Deni Hines Reveals #MeToo Moment: "I Didn't Come Here To Make Babies"

Aussie pop royalty Deni Hines has revealed the shocking #MeToo moment that could have cost her a record deal in a candid chat this week with the Journey Through Aussie Pop podcast.

In a long and detailed exploration of the pop star’s career, Hines revealed that after her early success with The Rockmelons, her debut album was in jeopardy after her first US record deal with Interscope Records fell over following unwanted advances from industry figures.

“I went to LA and worked with some people while I was there, but unfortunately there was this whole '#metoo’ [incident].….. I’m not going to mention any names, but there are people I still see to this day, and they are on the TV and on the radio. I had a situation with this particular person who bailed me up against a wall and said, ‘I know you want to f*ck me,’ and I said, ‘No, I don’t. I really don’t’.”

She continued, “The contract fell apart and everything in America just [disappeared]. There was another situation with another person who did the same thing, and I would leave the sessions going, ‘Man, I didn’t come here to make babies; I came here to make music’. But then they would report back '[to the label] ‘Oh, she’s very difficult’.”

The album Imagination was eventually completed and released by Mushroom Records, spawning the Australian top-five single It’s Alright.

Deni’s first big break came as a guest vocalist for The Rockmelons, starting with a successful cover of Bill Withers’ Ain’t No Sunshine and leading into what would be their biggest hit, That Word (L-O-V-E).

Despite the success of the track, Deni maintains a hatred for the song that made her a household name.

“I have not wavered from my inner truth. I have always hated that song. I sing it when I have to. I have to sing it live. It’s my biggest hit. The way to have a rebirth on that song for me because of the disdain is to fully drop it reggae. I know [The Rockmelons] did it as safe as they could for Australia because Australia really wasn’t feeling it.”

“I’ve always thought that if you’ve got three minutes to say something, then say something,” she added.

“If you’ve got someone’s attention through a song, say something that makes them think about themself, maybe change the situation for the better or something. You know? ‘I’m flat on my back and just staring at the ceiling. Breakfast in bed.’ I mean, what am I saying? What am I saying? I just didn’t get it.”

Hines, the daughter of Australia’s queen of pop, Marcia Hines, talks through her other career highlights, including duetting with her Mum on the song Stomp.

“I’ve got to say, [singing with Marcia] is the best feeling because there’s nobody on this planet that has your back more than your mother. So I knew that if I f*cked up vocally, she’s got me, and you hear us laughing at the end of that track. She’s looking at me going, ‘You take that bit’, ‘No, you take it’. It’s fun singing with Mum. I haven’t done it that often, but the times that we have, it’s a lot of fun”.

While dating (and later marrying) INXS saxophonist and guitarist Kirk Pengilly in 1992, Hines also found herself in the studio with Inxs while they were recording their album Welcome To Wherever You Are and was tapped to do backing vocals on their classic track Not Enough Time, spending time in the studio with the legendary Michael Hutchence.

“The vocal booth was glass, floor to ceiling, and it was back when you used to use alcohol to clean the tape machines,” she explained.

“So I’m in there, and I’m nervous, and Michael thinks to calm the nerves in me, he’s going to squirt the alcohol bottle on the glass, do a love heart and then light it. So I’m singing in there, and there’s a love heart on fire outside, and I’m trying to [sings] ‘Make Time Stop’. I was so nervous but it was one of the most amazing experiences of my life singing with that man.”

Deni Hines’ interview was the final in the second season of the podcast A Journey Through Australian Pop. Put together by ex-Smash Hits editor and Chartbeats founder Gavin Scott and Joy Melbourne announcer Robbie Molinari, the series shines a spotlight on Australian pop artists of the 80s and 90s, chronicling the unheard stories of a great period in Australian music.

To check out the first two seasons and keep an eye out for the third, head to the website here.