Danielle Spencer on new music, Russell Crowe and why radio is ‘run by the wrong people’
The 56-year-old musician has revealed the shocking reality facing female artists her age as she prepares to release her first original album in 15 years.
Danielle Spencer knows her new music won’t be played on Australian radio, no matter how compelling it may be. In an industry blind to the artistry of women over 25, she’s under no illusions she will be treated any differently to the other talented Australian women her age.
“We aren’t chasing it, because we know what the radio situation is,” says the 56-year-old, who will release a new album in March next year.
“You just don’t get an ‘in’,” she tells Stellar. “Artists that you’d think would get on radio easily, they just don’t. Artists that are still doing great in terms of album sales and tours don’t get on radio. I actually don’t know why. I think the wrong people are running that show.
“There are so many fantastic musicians beyond the age of 25 doing great work, and they don’t get a look-in. It’s a real shame. Because from my point of view, you get better at your craft. It all gets more interesting. Lyrics get more interesting. So there’s something not right in that neck of the woods.”
It was this realisation that drew Spencer to Glow, a new Australian music platform that aims to increase visibility for female musicians here and in New Zealand. First on the agenda is creating a 24-hour radio channel that will prioritise music by female artists over 35 – the ones she says are “practically invisible” – and other under-represented talent.
Spencer, who is also on the board of the Australian Children’s Music Foundation with her father Don Spencer, is the first high-profile ambassador for the station, which is set to launch in February.
Despite pouring all of herself into Regenerate – her first album of original music in 15 years – she won’t lose any sleep if it’s not widely embraced.
“I’m at peace with it. I’m not worried about people’s reactions,” she says. “If people don’t like it, it’s kind of OK. I’ve put the work in. I’ve got to a point [where] I’m pretty happy with it. I’m never going to go ‘Oh wow, look at what I’ve done!’ But I’ve finished it. I have to stop. Otherwise I could go on tweaking and refining for a couple of years.”
Listen to Danielle Spencer on a new episode of Something To Talk About below:
It might sound ironic given she was once married to Russell Crowe, and grew up with a musician father who toured alongside The Rolling Stones, but Spencer claims she isn’t one for the limelight.
“It makes me uncomfortable, it always has,” she reveals. “I get flak for how I come across. If I’m ever on a red carpet, I’m not smiling enough. The people who like to bitch about me… it’s always, ‘She never smiles.’
“You try being on a red carpet for 30 minutes and smile the whole time. I can’t do it. I feel stupid. I can’t do the megawatt smile; that irritates some people. They think, she’s such a sour bitch. Those aspects of putting yourself out there I can find a bit tedious. I’m not an attention seeker by nature. But if you’re putting music out there, that’s part of it.”
Spencer understands why people continue to be fascinated about her relationship with Crowe, whom she met on the set of the 1990 film The Crossing. The couple, who have two sons, married in 2003 and separated in 2012, finalising their divorce six years later.
They remain on good terms, and Spencer is bemused by headlines that try to create what she calls “something out of nothing, based on no substance”.
When it was announced she’d be performing her new music at Crowe’s Indoor Garden Party gig at Sydney’s Enmore Theatre later this month – as part of a line-up that includes Marcia Hines, Troy Cassar-Daley and Crowe himself – some corners of the media speculated about the true nature of her relationship with Crowe’s current partner and back-up singer, Britney Theriot.
Spencer scoffs at reports that her working with Crowe had caused unease for Theriot.
“She’s very sweet,” she says candidly, almost rolling her eyes at the suggestion there was tension. “I’ve met her. We’ve had dinner together, we’ve had family dinners for the boys’ birthdays. She’s lovely. We will greet each other with a kiss; it’s all fine. And I’m sure she doesn’t enjoy those sorts of stories literally based on nothing.”
Spencer and Crowe have worked hard to prioritise the needs of their sons Charlie, 21, and Tennyson, 19. She doesn’t pretend that divorce and co-parenting have been easy.
But since they split, she tells Stellar, “it’s been first and foremost my intention to maintain respect for each other, and a sense of family. I think the intention has to be there, because we do respect each other. We started as friends and were friends for a while before we got together. The basis was there. And I was determined – because the kids were little – for it not to be ugly in any way.
Listen to Danielle Spencer on a new episode of Something To Talk About below:
“We aren’t perfect. That doesn’t mean there has never been a tense moment,” she continued. “Even if you’re trying to be friends – and if there is love and respect there – it’s still hard. It’s a bit traumatic and difficult. There can be ups and downs. But I hope we’ve done it in a way that has had the least impact on the boys.”
Spencer says her two sons are encouraging of their mother’s creative resurgence. “But,” she adds, “I am Mum, so when they see me doing something else it might be slightly odd. They have to reframe and see me in a different way. I think most kids find it slightly strange watching Dad or Mum perform, and they’ve got both. But they are supportive. They’re both creative and funny, full of personality and gorgeous human beings. So they get it.”
Besides, she points out, she could have no harsher critic than herself. “Nothing is ever as good as it should be; that’s in my DNA,” she says. “I’m a bit of a perfectionist, which is why it takes a long time between albums – aside from life jumping in, getting in the way. As a perfectionist you’re chasing something you’re never going to get. It’s a waste of energy. So this time around, I’m not that invested in any great outcome.
“Obviously I would love people to listen to and enjoy it. And I hope it finds its little audience. But the place I am in life, the age I am, I’m not looking to take on the world. I’ve evolved. I’ve landed in a different space, as we all do when we get older. I feel like I’ve got quite a lot to say about where I’m at.”
The main message behind the album – all of it written by Spencer – is that life doesn’t end once your children become adults.
“It’s really easy to get to certain junctures in life where you almost feel like the good stuff is all behind you, or you’re exhausted and can’t be bothered to push yourself out of your comfort zone,” she explains.
“I think I’d spent a few years for various reasons kind of ignoring the musical pull. Writing wise, I put it aside. But then I thought: why? I should do another album. I have plenty to say right now. I should just do it before I’m elderly – and that’s next year,” she cracks.
“Who says that you get to a certain age and you can’t do it anymore because you’re not in your 20s? People get more interesting when they get older, not less. The messages get more complicated, more interesting, deeper.
“There are 14 tracks on the album. I don’t sit and write love songs. That’s not interesting to me. The overarching message is: you can reinvent yourself. You can also regenerate. You just have to find what it is that’s going to light that in you, and for me it’s writing songs.
“I don’t like the idea that you hit an age, and then you’re in the garden. After kids it’s so easy to say, ‘Oh, I’m done. And now I’m this age, there’s nothing to do but wait for grandkids or do gardening, get some hobbies?’ I thought, nah… why? If I hadn’t had anything to say, I wouldn’t have done it. But I have a lot to say.”
Listen to Danielle Spencer on a new episode of Something To Talk About below:
Pre-save Danielle’s album Regenerate, slated for release on March 27, and listen to her single ‘Hummingbird’ now on all streaming platforms.
Watch her exclusive music video for Hummingbird here.
See the full cover shoot with Danielle Spencer in today’s issue of Stellar, inside The Sunday Telegraph (NSW), Sunday Herald Sun (Victoria), The Sunday Mail (Queensland) and Sunday Mail (SA).
For more from Stellar and the podcast Something To Talk About, click here.
Originally published as Danielle Spencer on new music, Russell Crowe and why radio is ‘run by the wrong people’
