Danny Hooper
Grand Finalist
Category Winner - Modern Country 1

As the sun set on the Hooper family home in the 1970s, you would frequently find Danny Hooper, his parents and three sisters belting out some of their favourite tunes around the kitchen table. Music meant entertainment for the Hoopers, who lived on a remote station in the mid north of South Australia. This early and joyful introduction to music planted the seed for Danny, but it was his Dad's old Maton guitar that sprouted a lifelong passion.

At the age of ten, Danny began guitar lessons with his Dad and it wasn't long before he strummed his first song, Banks of the Ohio. As a teenager, Danny's flair for performing came to the fore and he was often called upon to liven up a party with the song Rock n' Robin. He later started a rock band with a few mates, called Niteshift.

It was love that inspired Danny to begin song writing at 18 years of age. When he sang his first song, You're the one for me, to his girlfriend Lea, her teary response sparked a passion for song writing that has since reaped much recognition.

Together with Lea, Danny began entering country music competitions in 1987. They won awards for Best Duo and went on to record an album in 1992, entitled Talkin' Bout Love.

Websites:
www.dannyhooper.com.au www.myspace.com/dannyhooper
In 1994, Danny got serious. He entered the Toyota Star Maker competition in Tamworth and was selected as a Top Ten Grand Finalist. In the same year he entered the Australian Songwriters Association (ASA) National Song Competition in Melbourne and won the Acoustic Section and Song of the Year with I Left You.

Despite this early success, music was placed on the back burner due to the arrival of Danny and Lea's first son Jace, followed by siblings Courteney and Tom. Danny's main occupation became that of House Dad, although he continued to perform at weekend gigs throughout the state.It wasn't until ten years later that Danny Hooper once again became a name to look out for in the song-writing arena, thanks to a swag of awards:

2004 - Won Country Song of the Year in the ASA National Song writing Contest with Up
Won Country category in January and Country Song of the Year in Houston Texas with Dreamland

2005 - Won Spirit of Australia category at the ASA awards with Dreamland
Finalist in the Country and Contemporary Ballad sections with
The Legacy and I Believe In You

2007 - Released debut album The Legacy
Finalist in the ASA Country Songwriter Of The Year (Top 4)
Finalist in the Gympie Muster Maton Talent Search (Top 3)

During a year-long family trip around Australia in 2005, Danny was inspired to reignite his dream to become a household name in Australian country music. He secured Rod McCormack as a producer and on his return recorded his debut solo album, The Legacy. Featuring 12 original songs, the album name and its title track are a tribute to his father and a signal to the legacy of music Danny will pass onto his own children.

Danny's debut single, Every Reason, has worked its way onto radio play lists throughout the country and is charting on the Top 100 Country Hits chart. The accompanying video clip also made Top 40 on the CMC (Country Music Channel) paytv network.

The second single will be Already Gone, and in pre-production is a new filmclip under the direction of Ross Wood for the album track Heartache.