao’s Last Dancer and directed by the legendary Bruce Beresford, and will be co-hosting a new television series described as “Eco TV” about environmentally conscientious living, due to hit the small screens in September.

Deni in the studioAccording to Deni, The Other Woman album and tour with James Morrison came about in a whirlwind.

“I was downloading old music when I said to my manager that I thought it could be a cool album,” says Deni, “And she said ‘Oh you could do a duet album with James Morrison’.”

“I said ‘Yeah, right’. She called James’ manager. James and I met at Sydney airport between flights and I presented him with 16 tracks. He said, ‘I like them all, we should do an album!’ Two weeks later I was in the studio, singing with James Morrison.”

It was then only weeks before she was on the road with Morrison and an eight-piece big band performing to packed houses. The Other Woman has now hit number one on the Australian jazz charts and Top 100 on the ARIA album charts.

Deni’s upcoming national tour with Christine Anu will be a welcome change of pace.

“I’ve just come off a tour with nine guys. I mean, that was great but give me some female energy!” Deni says with a laugh. “It’s a funny thing because Christine’s a mother of two, I’m the mother of none, twice divorced, we’re both 37, we’ve got s**t to say. The show is about life, love and relationships. Little theatres, nothing too big, we want to keep it really acoustic and natural. We’re both hippy girls, so nothing too fandangled.”

Opening night of
Dusty:The Original
Pop Diva in 2006 with
mum Marcia Hines
Photo: WireImageIn comparison, the story of Deni’s life is far from simple. Marcia Hines arrived in Australia from Boston in 1970 to play a lead role in the Australian production of Hair, the musical. What Marcia didn’t realise at the time was that she was pregnant with Deni.

Deni seemed destined to make a mark on the Australian music industry and at 15 her singing career began when she was discovered singing in a friend’s kitchen. Her first popular success came in the early ’90s with the Aussie band The Rockmelons, with hits such as “That Word (L.O.V.E)” and “Ain’t No Sunshine”. It was during this period that she married her first husband, Kirk Pengilly, from Aussie supergroup INXS.

“He was too old for me, I get that now,” she says. Deni has been married and divorced again since then and while she writes off that relationship as “not worth talking about”, it did land her in London, which in turn led to some success on the European front.

From her award-winning, debut solo album Imagination, “It’s Alright” was released in France, topping the charts for seven weeks. Her exposure in France led to work on the film soundtrack of Luc Besson’s Taxi and with French rap artist I:AM, which in turn led to writing a song for American R ’n’ B/pop queen Beyoncé. And then there was a theme song she wrote for a Japanese TV show.

“I was the Barry Crocker of Japan for a year or two,” she jokes. “Every night in people’s living rooms.”

Photo: Snapper Media
/Graeme TaylorAcross this period Deni also released four more solo albums, starred in several musicals and hosted Channel V’s urban/R&B show Soul Kitchen. Today, she’s wiser, free of the pressure of a contract with a major record company and in charge of her life.

“I’m a bigger person,” she says. “I’ve got control over my career now. In the beginning I was under a label – which was cool – I think I needed that to learn more about myself.”

She is clearly not frightened of hard work, however. Her 2006 album, Water for Chocolate, was recorded in her days off from playing one of the leads in Dusty: The Original Pop Diva, a musical about Dusty Springfield.

“I worked like a dog through that. We did eight shows a week, Monday was the day off, but it wasn’t a day off for me as I recorded an album,” she says.

She is clearly enjoying the freedom that comes from being in control of her own destiny. But one bond Deni will never be able to break is the one with her mother.

Christine Anu and Deni Hines
Photo: Karen Watson“People will always make the connection,” Deni says. “I’m proud of my mother. I love her and she’s a great woman, but we’re two separate entities and I don’t see my mum like the rest of Australia sees her. So yes she sings, but she’s a mum.”

“People here still judge me even today, against mum. But Mum didn’t really do it in Europe, America, Asia and stuff – in those countries noone compares me to anyone but me.

Deni Hines on location for
Under the SunDeni’s foray into television, the new 13-episode TV series called Under the Sun, is based on research that shows millions of Australians are looking for ways to live a more sustainable, eco-friendly and healthy life. Deni, a self-confessed Eco Warrior, will reveal her passion for the subject and be joined on the show by Karen Pini, Andy O’Sullivan, and a host of qualified experts. It’s a role that reflects her own life values.

“I’ve been eco for a long time, been organic for a long time, and people have sort of heard about it through different stuff that I’ve done,” Deni says. “I have no chemicals in my house. People think it’s really weird. I think it’s easy.”

With albums, tours, TV and film, Deni Hines is definitely a woman of her own making.

The Other Woman – Deni Hines & James Morrison

18 May Mayfiesta, Noosa, QLD
8 Jun Darling Harbour Jazz Festival, Sydney, NSW

Christine Anu & Deni Hines Tour Dates:

8 May Sonar @ Luna Park, Nth Sydney, NSW
9 May Sths Juniors, Maroubra, NSW
15 May Capital Bar, Wagga Wagga, NSW
16 May Auditorium, Canberra, ACT
22 May Lizottes, Central Coast, NSW
23 May Penrith RSL, Penrith, NSW
24 May Dee Why RSL, Dee Why, NSW
25 May Club Swans, Kings Cross, NSW
29 May Laurieton United, Laurieton, NSW
30 May Nambucca Heads RSL, Nambucca, NSW
31 May Ballina RSL, Ballina, NSW
1 Jun Coffs Hotel, Coffs Harbour, NSW
5 Jun Wellers, Kangaroo Ground, VIC
6 Jun Peninsula Lodge, Moorooduc, VIC
7 Jun New Capers, Hawthorn, VIC
12 Jun Hervey Bay Boat Club, Hervey Bay, QLD
13 Jun The J, Noosa, QLD
14 Jun Southport RSL, Gold Coast, QLD
15 Jun Victoria Point Sharks, Brisbane, QLD
20 Jun Brothers Leagues, Cairns, QLD
21 Jun Bombay Rock, Townsville, QLD
22 Jun Magpies Sports, Mackay, QLD
26 Jun The Basement, Sydney, NSW
27 Jun Hornsby RSL, Hornsby, NSW
28 Jun Shellharbour Workers, Shellharbour, NSW

Deni Hines on Travel

I like Darwin. The red soil is beautiful, the sunsets are amazing, as are the ants’ nests and waterholes.

I like Melbourne for shopping and my favourite music store in Australia is there – Mighty Music on Chapel Street, which has all the imports.

My father’s side is African, so that’s one place I really want to go. My friends used to say that they thought I looked Somalian and then I found out that my father had Somalian and Ethiopian in him. So I want to go to Somalia and Ethiopia just to say: “Hey you look like me!”

Hugh Baldwin says:
Deni Hines rang me three times on the way to the interview. She was waiting for me. She said she was a Virgo and habitually early. I’m a Pisces and habitually late. Despite our astrological and temporal differences, we chatted for over an hour in the sun on Sydney Harbour.