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Holly Valance

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Holly Rachel Vukadinović (Serbian Cyrillic : Вукадиновић) (born 11 May, 1983), who is better known by her stage name of Holly Valance, is an Australian actress and ARIA nominated singer.

Early life

Valance was born in Melbourne, Australia, on 11 May 1983 to a Serbian father Ryko and a British mother, Rachel. She is related to the late British comedian Benny Hill — Hill's cousin was her grandfather (cousins twice removed). Valance was educated at the Star of the Sea College, a Roman Catholic high school in Melbourne.

Music career

Valance's first single as a recording artist was a cover of Turkish singer Tarkan's "Kiss Kiss", released in 2002. The song debuted at #1 in both the Australian ARIA and UK Singles Charts charts in April/May 2002. The director's cut version of the music video was notable in that Valance appeared to be dancing naked, but in fact she was wearing flesh-colored panties but no top. The footage was then digitally retouched adding strategically placed lighting effects. The song was nominated for 4 ARIA awards.

Her next single, "Down Boy" peaked at #2 in the UK and at #3 in Australia. Her début album Footprints was released on October 14, 2002. It debuted and peaked at #9 in the UK and #15 in Australia. The album's third and final single "Naughty Girl" peaked at #3 in Australia and at #16 in the UK.

In 2003, the first single "State of Mind" from Valance's second album of the same name debuted and peaked at #8 in the UK and at #14 in Australia, but the album didn't get into the top 50 of either country.

"Desire" was, according to the sticker on the album cover, to be the second official single from the album and she even made a few performances for the promotion, but it was cancelled due to poor album sales. Following legal problems with her manager/boyfriend, and poor sales from the album State of Mind, Valance was dropped from her recording company.

Though her official website originally reported Valance would release new material via another label, this never materialized, with Valance recently confirming she is no longer interested in recording music, telling Men's Style magazine:

"No one can make any money. It was a really tough slog and I had a good go at it, but it was difficult. You put in so much effort and put in so many long hours for not much return. I was making all my money from endorsements and appearances, but I didn't make that much from the actual record sales. I think everyone is suffering in the music industry. It wasn't just me. I do something until it's not fun any more and then move on. Music wasn't fun any more."[1]

She signed a £3 million deal with the hair products company Schwarzkopf Live to front the new line aimed at an early teen to early 20s market. Valance was seen modelling Cosmic Blue, Sahara True Blonde, Hypnotic Red as well as XXL dresses and XXL hats (each colour has a strapline which referenced other popular culture artists). The adverts could be seen across the United Kingdom at bus stops, shopping malls, on buses and in magazines.

During this time, Valance appeared on Har Mar Superstar's album The Handler singing on tracks "Body Request" and "Back the Camel Up".

In 2002, she won the British GQ Award for Woman of the Year.

Film and television career

From 1999 to 2002, Valance played the role of Felicity "Flick" Scully on Australian soap Neighbours. During the same period Valance played as a raising star in many TV commercials for 1800 Reverse.

In 2004, Valance returned to acting, this time in the United States, appearing in episodes of the television series CSI: Miami, Entourage. In 2005, she appeared in an episode of CSI: NY. She then guest-starred in Prison Break, in 2006, as Nika Volek, a role which she continued to portray in the show's second season. In 2007, she appeared in the TV series Shark and Moonlight.[2]

In 2006, Valance appeared in the National Lampoon comedy Pledge This!, alongside American socialite Paris Hilton. The same year, she was in DOA: Dead or Alive, an adaptation of the popular video game Dead or Alive, where she played Christie.[2]

In 2008, she had a role in the film Taken alongside Liam Neeson and Famke Janssen.[3] She is currently in talks to appear in the thriller Vauxhall Crossed.[4] She is also according to [1] rumored to be making a cameo appearance in the film Kambakht Ishq alongside many other high profile names such as Sylvester Stalone and Beyonce in the Bollywood film starring Kareena Kapoor.

In 2003, Valance fired her then-manager Scott Michaelson (who owns Biscayne Partners Pty Ltd) by fax, 15 months before her contract was due to expire. Biscayne Partners Pty. Ltd. sued Valance Corp., won their case and were awarded damages by the Supreme Court of New South Wales.[5][6]

During the trial, Valance's mother claimed that Michaelson was negligent in his duties as a manager, which forced her to take over from his role as manager.[7] Former Neighbours co-star Kym Valentine also gave evidence that Valance "said she was feeling bad, a bit stressed out, because she was leaving Scott" and that "she said the solicitors for her record company would get her out of the contract and would be faxing him the paper work (from the UK) to do so."[8] Valance denied that she told Valentine this conversation in court, even though she had signed an affidavit where she stated she had no recollection of the conversation.[9][10]

Justice Clifford Einstein said, "I have given close consideration to the question of whether or not the circumstances presently before the Court which do, it seems to me, show a calculated disregard of the rights of Biscayne as well as a cynical pursuit of benefit".[5] The court subsequently ordered Valance Corp. pay $350,000 to Biscayne Partners Pty. Ltd. Of this amount, $47,264.56 was "from shares Ms Valance and Mr Michaelson had bought together on the London Stock Exchange",[11] though the court did not award in favour of Biscayne getting a percentage of sales of her album, State of Mind.[5][12]

Personal life

Valance currently resides in Los Angeles, California and is dating fellow Aussie actor Alex O'Loughlin. Valance has recently become involved in charitable work with Mental Disability Rights International[13].

Discography

Albums

Year Title Chart positions[14][15] Sales and certifications
AUS JPN UK
2002 Footprints 15 19 9
2003 State of Mind 57 12 60

Singles

Year Title Peak chart positions[17] Certifications Album
AUS AUT BEL DK FIN FR GER IRL ITA NL NZ SWE SWI UK
2002 "Kiss Kiss" 1 11 28 20 11 50 14 2 3 23 17 12 19 1 Platinum (ARIA)
Silver (BPI) 		Footprints
"Down Boy" 3 — 34 — — — 61 8 11 36 37 — 70 2 Gold (ARIA)
"Naughty Girl" 3 56 47 — — — 52 — — 39 — 50 — 16 Gold (ARIA)
2003 "State of Mind" 14 — — — 16 — — 27 — — — — — 8 State of Mind

Awards and recognition

Year Award-giving Body Award Result
2002 ARIA Award Highest Selling Single (Kiss Kiss) Nominated
2002 ARIA Award Best Female Artist (Kiss Kiss) Nominated
2002 ARIA Award Breakthrough Artist - Single (Kiss Kiss) Nominated
2002 ARIA Award Best Pop Release (Kiss Kiss) Nominated
2003 Disney Channel Breakthrough Artist Won
2003 Disney Channel Best Single (Kiss Kiss) Won

Selected Filmography

Television appearances

References

  1. ^ Holly Valance bares her soul
  2. ^ a b Holly Valance at IMDb
  3. ^ Taken at IMDb.com
  4. ^ Vauxhall Crossed at IMDb.com
  5. ^ a b c Biscayne Partners Pty Ltd v Valance Corp Pty Ltd & Ors (2003) NSWSC 874. NSW Supreme Court, 3 October 2003. Retrieved on 10 September 2006.
  6. ^ Biscayne Partners Pty Ltd v Valance Corp Pty Ltd & Ors (2003) NSWSC 874. NSW Supreme Court, 3 October 2003. Retrieved on 10 September 2006.
  7. ^ Manager 'helped me become a star': Valance. The Age, 18 September 2003. Retrieved on 10 September 2006.
  8. ^ Not such good neighbours any more. The Age, 15 September 2003. Retrieved on 10 September 2006.
  9. ^ Naked truth comes out in Holly's evidence. The Age, 20 September 2003. Retrieved on 10 September 2006.
  10. ^ HollyWorld faces the real music. The Sydney Morning Herald, 4 October 2003. Retrieved on 10 September 2006.
  11. ^ Holly takes a hit. The Age, 7 November 2003. Retrieved on 10 September 2006.
  12. ^ Biscayne Partners Pty Ltd v Valance Corp Pty Ltd & Ors (2003) NSWSC 1016. NSW Supreme Court, 6 November 2003. Retrieved on 10 September 2006.
  13. ^ mdri :: mental disability rights international :: Disability Rights Are Human Rights
  14. ^ a b "Holly Valance - Australian chart peaks". Australian-charts. Retrieved June 30 2007.
  15. ^ "Holly Valance - Japan chart peaks". Oricon. Retrieved February 17 2008.
  16. ^ "BPI Certification". BPI. Retrieved June 30 2007.
  17. ^ swedishcharts.com - Holly Valance - Kiss Kiss


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