Marcia Hines and Deni Hines have cemented themselves as unstoppable forces in the Australian music industry.
While Deni’s arrival was unexpected for the Australian Idol judge, she knew she wanted to provide the best for her.
Read more about their relationship below.
How old was Marcia Hines when she had Deni?
Arriving in Australia from Boston in 1970, then 16-year-old Marcia Hines had no idea she was expecting her first child.
Only six months later did the former Australian Idol judge realise she had fallen pregnant from her first sexual experience.
As a result, Marcia became “terribly twisted about sex”.
“I’m thinking, ‘I don’t think I’ll do that again’,” she told Anh Do during his ABC art show, Anh’s Brush With Fame.
When Marcia built up the courage to tell her mother, Esme, that she was expecting, the news didn’t come as too much of shock.
“I remember calling Mum and saying ‘I’m pregnant,” the singer told the Australian Women’s Weekly. “She said ‘yes, I know, I could tell by your pictures that you sent home. I was just waiting for you to tell me’.”
Forever the performer, Marcia was on stage the night she welcomed Deni into the world, and was back performing nine days later.
Why does Marcia Hines live in Australia?
“When Deni was born, she had me all day, and a nanny when I went to work,” the musician told Stellar about her daughter’s upbringing.
Aside from a nanny, Marcia was grateful to have her mother’s guidance during the formative years of Deni’s life.
“She said, ‘you’ve chosen a very strange career, so if you can’t take care of your baby send her home’. I didn’t send her home then, but that support was great to hear,” she told AWW.
However, as Marcia prepared to go on tour, she decided the environment wasn’t suitable for her youngster and took Deni back to Jamaica (her parents’ birth country).
Then, in 1975, Deni and Esme came to Australia to live with Marcia, a move for which the singer is forever thankful.
“I won’t say my mother was a saint, but I think some people just are good mothers, and I was really blessed to a great mother,” the Australian Idol alum told AWW. “Deni had two parents; her gran and me.”
Three years into Deni’s life, Marcia told the father about her existence, and while they were in contact, he wasn’t an active part of her childhood.
As her baby grew up, Marcia’s protective role didn’t waver, with the musician telling Body + Soul that as a mother, “you always worry, no matter what age your ‘baby’ is”.
The From The Inside singer even confessed that she hammered her teen daughter’s window shut when she spotted a boy climbing out of it.
As for Deni’s ascent into the music industry, Marcia told Stellar in 2017 she was “surprised” that the Masked Singer alum followed in her footsteps.
“We sang at home a lot, but I thought she wanted to be a coroner. Music was an integral part of our home, so she decided to do that. She has such a beautiful voice, one of the most unique voices I’ve ever heard,” she shared.
Shared musical talent aside, over the years, Marcia and Deni’s relationship has only gotten stronger, with the former revealing that their communication skills have improved.
“The teen years are rough. The older Deni gets, the more she realises how hard it is to be a parent. We do all we can. My relationship with Deni is really cool now; I like it. We are similar in a lot of ways,” she added.
Like her mother, Deni has also ventured into television, with several reality TV stints.
Now, the ARIA Award winner has ventured to South Africa for the 2026 season of I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here!
And Marcia was one of the first people to know.
“Mum’s excited,” she told our sister publication Woman’s Day.
“She’s like, ‘I can’t believe you’re doing this. What are you doing!’ And then I was like, I’m talking to all my ancestors in my sleep going, ‘Listen, I’m coming to Africa!’”
While Marcia is excited, she did tell New Idea that the Australian Idol judge was a bit apprehensive.
“Mum was like, ‘you’re going where and doing what?!’ She couldn’t believe it!” Deni exclusively told us.
“She was also like, ‘OK, so long as they send me back my child!’ She won’t be turning up in camp, but I know she’ll be cheering me on.”
On January 16, Marcia posted a selfie of them together to Instagram, while she visited her daughter in Thailand.
“Loving every minute in Bangkok with @denihines1 💕 So gorgeous to see her again 💕,” she wrote.
