Danielle Marie recently met producer Jay Deasel of Deasel Music while riding and singing on the subway and the two have been working together since mid-March. Danielle has created a unique blend of Pop, R&B and Rock. She has a sultry, soulful voice, lyrics with a message, paired with beats that make you want to move. It's a "New Groove". "I'm driven by the power of thought and the power of belief. Dancing is an act of freedom, I write music to move the body and the mind."
Danielle Marie was born in the heart of the Dirty South also known as the Bible-Belt, her parents were teenagers and brought her up in Pine Hill Trailer Park in Brookfield Georgia - population approx 2000. She was a music lover from the beginning, her father John Hicks, known for his self-taught guitar skills, is a local legend. As a toddler she often fell asleep on a hay bail in a barn where Mood Doc, her father's band, jammed to Led Zepplin, Jimmy Hendrix, Van Halen, Stevie Ray Vaughn and all of classic rock's greatest. Danielle Maries mother was her live-in vocal coach, their favorite pastime was learning and singing songs from the radio. "My mom introduced me to Salt 'n' Peppa. We would ride around in our old Toyota, windows down singing all the time. She'd never let me miss a word or a note. My dad would hear me singing "None of your business" and "Shoop" and he'd say 'Jessica, what are you teaching her?!'."
At age seven Danielle Marie entered her first talent contest and won first place singing "Don't it make my brown eyes blue". She also won several pageants and the talent contests within the pageants. "I'm not a pageant girl but they were one of the few opportunities to be on stage performing." Long before the legal bar-hopping age, Danielle Marie spent weekends sneaking into bars where Mood Doc was playing. "Of course my dad would act really mad but he always let me sing. I'd sing anything from Mother's Finest to Jewel. My fondest childhood memories are of being on stage. "
Danielle Marie attended Irwin County High School where they still have segregated dances and countless incidents of violence due to racism. "I was alone a lot, the small student body segregated themselves into groups primarily black and white and then into rich and poor. I didn't care to be in one group or another so I was in none."
Her parents forced her to transfer to an even smaller private school. "I was in a class of 25 white kids who knew each other since kindergarten and who dressed alike. I was constantly reprimanded for my clothing, I craved diversity." During her senior year Danielle Marie took the four hour drive to Atlanta to audition for AMDA - the American Musical & Dramatic Academy in NYC. She was accepted and was offered a $20,000 scholarship. "It was a big deal to go to Atlanta, my family doesn't do big cities. I needed a ticket out of the country and AMDA was it." Danielle Marie graduated Valedictorian of her senior class in 2001 and moved to New York two weeks later. She completed the two year program at AMDA in 18 months with the realization that she was a singer, not an actress. "I love expressing myself and I knew I wanted to do it through music with my own words." Danielle Marie began writing and studying independently.
She studies yoga, dance, music, meditation, Buddhism, the Kabbalah, psychology, successful people and personal development. "I am passionate about knowledge but not about college so I designed by own major. My experiences become my music. I listen to so many genres of music; rock, world, techno, pop, rap, R&B, punk, classical, blues, reggae and even some old-school country. The more I listen and learn, the more flavor my music has to appeal to a universal audience." Danielle Marie writes all of her lyrics and melodies; "The studio, second to the stage, is my favorite place to be, it's such a creative atmosphere. I'm learning - there are so many possibilities."
I would like to thank Danielo Hess for the photography.
