Born on the 20th October 1971, Danni is the younger, and some might say less successful of the two Minogue sisters. It’s often been said that she has spent much of her career in Kylie’s shadow, but a look at her biography reveals that she still has some impressive credentials.
Danni began her career at a very young age, appearing on Australian TV Talent show ‘Young Talent Time’, before moving into the world of Soap Operas in the late 1980’s. For a year she played the role of punk tearaway Emma Jackson. There was no danger of her being typecast as a soap starlet however, as her character left to become an air hostess. Other early TV credits include appearances on Skyways and The Sullivans, but it was her appearance on Home And Away that became most popular, earning her a Silver Logie nomination for most popular actress.
Like many Aussie Soap stars, past and present, Danni left the world of acting behind to concentrate on her singing career, the early part of which was played out at Mushroom Records. Under this well known Aussie record label she scored hits with the album ‘Love and Kisses’ (Top Ten in UK) and a single by the same name, which reached No 4 in the Australian singles charts. Other releases for Mushroom included the album ‘Get In To You’, and the singles ‘This Is It’ and ‘This Is The Way’. These releases failed to emulate her past successes, though remixes by DJ Steve Hurley made an impression in European Dance Clubs, and provided a new focus for later releases. A resulting album, featuring collaborations with Brian Higgins of Xenomania gave Danni a more mature, dance orientated sound. Although it failed to make an impression on the album charts, it produced several successful singles.
This brings Danni’s career up to the 1990’s, and an appearance that year at the Royal Variety Performance marked her return to television. This time opportunities arose as a television presenter, and in 1994 she was seen on TV screens as a presenter on The Big Breakfast. She also did some outside broadcasts for the show, then took on roles on Top of The Pops, Disney Time, and It’s Not Just Saturday. Danni also took on some theatre work in the late 1990’s, which included a performance of Macbeth at the Edinburgh Festival.
Music continued to play an important part in Danni’s life, despite her journeys into acting and presenting, and she re-emerged as a recording artist in the early part of the Millenium, releasing the album ‘Neon Nights’ in 2003. This turned out to be one of the high points in her music career, producing several top ten hits in the UK charts, and even made an impression on the American Dance charts. This part of her career was played out as part of the London Records/Warner Music family, although she was later dropped, and signed with a new label, All Around The World Records. Since she signed with them in 2004, her musical activities have been relatively quiet, though she did release an album ‘Greatest Hits and Beyond’ in 2006, and a single ‘So Under Pressure’, which was in tribute to her sister Kylie’s battle with cancer. From 2007 onwards she also reissued some of her earlier albums, and put out both a video collection, and a CD of previously unreleased London Records Material.
The Danni Minogue of today is something of a fashion icon, and is regularly seen in the glossy magazines. She also recently won Ultimate TV Personality at the Cosmopolitan Women of the Year Awards in London. Her higher profile, and current list of accolades is mainly down to her appearances on UK reality TV show The X Factor. The successful ITV show sees her judge contestants alongside Louis Walsh, Cheryl Cole, and Simon Cowell. She won the competition with contender Leon Jackson, and helped Welsh singer Rhydian Roberts in the show. In 2009 she has mentored the girl’s category, which featured Lucie Jones, Stacey Solomon, and Rachel Adedeji.
However the future plays out, Danni seems to have found her niche, and can finally cast off her sisters shadow, and be taken seriously in her own right. For now, we can look forward to an album entitled ‘The 1995 Sessions’, featuring material recorded, yet unreleased while Danni was at Mushroom Records. Joining the back catalogue band wagon, she will also release deluxe editions of her albums ‘Love and Kisses’ and ‘Get Into You’.
