Danielle Spencer (born 16 May 1969) is an Australian actress, singer, and songwriter.

Early life

Spencer is the daughter of Australian songwriter, singer and television entertainer

Don Spencer Donald Richard Spencer (born 22 March 1937) is an Australian singer-songwriter, musician, and former children's television presenter. He had a long tenure as a host on ''Play School'' on both the Play School (Australian TV series), Australian ...

and wife Julie (

née The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...

Horsfall), a

caterer Catering is the business of providing food services at a remote site or a site such as a hotel, hospital, pub, aircraft, cruise ship, park, festival, filming location or film studio. History of catering The earliest account of major service ...

from

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...

. She has an older brother, Dean. At age four, she began piano lessons. During her teens she began acting and composing her own tunes. Until the age of twelve, she spent her childhood and youth alternately in Australia and in

and

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfor ...

, England, as her father worked in both countries for the BBC '' Play School''.

Career

Spencer grew up in close contact with the world of showbusiness. Occasionally she accompanied her father on his performances on stage. She took singing and acting lessons and dance classes in classical ballet and modern dance and jazz. In 1987 Danielle Spencer starred in ''Rasputin'' as one of the Tsar's daughters and dated Terry Serio who also starred in the same musical as Prince Felix. From 1989 to 2000, she worked as an actress, especially for Australian television, primarily as an actress in TV series. Subsequently, the focus of her artistic activity shifted to the area of singer / songwriter. In 2001, she released her debut musical album, ''White Monkey''. After a family break, in February 2010 she released her second album, '' Calling All Magicians''. Under the direction of her husband, the music videos were made to the title songs and "Tickle Me" and "Wish I'd Been Here". In August 2011, Spencer for the first time gave two live concerts alongside her husband. The pair joined the musicians and actors

Alan Doyle Alan Thomas Doyle (born May 17, 1969) is a Canadian musician and founding member of the Canadian folk rock band Great Big Sea. Life and career Alan Doyle was born and raised in Petty Harbour–Maddox Cove, Petty Harbour, Newfoundland, in a Ro ...

Kevin Durand Kevin Serge Durand (born January 14, 1974) is a Canadian actor. He is known for his work in numerous film and television roles, including portraying Vasiliy Fet in ''The Strain'', Joshua in '' Dark Angel'', Martin Keamy in '' Lost'', Fred J. D ...

Scott Grimes Scott Christopher Grimes (born July 9, 1971) is an American actor and singer. Some of his most prominent roles include appearances in the TV series '' ER'' as Dr. Archie Morris, ''Party of Five'' as Will McCorkle, '' Band of Brothers'' as Technic ...

and the group Size2Shoes to present the Crowe / Doyle Songbook Vol III at

St John's, Newfoundland St. John's is the capital and largest city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. It is located on the eastern tip of the Avalon Peninsula on the island of Newfoundland (island), Newfoundlan ...

, Canada. Songs from this album relate, among others, to the novel ''

Dirt Music ''Dirt Music'' is a 2001 novel by Tim Winton. A 2002 Man Booker Prize shortlisted novel and winner of the 2002 Miles Franklin Award, it has been translated into Russian, French, German, Dutch, and Swedish. The harsh, unyielding climate of W ...

'' by the Australian novelist

Tim Winton Timothy John Winton (born 4 August 1960) is an Australian writer. He has written novels, children's books, non-fiction books, and short stories. In 1997, he was named a Living Treasure by the National Trust of Australia, and has won the ...

. Spencer gives live concerts on a regular basis. For her live concert tour in October 2011, titled "Alone and Together", she joined Australian bass player

Steve Balbi Stephen Vert Balbi (born 3 October 1964) is an Australian musician and record producer. He was the founding bass guitarist in pub rockers, Noiseworks in 1986 and formed a psychedelic pop group and production duo, Electric Hippies in 1993 with ...

. In March 2012, Spencer was announced as a contestant for

season 12 A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and polar ...

of ''

Dancing with the Stars ''Strictly Come Dancing (widely known as Dancing with the Stars)'' is an international television franchise based on the format of the British TV series '' Strictly Come Dancing,'' itself a successor to the show ''Come Dancing'' (1950–1998) ...

'' on the

Seven Network Seven Network (stylised 7Network, and commonly known as Channel Seven or simply Seven) is an Australian commercial free-to-air Television broadcasting in Australia, television network. It is owned by Seven West Media, Seven West Media Limited, ...

in which she placed second. Her professional partner was Damian Whitewood. In 2015, Danielle Spencer was a member of Australia's judging panel in the 2015 Eurovision Song Contest. Spencer is a supporter of her father Don Spencer's charity, the Australian Children's Music Foundation (ACMF), an educational program for underprivileged and Indigenous children in Australia. She's supporter of women's cancer programs as the ''Pink Ribbon Breakfast'' for breast cancer and ''The Girls Night''. On 10 July 2020, Spencer released an album with close friend, producer/songwriter Vince Pizzinga, under duo-name 'Lost Luggage'. Their self-titled LP consisted of alternative covers of various '80s classics. She promoted the release on various platforms, including on Channel 7, and

The Kyle and Jackie O Show ''The Kyle and Jackie O Show'' is an Australian breakfast radio show hosted by Kyle Sandilands and Jackie O (radio host), Jackie O on KIIS 106.5 in Sydney and KIIS 101.1 in Melbourne. The show is syndicated in the late drive slot on the KIIS N ...

on KIIS 106.5. In November 2024, Spencer released her first new original song in 14 years, titled Regenerate. She performed the song for the first time on Channel 7 Australia on 3 December as part of the OzHarvest Charity concert, featuring Conrad Sewell, Daryl Braithwaite, Human Nature and many other Australian artists, with a special appearance by Bob Geldof. The media responses to Regenerate were very positive with The Daily Telegraph saying "the reclusive alternative singer-songwriter is back in the pop game” calling the song "epic" and Women In Pop saying "Spencer never conforms to the expected structures of pop music and everything she releases is simply special". Spencer announced on social media there will be a new album in 2025.

Personal life

Spencer began an on-again, off-again relationship with actor

Russell Crowe Russell Ira Crowe (born 7 April 1964) is an actor and film director. Russell Crowe filmography, His work on screen has earned him List of awards and nominations received by Russell Crowe, various accolades, including an Academy Award, two Gold ...

in 1989 when they co-starred in the film '' The Crossing'' which appeared in Australian cinemas in 1990. Crowe and Spencer married on 7 April 2003 at Crowe's farm in Nana Glen, New South Wales. They have two sons: Charles, born in 2003 and Tennyson, born in 2006. In October 2012, it was reported that Crowe and Spencer had separated. The divorce was finalised in April 2018. Since 2016, she has been in a relationship with author and artist Adam Long.

Discography

Albums

* ''White Monkey'' (EMI, 1 May 2002) * ''Calling All Magicians'' (15 February 2010)

Singles

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

* *
Collection of video clips showing interviews and Spencer performing songs on thoroughlyrussellcrowe.com
Retrieved 26 December 2011
Photo portrait Danielle Spencer dated October 2011 on dailytelegraph.com.au
Retrieved 6 November 2011
Official Myspace

Danielle Spencer - Wish I'd Been Here on www.dailymusicguide.com
November 2009
Interview with Spencer on her work as a musician, December 2011, undercover interviews, retrievable on youtube.com
retrieved 15 December 2011 {{DEFAULTSORT:Spencer, Danielle Living people Australian television actresses Australian women singers Australian film actresses People educated at Davidson High School Australian people of English descent Place of birth missing (living people) 1969 births Actresses from Sydney Musicians from Sydney