Danielle Colby (born December 3, 1975) is an American

reality television Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring ordinary people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 1990s ...

personality who appears on the

History History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the Human history, human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some t ...

reality television show ''

American Pickers ''American Pickers'' (or also known as ''The Pickers'' for international broadcasts) is an American reality television series that premiered on January 18, 2010, on the History Channel, produced by A&E Networks in collaboration with Cineflix Me ...

''.

Personal life

Danielle Colby was born in

Davenport, Iowa Davenport ( ) is a city in Scott County, Iowa, United States, and its county seat. It is situated along the Mississippi River on the eastern border of the state. Davenport had a population of 101,724 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 cen ...

which is on the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the main stem, primary river of the largest drainage basin in the United States. It is the second-longest river in the United States, behind only the Missouri River, Missouri. From its traditional source of Lake Ita ...

and grew up as a

Jehovah's Witness Jehovah's Witnesses is a Christian denomination that is an outgrowth of the Bible Student movement founded by Charles Taze Russell in the nineteenth century. The denomination is nontrinitarian, millenarian, and restorationist. Russell co- ...

. By 2004, she had married twice and had two children. Her television career eventually led to the breakup of her second marriage. In May 2012, she told WQAD-TV that "fame and notoriety are not easy for him to deal with at all, so the relationship ended up not working out."

Performance career

Colby owned and played on a female

roller derby Roller derby is a roller skating contact sport played on an oval track by two teams of five skaters. It is played by approximately 1,250 amateur leaguesA Roller Derby league is synonymous with an individual club or team in other team sports, as ...

team, the Big Mouth Mickies, for three years until injuries forced her to give it up. While living with her family in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

, she attended a

burlesque A burlesque is a literary, dramatic or musical work intended to cause laughter by caricaturing the manner or spirit of serious works, or by ludicrous treatment of their subjects.

performance starring comedian

Margaret Cho Margaret Moran Cho (born December 5, 1968) is an American stand-up comedian, actress and musician. In her Stand-up comedy, stand-up routines she critiques social and political problems, especially about race and sexuality. She starred in the Ame ...

and dancer Satan's Angel prompting her to become a burlesque dancer. After she moved back with her family to the

Quad Cities The Quad Cities is a region of five cities (originally Tri-Cities, later four, see #History, History) in the U.S. states of Iowa and Illinois: Davenport, Iowa, Davenport and Bettendorf, Iowa, Bettendorf (the fifth to be included) in southeaster ...

area of Iowa, she created the professional burlesque troupe ''Burlesque Le Moustache'', with nine performers, including Colby herself with the stage name Dannie Diesel. They toured eastern

Iowa Iowa ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the upper Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west; Wisconsin to the northeast, Ill ...

and western

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

. As of October 2014, Colby owned a burlesque academy called Dannie Diesel's Bump 'n' Grind Academy in the Rogers Park neighborhood of Chicago which is by Evanston.

''American Pickers''

Colby was a close friend of ''

'' Mike Wolfe for a decade before the concept of the show had even been developed. Once the show was sold to the

History Channel History (formerly and commonly known as the History Channel) is an American pay television television broadcaster, network and the flagship channel of A&E Networks, a joint venture between Hearst Communications and the Disney General Entertainme ...

, Wolfe asked Colby to work at the office of the antique shop ''Antique Archaeology''. ''American Pickers'' premiered on the History Channel on January 18, 2010. It was the top rated non-fiction series of 2010 among total viewers and adults 25–54.

Fashion design

Colby owned and operated 4 Miles 2 Memphis, a retro clothing based company. A brick and mortar location for the business opened on January 8, 2013 in the Wicker Park area of Chicago east of Oak Park; however, it closed within a year.

References

External links

Danielle Colby American Pickers site
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Colby, Danielle 1975 births Living people American neo-burlesque performers American female dancers Dancers from Iowa American roller skaters Participants in American reality television series People from Davenport, Iowa Roller derby skaters American antiques experts Former Jehovah's Witnesses 21st-century American women