MARCIA HINES

'Marcia Hines' (born July 20, 1953) is an American-born singer who achieved great success in her adopted homeland of Australia. She is best known for her hit singles in the 1970s, and as a judge on ''Australian Idol'' since 2003.
She is also the mother of singer Deni Hines. She now lives near Newcastle, New South Wales, with her partner Chris Morrissey.

Contents

Biography

Later career

Discography

Albums

Singles

Trivia

References

External links

Biography

Born in Boston, Massachusetts, she began singing as a child in her local church choir and by her teens was performing with groups in her local area. At the age of 16, she was "discovered" by Australian entrepreneur Harry M. Miller who was visiting the United States in preparation for an Australian stage production of ''Hair''.
Hines moved to Australia and became the youngest person in the world to play a featured role in any production of ''Hair''. The show was a major success and Hines was received well. Miller then approached her to play Mary Magdalene in the Australian production of ''Jesus Christ Superstar''. Hines became the first black woman to play Mary Magdalene, and achieved a second major success.
A record contract followed and her first single released in 1974 was a cover version of James Taylor's "Fire And Rain". Most of her hit singles were released between 1976 and 1979, and included her cover versions of the Burt Bacharach/Hal David song "I Just Don't Know What To Do With Myself", and The Rolling Stones' "Jumpin' Jack Flash", and "What I Did For Love" (from ''A Chorus Line''). Her biggest hit was the single that made number 2 in the charts in Australia: "You"; an up-tempo dance song, later covered in the United States by Rita Coolidge.
She continued to record and achieved a few more hits including the dance track "Your Love Still Brings Me To My Knees" in the eighties. "Flashdance, What A Feeling" (originally recorded by Irene Cara), and "Time of Our Lives" were both hits for Hines in 1999.

Later career

In 2003 she returned to the public eye after a period of inactivity, with her role as judge on the television show ''Australian Idol'', where she is thought of as "the nice judge" and has been accused of being a fence-sitter unable to provide criticism of any kind. However, the success of the program led to renewed interest in her as a recording artist and in 2004 she released an album of covers, titled ''Hinesight - Songs from the Journey'' which featured a duet with Belinda Emmett of "Shower The People". In 2005 she released a remixed version of her earlier hit "You", followed in 2006 by ''Discotheque'' an album containing her versions of disco classics.

Discography

Albums

★ ''Marcia Shines'' (1975) - #4 Australia

★ ''Shining'' (1976) - #3 Australia

★ ''Ladies and Gentlemen'' (1977) - #6 Australia

★ ''Ooh Child'' (1979) - #15 Australia

★ ''Take It from the Boys'' (1981) - #16 Australia

★ ''Marcia Hines Greatest Hits'' (1982) - #2 Australia

★ ''Fight Here and Now'' (1994) - #21 Australia

★ ''Time of Our Lives'' (2000) - #17 Australia

★ ''Diva'' (2001) - #63 Australia^[1]

★ ''Hinesight'' (2004) - #12 Australia

★ ''Marcia: Greatest Hits 1975-1983'' (2004) - #67 Australia^[2]

★ ''Discotheque'' (2006) - #6 Australia (gold)

★ ''The Essential Marcia Hines (Remastered)'' (2007)

Singles

Biggest charting singles:

★ "Fire and Rain" (1974) - #17 Australia

★ "From the Inside" (1975) - #10 Australia

★ "I Just Don't Know What to Do with Myself" (1976) - #6 Australia

★ "You" (1977) - #2 Australia

★ "Something's Missing" (1979) - #9 Australia

★ "Your Love Still Brings Me to My Knees' (1981) - #10 Australia

★ "Rain (Let the Children Play)" (1994) - #47 Australia

★ "Give It All You've Got" (1994) - #53 Australia

★ "What a Feeling" (1998) - #66 Australia

★ "Time of Our Lives " (1999) - #31 Australia

★ "Makin' My Way" (1999) - #71 Australia

★ "Woo Me" (1999) - #56 Australia

★ "(I've Got to) Believe" (2000) - #172 Australia

★ "Rise" (2000) - #116 Australia

★ "To Love Somebody" (2003) (with Brian Cadd, Max Merritt, Doug Parkinson) - #96 Australia

★ "You" (re-release) (2005) - #59 Australia

★ "Stomp!" (2006) (with Deni Hines) - #43 Australia

★ "I'm Coming Out" (2007) - #41 Australian Club Chart

Trivia

★ Former US Secretary of State Colin Powell is her cousin. ^[3]

★ Performed the closing act of the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras party in 1990.

References

1. "ARIA Report: 15th October 2001 - Chartifacts". ''ARIA Charts''. Retrieved July 20 2007.
2. "ARIA Report: 13th December 2004". ''ARIA Charts''. Retrieved July 20 2007.
3. The Marcia Hines philosophy Chris Beck

External links

★ Official site

★ Marcia Hines at the National Film and Sound Archive