Holly Valance
Holly Rachel Vukadinović (born
11 May,
1983 to
Serbian father, Rajko Vukadinović, and
British mother, Rachel Stevens), who is better known by her
stage name of
Holly Valance, is a Australian-born actress and singer. Holly is related to the late British comedian
Benny Hill — Hill's cousin was her grandfather (i.e., they are cousins twice removed). She was educated at the
Star of the Sea College, a Roman Catholic high school located in
Melbourne, Victoria, but she is not known to be Catholic herself.
Valance's big break came when she landed the role of
Felicity "Flick" Scully in
Neighbours. Holly's first single as a recording artist was
Kiss Kiss (based on
Turkish singer
Tarkan's hit single
Şımarık), released in
2002. The video for
Kiss Kiss was notable for the impression that she was dancing
naked, with her nudity only concealed by strategically placed lighting. In fact she was dancing wearing flesh-coloured underwear, and the footage of her dancing was then digitally retouched to create the illusion. [She insists on a 'no-nudity clause' in all her movies.] Her début album
Footprints went on sale at the end of that year.
Kiss Kiss debuted at #1 in both the Australia
ARIA charts and
UK Singles Charts in (April-May 2002). Her next single,
Down Boy peaked at #2 in the UK and at #3 in Australia, while her album
Footprints debuted and peaked at #9 in the UK and at #15 in Australia. Her third single
Naughty Girl peaked at #3 in Australia and at #16 in the UK. The first single
State of Mind from her next 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.
It was later reported that Valance was dropped from her record label following legal problems with her manager/boyfriend, and poor sales from the album "State of Mind". However, the webmaster of her official website stated:
"Holly has parted on good terms with London Records. She's recording in LA and reading scripts for movies too. She'll be releasing more music at the beginning of next year, under a new record label." [
1]
It was expected the new material would appear in 2005, however Valance is said to be close to completing a new album now. See more below.
In 2002 she won the British
GQ Award for "Woman of the Year".
In
2004 Valance returned to acting, this time in the
United States, appearing in episodes of the television series
' and Entourage, and in 2005 she appeared in an episode of '. She also starred in three episodes of
Prison Break. She will soon appear in the
National Lampoon comedy
Pledge This! and
', an adaptation of the popular video game ', where she will play Christie.
Holly Valance will be starring in two UK-based movies 'Dark Castle' which will be filmed in Isle of Man this October and will be released on Halloween 2007 and 'Tweleve Roses and Purple Flowers" which starts filming this February 2007 in Southport and is stated for a February 2008 release. Both are written and directed by Paul Fielding and Timothy Fielding.
Rumours are also circling that Holly has signed on for more episodes in hit US drama series 'Prison Break' playing Michael Scofield's wife Nika.
She also served as the promotional face of Australian
collect call company 1800-Reverse and the UK equivelant.
In
2003 she 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.[
2]
During the trial Valance's mother, Rachel Stevens, claimed that Michaelson was negligent in his duties as a manager, which forced her to take over from his role as manager.[
3] 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."[
4] 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.[
5]
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".[
6] 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", [
7] though the court did not award in favour of Biscayne getting a percentage of sales of her album,
State of Mind.[
8]
Valance is set for a music comeback after
Madonna penned a new track for her entitled
System Overload. "I'm a huge fan of Madonna, always have been," Valance said. "I just hope the fans like what they hear, I've grown up."
Valance has been recording the new album in L.A. The album will be out later this year. It is not yet known which record company she has signed with. [
9] [
10]
Albums
Singles
*
Biscayne Partners Pty Ltd v Valance Corp Pty Ltd & Ors [2003 NSWSC 874]
*
Biscayne Partners Pty Ltd v Valance Corp Pty Ltd & Ors [2003 NSWSC 1016]
*
HollyWorld faces the real music (October 4, 2003).
The Sydney Morning Herald*
Manager 'helped me become a star': Valance (September 18, 2003).
The Age.
*
Holly takes a hit (November 7, 2003).
The Age.
*
Naked truth comes out in Holly's evidence (September 20, 2003).
The Age*
Not such good neighours anymore (September 15, 2003).
The Age.
*
Holly Valance official web site
