The Idol ties that bind Marcia Hines and Casey Donovan

More than two decades after they met at an Idol audition, pop powerhouses Marcia Hines and Casey Donovan will share a stage during a special Aussie tour.

Marcia Hines knew the moment she first heard Casey Donovan sing at the Australian Idol auditions in 2004, the 16-year-old pop aspirant had the talent to go all the way.

The shy girl in a hoodie with dreadlocks and a nose ring transformed when she unleashed her powerful pipes in front of Hines and her fellow judges Mark Holden and Ian “Dicko” Dickson.

Donovan was unanimously voted through but some in the Idol team, and many among the huge audience for the show at the time, doubted she could handle the demands of reality television, let alone a pop career.

Hines was well-qualified to keep the faith. After all, she was the same tender age when scouted by entrepreneur Harry M. Miller and legendary director Jim Sharman in Boston to come to Australia and star in a new season of Hair. She gets 16-year-olds with big dreams and the talent to realise them.

Marcia Hines and Casey Donovan will bust out their disco divas for national tour. Picture: Justin Lloyd.

“When I saw her audition I thought ‘I totally get this’, and everybody else was ‘She’s so young.’ I kept telling them ‘She’ll be fine’,” Hines says.

“Like I get 16-year-olds because that’s when you’re starting to bust out of who you once were and you’re starting to grow up. And you know the great thing about 16 is you’re bulletproof. You should be scared of nothing.”

Donovan enthusiastically agrees with Hines’ assessment.

“You sink or swim. It’s a good age to do that.”

Now 21 years later, the Idol judge and the show’s second season winner will perform together with Donovan as special guest on the Marcia Sings Summer tour in October.

While they’ve crossed paths over the years, at gigs or theatre and film premieres, this is their first joint venture, in celebration of the original disco diva Donna Summer.

Hines has history with Summer.

Both were raised in Boston, grew up singing in their church choirs and launched their pop careers off the back of leading roles in Hair – Summer in Germany in 1968. Hines was best friends with Donna’s younger sister Linda.

Donovan won the second season of Idol in 2004. Picture: AAP Image / Dean Lewins.

“Donna was much older than us and she
f —king hated us because when she left the house, we’d go through her shit,” Hines says.

“She left America and went to Germany – she did Porgy and Bess first and then Hair. And then she started to record.

“Her sister was doing Hair in Boston and Linda asked me to join that production but I didn’t want to get stuck in Boston.

“Then, lo and behold, Jim Sharman came to Boston specifically to find black kids to do Hair in Australia. And I auditioned, and here I am. But the best thing about the audition was when I was auditioning, Linda was behind the curtain, f —king pulling faces.”

Hines (right) on stage in the musical Hair in Sydney in 1969. Picture: Supplied

Donovan, who is currently starring in the lead role of Deloris Van Cartier in Sister Act, is pumped to be celebrating the Queen of Disco’s catalogue of classics including Love To Love You Baby, Last Dance, Hot Stuff, Bad Girls and No More Tears (Enough is Enough).

“I get to do this with Marcia, go on the road and learn more about Donna. For Deloris Van Cartier, who I’m playing in Sister Act right now, Donna Summer is her idol,” Donovan says.

“There’s that moment where she talks about Donna Summer coming out in the white sequined dress and the white fox fur.

“So when I was asked to join this show, I thought we always end up where we’re meant to be.”

The only sticking point as they toss around ideas for the setlist is which of these ladies will perform the orgasmic moan during the epic I Feel Love.

Hines was just 16 when she arrived in Australia from Boston. Picture: Supplied.

“We were talking about that. We’re trying to work out who’s going to do that bit,” Hines says.

Donovan puts her hand up. “Yeah, it’ll probably be me,” she says before giving a brief demonstration.

Both these revered vocalists are master interpreters of songs. They bring not only their singular voices into play but a deep emotional intelligence to strike a new note in something familiar.

Donovan was aware of that superpower at an early age. It was the emotional punch in her voice when she sang Kasey Chambers’ A Million Tears at her Idol audition that floored the judges.

“Marcia said before when we were having a chat that we’re very much storytellers,” she says.

“From a very young age, I was able to interpret music in a way that a 14 or 16-year-old probably shouldn’t. I was well above my years of knowing the emotion of sadness and being able to tell that in a song.

“And I remember auditioning with A Million Tears and to know and feel those emotions as a 16-year-old, it’s something that sometimes 30 and 40-year-olds are still coming to terms with.

“That’s in my blood. It’s part of my Indigenous background, being able to tell stories and sing songs and emote things beyond my years. It’s like a little portal just kind of opens up and you’re ‘Oh, here we go’.”

Yet for all their seasoned professionalism, there is still one thing that they can never, nor would they want to, conquer. The devilish pre-show nerves.

Hines shares she was freaking out before she performed her latest single I’ve Got The Music In Me with Sgt Slick on the Idol stage earlier this month.

“If I’m not nervous, I’m not there!” she says. “Before I went on stage, I was packing shit because the year before was when I fainted and went to the hospital.

“And then I was standing on that stage and all these kids I’ve been telling what to do are all staring at me like ‘Step up!’ And three or four times, the cameras stopped and I had to keep my composure, remember my notes.

“I just tried to go into my head and say ‘I ain’t got time for this shit, I’ve got to do my gig.’”

Marcia Sings Summer is at Fortitude Music Hall, Brisbane, on October 12.
All ticket details including on-sale dates via

marciahines.com/marcia-hines-live

Originally published as The Idol ties that bind Marcia Hines and Casey Donovan