Holly Valance

Holly Valance

Holly Rachel Vukadinovic (born May 11, 1983 to Serbian father Rajko Vukadinovic and British mother Rachel Stevens), who is better known by her stage name of Holly Valance, is an New Zealand-born actress and singer. Holly is related to the late British comedian Benny Hill— Hill's cousin was her grandfather. She was educated at the Star of the Sea College, a Catholic high school located in Melbourne, Victoria.

Career

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 Simarik), 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.

Kiss Kiss debuted at #1 in both the Australia ARIA charts and UK Singles Charts in (April-May 2002). 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 #16 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.

Although a third album and the singles "Somebody Out There", "Ricochets", "Desire" and "Everything I Hate" were all scheduled for release, with another, "Please Please Please Me", slated as a lead-off single, Valance was dropped from her record label following legal problems with her manager/boyfriend, and poor sales from the album "State of Mind".

In 2002 she won the British GQ Award for "Woman of the Year".

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 also starred in two episodes of Prison Break. 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.

She also currently serves as the promotional face of Australian collect call company Reverse Corporation.

In 2003 she fired her then-manager Scott Michaelson (who owns Biscayne Partners Pty Ltd) by fax, 15 months before her contract was due to expire. Biscayne Partners Pty. Ltd. sued Valance Corp., won their case and were awarded damages by the Supreme Court of New South Wales.

During the trial Valance's mother, Rachel Stevens, claimed that Michaelson was negligent in his duties as a manager, which forced her to take over from his role as manager. Former Neighbours co-star Kym Valentine also gave evidence that Valance "said she was feeling bad, a bit stressed out, because she was leaving Scott" and that "she said the solicitors for her record company would get her out of the contract and would be faxing him the paper work (from the UK) to do so." Valance denied that she told Valentine this conversation in court, even though she had signed an affidavit where she stated she had no recollection of the conversation.

Justice Clifford Einstein said, "I have given close consideration to the question of whether or not the circumstances presently before the Court which do, it seems to me, show a calculated disregard of the rights of Biscayne as well as a cynical pursuit of benefit". The court subsequently ordered Valance Corp. pay $350,000 to Biscayne Partners Pty. Ltd. Of this amount, $47,264.56 was "from shares Ms Valance and Mr Michaelson had bought together on the London Stock Exchange", though the court did not award in favour of Biscayne getting a percentage of sales of her album, State of Mind.

Holly Valance Picture Gallery

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