Marcia Hines

Marcia Elaine Hines AM (born July 20, 1953) is an American-born Australian singer and TV personality.

Hines made her debut, at the age of 16, in the Australian production of the stage musical Hair and followed with the role of Mary Magdalene in Jesus Christ Superstar.

At the age of 16, Hines was discovered by Australian entrepreneur Harry M. Miller and director Jim Sharman who were visiting the U.S. to audition African-American singers in preparation for the new season of the Australian stage production of Hair, which had already premiered in Sydney on 6 June 1969.

Because she was underage, Miller was made her legal guardian.

She achieved her greatest commercial successes as a recording artist during the late 1970s with several hit singles, including cover versions of "Fire and Rain", "I Just Don't Know What to Do with Myself", "You" and "Something's Missing (In My Life)"; and her Top Ten albums Marcia Shines, Shining and Ladies and Gentlemen.

In 1970, at age 16, Hines moved to Australia after landing a role in the Australian stage production of Hair.

When she made her debut in April 1970, Hines became the youngest person in the world to play a featured role in any production of Hair.

It was produced by Miller and directed by Sharman.

Fellow performers included Keith Glass, Sharon Redd, Reg Livermore, John Waters and Victor Willis.

During the show's run Hines learned she was pregnant; her daughter, Deni Hines, was born on 4 September 1970, and nine days later Hines returned to the stage to continue her role.

The show was a major success.

Hines was well received and an Australian tour followed.

Miller and Sharman approached her to play Mary Magdalene in the Australian production of Jesus Christ Superstar and Hines assumed the role from Michele Fawdon in the summer of 1973 with Hines' tenure in the role until February 1974 making her a major star in Australia.

Other cast members included Trevor White, Jon English, Doug Parkinson, Stevie Wright and John Paul Young.

When Jesus Christ Superstar finished in February 1974, Hines joined the jazz orchestra Daly-Wilson Big Band, releasing the album Daly-Wilson Big Band featuring Marcia Hines in 1975.

Hines' vocals were on the cover songs "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" and "Do You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans?".

Hines toured with Daly-Wilson Big Band from Australia to United States, supporting B. B. King and Wilson Pickett in Los Angeles, then to Europe and into Soviet Union for a month.

During late 1974 Hines also performed as the backing vocalist on Jim Keays' solo concept album The Boy from the Stars.

A record contract with Robie Porter's Wizard Records in July 1974 led to Hines' first solo single, a cover version of James Taylor's "Fire and Rain", that peaked at number 17 on the Australian singles charts in May 1975.

Hines was voted "Queen of Pop" by TV Week's readers for three consecutive years from 1976.

Five Top Ten singles were released between 1976 and 1979, including her cover versions of Artie Wayne's "From the Inside", Burt Bacharach/Hal David's "I Just Don't Know What to Do with Myself", "What I Did for Love" (from A Chorus Line) and Karen Carpenter's "Something's Missing (in My Life)".

Hines' biggest hit was with Tom Snow's "You", which reached number 2 in the singles charts in Australia in October 1977.

It was an up-tempo dance song, later covered in the U.S. by Rita Coolidge.

The song, however, nearly didn't make it to Marcia.

Robie Porter had put the song into his "don't use" pile.

Mark Kennedy, her backing band's drummer (ex-Spectrum, Doug Parkinson in Focus, Ayers Rock), saw the sheet music in the studio and began arguing the songs' worth to Porter.

Hines stopped recording in the early 1980s until she returned with Right Here and Now in 1994, the same year she became an Australian citizen.

She was the subject of the 2001 biography Diva: the life of Marcia Hines, which coincided with the release of the compilation album Diva.

From 2003 to 2009 and again in 2024, she was a judge on Australian Idol, and her elevated profile led to a renewed interest in her as a performer.

Her 2006 album, Discotheque, peaked at number 6 on the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) albums chart.

Hines is the mother of singer Deni Hines, with whom she performed on the duet single "Stomp!" (2006).

Hines has sold 2.6 million albums and was the first Australian female artist to have a platinum-selling album, as well as the first female to have seven consecutive top 20 album releases.

Hines was born in Boston, Massachusetts, to Jamaican parents, Eugene and Esmeralda Hines.

Eugene died when Hines was six months old due to an operation to remove shrapnel from a war wound.

Colin Powell, a former US secretary of state, was her cousin, as is the performer Grace Jones.

She was raised with her older brother Dwight by their mother and began singing as a nine-year-old in her church choir.

By her teens she was performing with groups in her local area and briefly used the stage-name Shantee Renee.

At 14, Hines won a scholarship to the New England Conservatory of Music but left after three months.

A month after turning 16, Hines attended the Woodstock Festival.

Hines was inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame on July 18, 2007.