Holly Valance Biography
Holly Rachel Vukadinović (born 11 May 1983 to Serbian father, Rajko Vukadinović, and British mother), who is better known by her stage name of Holly Valance, is an Australian-born ARIA nominated actress and singer. Holly is related to the late British comedian Benny Hill — Hill's cousin was her grandfather (i.e., they are cousins twice removed). She was educated at the Star of the Sea College, a Roman Catholic high school located in Melbourne, but she is not known to be Catholic herself.
Valance's big break came when she landed the role of Felicity "Flick" Scully in Neighbours.
Holly's first single as a recording artist was Kiss Kiss (based on Turkish singer Tarkan's hit single Şımarık), released in 2002. The video for Kiss Kiss was notable for the impression that she was dancing naked, with her nudity only concealed by strategically placed lighting. In fact she was dancing wearing flesh-coloured underwear, and the footage of her dancing was then digitally retouched to create the illusion. Her début album Footprints went on sale at the end of that year.
Her next single, Down Boy peaked at #2 in the UK and at #3 in Australia, while her album Footprints debuted and peaked at #9 in the UK and at #15 in Australia. Her third single Naughty Girl peaked at #3 in Australia and at #16 in the UK. The first single State of Mind from her next album of the same name debuted and peaked at #8 in the UK and at #14 in Australia, but the album didn't get into the top 50 of either country.
She signed a £3m deal with Schwarzkopf Live to front the new line aimed at an early teen to early 20s market. Valance was seen modelling Cosmic Blue, Sahara True Blonde, Hypnotic Red as well as XXL Red and XXL Purple (each colour has a strapline which referenced other popular culture artists). The adverts could be seen across the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland at bus stops, shopping malls, on buses and in magazines. It was released that if the adverts proved to be a hit then they would be expanded internationally. However this was never the case.
It was later reported that Valance was dropped from her record label following legal problems with her manager/boyfriend, and poor sales from the album "State of Mind". However, the webmaster of her official website stated:
"Holly has parted on good terms with London Records. She's recording in LA and reading scripts for movies too. She'll be releasing more music at the beginning of next year, under a new record label."
During this time, Valance appeared on Har Mar Superstar's album "The Handler" singing on tracks "Body Request" and "Back the Camel up".
After appearing in several television and film productions in 2005 and 2006, Valance is set for a music comeback in late 2006 after Madonna penned a new track for her entitled System Overload. "I'm a huge fan of Madonna, always have been," Valance said. "I just hope the fans like what they hear, I've grown up." Valance has been recording the new album in Los Angeles, which is set to release in late 2006. It is not yet known which record company she has signed with.
In 2004 Valance returned to acting, this time in the United States, appearing in episodes of the television series CSI: Miami and Entourage, and in 2005 she appeared in an episode of CSI: NY. She then guest-starred in Prison Break in 2006 as Nika Volek, a role which she continued to portray in the show's second season.
She will soon appear in the National Lampoon comedy Pledge This! and DOA: Dead or Alive, an adaptation of the popular video game Dead or Alive, where she will play Christie. Valance is also set to play a Bosnian Muslim in a new movie titled 'The Tourist', a true story set in the Balkan war.