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| Birth Name(s) : Marcia Hines |
Date of Birth: July 20, 1953 |
| Status:
N/A
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Partner:
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| Profession:
Musician |
Official Site
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Full Marcia Hines Biography
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Marcia Hines was born on 20th July 1953 in Boston USA and developed her vocal skills as a very young member of church choirs, gaining her first solo spot aged nine at a chruch festival. Into her early teens she was a sought after rhythm and blues singer fronting groups in her local area, as well as performing for her church when required.
When she was fourteen she won a scholarship to the New England Conservatorium Of Music, but only lasted three months, much more interested "in the Rolling Stones than Traviata". A month after her sixteenth birthday her babysitter took Marcia along to the famous Woodstock Pop Festival.
When Marcia was a tender 16 year old, it was the age of the musical 'Hair' with productions of the hit "rock musical" being mounted all around the world. What the rest of the world didn't have at the time was a huge supply of homegrown black female singers, a necessary commodity for a staging of 'Hair'. Back in Boston Marcia's best friend told her how her sister Donna Summer had gone to Germany to appear in their 'Hair', and suggested that Marcia might do the same.
Marcia joined the cast of Hair in April 1970, and immediately won praise from audiences and critics alike with her powerful and soulful vocal performances. She stayed in the show right up to the time her baby was born on 4 September 1970, and returned to work immediately afterwards.
Marcia's success in Hair led to her next major stage role, that of Mary Magdalene in the Harry M. Miller - Jim Sharman production of Jesus Christ Superstar. She took over from Michelle Fawdon in 1973, becoming the first black singer anywhere in the world to play this role. When that show ended in February 1974 Marcia the lady, a total show stopper in her role as Mary Magdelene, had her first opportunity to relax and look around her adopted country.
Soon after Marcia signed on as singer with the jazz-orchestra the Daly-Wilson Big Band as its front line vocalist and four record breaking club tours have put this lady into a position of enormous respect and recognition as the unquestionable "First Lady Of Song". During this time Marcia toured Australia, the USA, where they performed at a White House recital as well as supporting B.B. King and Wilson Pickett in Las Vegas. The band also undertook a ground-breaking month-long tour of the Soviet Union, which was filmed for a documentary.
A critic of the time write of Marcia... "Her vocals gave the feeling of restrained, elegant black soul. The ability to move from the sheer joy of the Stephen Stills song "Love The One You're With" to the emotional torment that is the legend of her first single, James Taylor's Fire and Rain. This Lady is a very special person, she rightfully claims the position of First Lady and there is no-one to disclaim that title. Although other black performers came to Australia before and after (e.g. Chelsea Brown, Delilah) Marcia was without question the first black American performer to become a bona fide star in this country, and certainly there was no-one quite like her on the Australian music scene when she first arrived in 1970."
Marcia's 2001 single I've Got To Believe was written and produced by leading Australian dance music producer Paulmac. In September 2001 Pan MacMillan published Marcia's authorized biography, Diva, written by Karen Dewey, and to coincide with the book Warner Music released a career retrospective under the same title in October. Presumably encouraged by this renewed interest in Marcia's music, BMG issued another compilation, the old Wizard Greatest Hits Vol.1 album, on CD.
From January to April 2002 Marcia starred in the lead role of Roxie Rochelle in the ‘70s-themed musical Oh! What A Night and she also featured with Paulmac (winner of the ‘Best Dance Artist' category) leading the chorus in the show-stopping finale performance of his hit single Just Enough (For A Broken Heart) at the 2002 ARIA Awards.
Marcia was signed for a challenging role as a judge in Australian premiere of the reality television show "Australian Idol" with Network Ten. With all these great things happening Marcia faced her biggest personal set back, since loosing her beloved brother Dwyat all those years ago. Marcia's mother passed away in May 2003 leaving a big void in the lives of Marcia and Deni.
June 2003 saw Marcia committed to the national tour with Australian Idol to select the cream of Australia's undiscovered stars of tomorrow. |
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Additional Marcia Hines Biography
She is also the mother of singer Deni Hines. She now lives near Newcastle, New South Wales, with her partner Chris Morrissey.
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.
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.
A popular dance track with some elements of disco, "You" was the most successful single of Hines' career.
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Biggest charting singles:
- "Fire and Rain" (James Taylor) (1974) - #17 Australia
- "From the Inside" (1975) - #10 Australia
- "I Just Don't Know What to Do with Myself" (Bacharach/David) (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 |
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Marcia Hines Quote(s)
| I looked different with this huge Afro and hippy clothes, but I thought, if they want to stare well here I am. I was raised as an individual not as a black person. |
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