Dannii: My Story

by Dannii Minogue

Dannii Minogue first appeared on television aged 7. She signed her first record deal at the 17 and ever since she has been wowing audiences around the world with her charm and her charisma. In this very personal and uplifting autobiography, Dannii talks openly for the first time about the highs and lows of her 30 year career.

Genres: Biography, Autobiography, Nonfiction, Music, Celebrity, Memoir

349 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2010

About the author

Dannii Minogue has achieved twelve consecutive number one dance singles, becoming the most-successful artist on the UK Club Chart. The last year has seen Dannii's star ascend into the stratosphere, becoming a bona fide national treasure, as hailed by the UK media. Most recently, following her triumphant 2009 season on The X Factor, watched by a peak of 19.2 million, Dannii has been crowned 'Best TV Star' by the readers of Elle magazine and 'Ultimate TV Personality' by Cosmopolitan. Vogue also named Dannii one of the world's Top Ten most stylish women. Dannii made her Marks & Spencer debut in their spring / summer TV campaign. Dannii also launched her first fashion collection 'Project D' in the UK in June.

Reviews

[chucklesthescot · Rating 3 out of 5]

At the time when I read it I gave it three stars because I liked reading it. I was interested in her early entertainment career where she was one of my favourite ever Home and Away characters. I was interested in reading about her celebrity relationship to fellow actor Julian McMahon and how his mother drove them apart. Her singing career and X Factor battles with Sharon Osbourne also fascinated me.

However she failed to mention anything about the now well known affair with Simon Cowell which led to the fall outs with Sharon. If you are going to write your 'true story' I fully expect to be reading all the interesting bits not the bits you want me to read, or not mentioning the bits you are trying to hide!.

Dropping this to 2.5 stars I think.

[Montgomery · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great insight into her life. Obviously quite out of date and the references to her love for Kris Smith is ironic now they're no longer together. But it was a charity shop find and signed so! Love Dannii either way

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

How a tomboy who hated her name and wanted to be called Danny and pretended to be Grease's Rizzo grew up to become known as Dannii.


She takes us through her younger years when she and her family moved quite regularly [her parents would make extra income by buying run-down houses, restoring them and selling them on for profit] and how her chosen after-school activity of singing and dancing lessons lead to her being a finalist in the talent-search section on TV show Young Talent Time. She didn't win but the producers remembered her and she got a regular part on the show... From there we go between acting, record deals, launching clothing lines, theatre, hosting various children's TV programmes, The Big Breakfast, a tour, Australia's Got Talent and The X Factor - In short her whole 32 year career.

In addition to following her career we also get a peak into her usually off-limits personal life; Her short-lived marriage, being left in debt, her called-off engagement, her inspirations and motivations for her varied charity work, how it felt watching her sister battle cancer, her best friend losing her cancer battle, that 'lesbian orgy', being on the receiving end of Sharon Osbourne's misplaced fury and becoming a mother.


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My opinion
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One problem I have with autobiographies in general is how the author nearly aways feel the need to over share details [Jordan I'm looking at you], it really affects the way you view someone after hearing their tales of debortuary. So I was in two minds about getting this; On one hand I've grown up reading gossip about Dannii from my early Big and Smash Hits days, through to today's Cosmopolitan, so I was interested in reading the real stories behind the rumours, but on the other hand it's hard to know where to draw the line and keep your dignity intact in autobiographies.

What impressed me the most was the lack of bitchiness; Remember Kelly Osbourne yelling over a "book full of lies" about Sharon? Sharon gets a total of one chapter and Dannii only details one incident - and that incident happens to have multiple witnesses. She even looks back fondly on her ex husband [Nip/Tuck's Julian McMahon] despite a bitchy mother in-law, her suspicions and being left in huge debt after supporting his dreams and being left with nothing.

Dannii has found the perfect balance between honesty and TMI: so if you're looking for sensationalism, cattiness and naming-and-shaming you can skip this. She doesn't dance around things share any blame, and make excuses for things like so many other celebrities do; for instance some of her albums and singles weren't 'misunderstood' or "released at the wrong time", nor did she and her two earlier records labels "part company in order to pursue fresh challenges". The singles simply underperformed, she'll happily tell you that some albums flopped with resulted in the record companies terminating her contract.

She also shares many personal and/or humorous stories throughout the book that were new to me, such as when she toured across America in the early nineties without her manager present; A 17 year old Dannii found herself singing in village halls and such, and not being paid whilst the people in charge drank $1350 bottles of Cristal and the 'tour manager' collected huge piles of money.


A little niggle that I have is that she doesn't go into too much detail about her TV work during her earlier years - I assume this is due to a combination of faded memories, her family, friends and colleagues privacy and the simple fact that most of the readers are more interested in the music, her ex husband, Kylie's cancer and The X Factor.

Also; There are a few points where she'll start to talk about one thing, but it'll remind her of something else so she'll veer off. It does make it seem as though you are actually having a gossip with her, but it is a bit distracting.


Final word of warning; If you're thinking of buying this for information about Kylie you'll be disappointed; She was rarely in the same country as Dannii during their younger years and Dannii doesn't discuss personal stuff relating to her cancer.


** There are two colour photo sections; There first contains Dannii as a child, teen and has a wedding party picture. The second second focuses on her closest friends and Kris [current partner]. Each of the 32 chapters also has a black and white picture as a divider. Most of these are publicity shots, ranging from her teens to now **

[Virginia Mae · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fact: I wish to be adopted by the Minogue family circa 1980.

Fact: "This is it"!, the details of said beach romp and Dannii's subsequent marriage to that guy from Nip/Tuck who was terrible as Doctor Doom in the Fantastic Four movies: DETAILS AT LAST.

Fact: Being Kylie's sister is apparently a delicate balance between love and the evil pressures of the media trying to compare Dannii with Kylie.

X-Fact-ors: Sharon Osbourne is a massive biyatch, and Cheryl Cole is lovely (knew this already, but nice to see it confirmed).

Yes, this is THE STORY OF DANNII MINOGUE'S LIFE, and therefore a five star rating is obviously called for. Amazing.

Check out my blog, SugarRushed: http://virginiamaeblog.blogspot.com/

[Tony · Rating 2 out of 5]

Overall this book frustrated me. I giver her credit for being honest (I hope she was being honest), but she appeared a a little shallow, materialistic and perhaps even showing a little narcissism. Relationships, both male and female seemed based, on looks and income, and if someone was good looking this meant they were a good person and friend. I could go on, but I get annoyed thinking about it so that will do!

[Alysia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have read this book twice & have been a fan of Dannii for many years & love everything she does.This is a great book from her growing up in Aussie to having Ethan.There's things that you don't know & thing's you do.Had me hooked from the first few chapter's & could'nt put it down.Will definitely read again.Highly Recommended.

[Caroline Croezen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was surprisingly good. Danni comes across really well! So surprised by all the things she has done in her career I didn't know half of them. She comes across really funny and I'd say she's great craic on a night out!

[CLAIR Withers · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed reading this autobiography. I found it amazing what she has been through. I found it good of her to only touch briefly on her sisters cancer. Then to go through loosing a very close friend after Kylies battle. Danni is an amazing lady in her own right. Many thanks X

[Emily Reed · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it!! Would certainly read again and recommend to anyone!!!

[Catherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn;t think I would enjoy this as much as I did. It's a really interesting read, and an insight into the hard work of entertainers.

[Helen · Rating 4 out of 5]

So glad that one of my fav ever singers opened up to her audience and let us know what was going on in her life while we danced our days away, as we still do now, to her music.

[Sam Still Reading · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like most Aussie kids growing up in the 80’s, we all knew Dannii and her big sister, Kylie. Kylie was Charlene on Neighbours and Dannii was on Young Talent Time and Home and Away. We all wanted to be one of them, singing into our hairbrushes. So naturally I was drawn to read Dannii’s biography when I was browsing a book sale to catch up with what she’s been doing while I was busy growing up.

This book starts with Dannii as a child and ends with the birth of her child Ethan (I read the hardcover version; a softcover version I saw yesterday has the additional tagline ‘fully updated’ on it). It covers her time with Young Talent Time and Home and Away, then moves on to her pop career (some of it, such as the initial trip to New York sounded downright dodgy!) and its rises and falls. I didn’t realise how much of a hit Dannii was on the dance scene. It also covers personal times, such as her marriage to Julian McMahon (again, I didn’t realise how young she was!) and its demise. Dannii is remarkably restrained when it comes to rumoured spats with Lady Sonia McMahon and later Sharon Osborne; it’s a credit to her that she handles them in a dignified manner. For Kylie fans, there’s not a great deal about her (it is Dannii’s book after all).

This was a very fun and easy read, a sort of adult extended version of the Dannii magazine I had as a child. Dannii talks about her friendships, personal trials (she’s had a few of them for someone so young) and achievements – again substantial. You are someone to be admired Dannii!

So if you were someone who grew up with Dannii on the screen and radio, I’d recommend this to you to reminisce. If you’re a newer fan, read this to find out where it all started.

http://samstillreading.wordpress.com

[Miles · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although no stranger to the spotlight, Danni Minogue’s big break in the UK came via the highly popular X Factor, joining a judging panel that included Simon Cowell, Louis Walsh and Sharon Osbourne. Her assured performance throughout the series in 2007, despite the backroom antagonism, confirmed her place on Saturday night television and she became a household name in her own right. She will forever be known as Kylie’s little sister, there’s no getting away from that, but through sheer determination, intelligence and an unwavering confidence in front of the camera, Dannii Minogue had arrived.

Having spent a considerable amount of time in Australia, I have to confess I do have a soft spot for Ms Minogue and along with Simon Cowell; I look forward to her comments every Saturday night. So when Dannii:My Story landed on my desk earlier this week I jumped at the chance to delve deeper and discover the truth behind the headlines, her relationship with her sister and “that” infamous spat with Sharon Osbourne.

So where do I begin? The autobiography is an enlightening read, the narrative flows well and the story is very well told – a real page turner. The overriding feeling I had when I finished reading the book was one of satisfaction and a desire to spend time with the real Dannii – not the character portrayed so often by the media. I felt as if I came away knowing a little more about “the other Minogue” and how down to earth she came across. Not really a surprise to me, I never thought she was your stereotypical diva – she has more going for her than that.

Full Review on my Blog :- http://www.milorambles.com/2010/11/17...

[Rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dannii and I are the same age. When we were both ten, she appeared on TV as a new member of the YTT team, and I watched from my couch 200km up the road. I continued to follow her career as we both grew up, and got old- so I was interested to read her book. Unlike other reviewers who will only ever see her as Kylie’s sister, I’m in the “Dannii was famous first and I grew up with her” camp that many Australians in the 80s belong to. Her book was a good read and covered some things I didn’t know, and others I knew about, but it was nice to finally get her side of the story. I wish she had devoted more chapters to the YTT years, and the kids she worked with, although I loved the details about her early adult years. She has left some bits out - her relationship with Simon Cowell for example. I enjoyed Danni’s Story because I like Dannii and because it highlighted to me how it’s possible to be a big star and still have grace.

[Nikki Bywater · Rating 4 out of 5]

From her early upbringing in Australia and finding herself in the spotlight at an early age, to her pop career, and her true feelings about her sister Kylie. With behind the scenes and gossip from the X factor and what really did happen with Sharon Osbourne. To the tragedy of losing friends to cancer and helping support Kylie through her own battle with the disease and to finding love and becoming a mother,

A well written and interesting account of Dannii Minogue’s life so far. From the lime light to her private life are covered in this book. We learn the truth behind the headlines and what really did happen. If you are a fan or if you like reading books about people this is an enjoyable and entertaining read that is also quite touching in parts. I was surprised to learn just how much I didn’t know about Dannii Minogue.

[Louise Jones · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have started reading Biographies as a way of relaxing as to be honest they do not require much effort !! It was interesting in someways finding out about the arguments we have read about in the press and to get it from the horses mouth so to speak ! makes me glad not to be famous as must be awful your life is not your own very moving reading about the pregnancy and how she did not want the press to know because before 3 months up!! my mum has always claimed their Nain came from near her home village TRaWS but mentioned mustang but perhaps they just moved their later on !! oh well now on to more challenging reads !!

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was such an easy book to read, nice short chapters, lots of goss and fun, it was really hard to put down. I was a huge fan of Dannii Minogue when I was in primary school because unlike the other big stars of the day- Madonna and Kylie she had dark hair like me. I had her first album and used to make up dance routines to it. Then when she came back with Neon Nights I loved the album and her personal style around that time so I was glad when she brought out this autobiography, although I didn't get around to starting it until recently as I have so many other books to read and I would've finished it a lot quicker had I not been reading Fleming's Bond books at the same time.

[Jody · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have been wanting to read Dannii's autobiography all year. It was so good. She has gone through heartbreak, sadness, isolation, personal and public attacks and yet still remains so down to earth and grounded. It's obvious what a big heart she has. I loved chapter 25 - My Sister and the Epilogue - Welcome to the World, about her son Ethan. There are lots of great photos through out. I liked her before, but so much more now. I was a huge fan of Young Talent Time!
Last of all - what a skank Sharon Osborne is!!!

[Once Was Editor · Rating 1 out of 5]

Nothing more than a press-kit for Dannii Minogue. It's disappointing, because there's plenty of opportunity to offer something substantial, but instead events are often glossed over, or reported superficially.

In one part of the story, she talks about being on tour and says something like, "I don't want to tell you what happened on that tour!"

Well, yes, I do -- that why I bought the damned book.

Too much celebrity bios are just like this. They could all learn something from Andre Agassi's Open.

[Helen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I asked for this book for Christmas. Its the first biography I have ever read or wanted to read. It was a good read in that it was interesting to know how much she has been through & come out the other side fighting. Made me appreciate not being famous!! I gave it 4 stars because in some parts it jumps about a bit time wise & I got a little confused.

[Natalie · Rating 3 out of 5]

My first autobiography and what an ah-mazing one to start with. So many things you never know about the celebrities you see everyday happen. They are normal people who do normal things. You would never have thought to look at someone so happy and loving that she has been through so much sadness and loss in her life. Yet she got up and got on with it and look at her now. Someone to be admired.

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

i have wanted to read this book for ages and i found it did not disappoint. I found it to be a very honest book and didnt realise Dannii had lost so many close friends to cancer, it was lovely reading about her love with Kris and baby Ethan and to see her obvious love for her sister Kylie if u r a Dannii fan this is a must read

[Louise · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really did not like Dannii before I read this. I found her plastic and was team sharon. However after reading this, through i am still team sharon I have grown to like Dannii and realize she is actually a nice girl. She documents her amazing life with happiness. Some wonderful pictures are included to. A good read.

[Book Addict Shaun · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book in 2010 having a mixed opinion about Ms Minogue and not knowing all that much about her but finished it with a new found respect for her. I didn't know what she had been through and the book was a real page turner, a must read for fans of Dannii but one that people like me with misconceptions or mixed opinions should also read.

[What to read next ....... · Rating 4 out of 5]

Buying this book at a local salvos, it was not a regret at all.
An actress and singer growing up with, it was such a pleasure reading.
Dannii had many career highs as well as many painful lows.

This book sums up, it does not matter who you are, we are all human and our lives are like roller coasters.

[Yanir Dekel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dannii surprised me. I didn't know about her depressions and her many (many) gay male friends :) and also- a large portion of the book is dedicated to her dealing with people around her having cancer, which was really interesting and surprising. It's a good biography, especially for pop music lovers, it's great to discover little Dannii all over again.

[Charmaine Coombes · Rating 4 out of 5]

I grew up watching Dannii on YTT so I loved reading about her time on the show and growing up in the burbs! She's lived an interesting showbiz life and it's a great read to follow all the highs and lows of her career. A definite must read for DM fans who loves the pop music and pop culture of YTT through to Neon Nights and her role on Australia's Got Talent!

[Matt Farrelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

An average read, detailing young Dannii's rise to stardom, her earlier failed marriage (to actor Julian Mcmahon) and relationship breakdowns, and her ultimate journey to the happy place she finds herself in today.

Not really a "warts and all" tale that some of the other autobiographies I have read lately have turned out to be, but good if you are a fan and want to know more behind the name.

[OxoNewbie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have to be upfront about this first - I am indifferent to Dannii Minogue, I don't like her or dislike her. I do like showbiz autobiographies/biographies, and this one was easy to read. I thought Dannii Minogue struck the right balance of telling her side of the story, saying it how it is without doing complete character assassinations.

3 stars.

[Life_asabooklover · Rating 3 out of 5]

A friend in my book club gave it to me to read and I loved it. It took me back to growing up with the Minogues on Australian television. I loved Young talent time and I loved Danni. Despite her status as a star, she seems very down to earth and real!