Dannii Minogue was born Danielle Jane Minogue in Melbourne, Australia, on October 20^th 1971 to accountant Ron Minogue and his dancer wife Carol Jones. Both her parents had roots in Ireland and Wales, respectively, after their parents had immigrated to Australia in 1955. Born the youngest of three children Dannii and her siblings all pursued careers in entertainment.

Dannii, like her older sister Kylie, began her career as a young actor in Australian soap operas at the age of seven. Her regular slot was on an Australian talent show for children which later spawned her first solo recording of a cover version of Madonna’s hit single, ‘Material Girl’. Her brother Brendon went on to become a cameraman. 

Dannii’s first big break in acting came in 1989 when she was cast as Emma Jackson in the soap opera ‘Home and Away’ which made her a star in Ireland, New Zealand, Estonia, France, Norway, Sweden, United Kingdom, Israel and many Asian countries. Along with her popular role in ‘Home and Away’ came her popular line of fashion designs which sold out across Australia within ten days of hitting the stores. She followed up the line with more designs in the following year. 

Dannii’s entry into the world of music saw her first album being released in 1989 after she signed with Mushroom Records and in the following six years she released another album and several singles. But it was her acting career that took a hold of her in the next few years more than her musical career. 

In 1994 Dannii married co actor on ‘Home and Away’, Julian McMahon, the son of the then Australian Prime Minister Sir William McMahon, the actor later went on to star in ‘Nip Tuck’ and ‘Charmed’ with Alyssa Milano and Shannen Doherty. By 1995 the couple were divorced. It was in that year that Dannii appeared in Hugh Hefner’s Australian Playboy Magazine. 

Apart from hosting several children’s shows on television she made her stage debut in 1997 as Rizzo in the musical ‘Grease, The Arena Spectacular’. Minogue returned to the recording studio in 1997 when she recorded her third album, ‘Girl’. Her single from the album, ‘All I Wanna Do’, reached number four in the UK charts but the album failed to reach even number fifty.

Her subsequent single releases failed to reach any highs in the charts but did well in the UK dance music charts. Once again Dannii returned to the stage, appearing in Shakespeare’s Macbeth as Lady Macbeth and as Esmeralda in ‘Notre Dame De Paris’. However, her performances in both plays were met with harsh criticism. 

1999 saw Dannii engaged to Canadian Formula One Driver Jacque Villeneuve, son of the Formula One driver Gilles Villeneuve, but the relationship did not last and failed after just two years. In early 2002 Dannii became involved with former boy band member of ‘Bros’, Craig Logan but once again the relationship ended within the year.  

In August 2007 Dannii teamed up with the judges of British television’s ITV show ‘The X Factor’, becoming both a judge and mentor alongside Simon Cowell, Sharon Osbourne and Louis Walsh. 

ABB