Audiophilez Music Blog

Danielle Jane Minogue or more popularly known as Dannii Minogue is the third and  youngest child of Ron and Carol, an Australian accountant and dancer, respectively. Dannii also happens to be the sister of pop star Kylie Minogue. Incidentally, Kylie isn’t the only celebrity in the family. In fact, Dannii is an icon herself.

Dannii, who was born in 1971, started in show business in the early 1980s. She appeared in Young Talent Time, an Australian talent show. She also portrayed a role in a soap opera called Home and Away. Eventually, music was calling on her and she was launched as a pop singer during the early 90s. In addition, Dannii’s Neon Nights album is considered to be the most successful release in her musical career. As time flew, Dannii also tried her luck with modeling. Currently, she is a judge for The X Factor as well as America’s Got Talent.

However, there’s an even bigger star in Dannii’s eyes right now—she has recently given birth to her and boyfriend Kris Smith’s  firstborn Ethan Edward Smith last Monday. The new addition to the family was born at Royal Women’s Hospital, Melbourne. Dannii was originally supposed to give birth at home, but had to leave for the hospital due to complications faced midway through the birthing process.

In relation, Dannii Minogue’s management staff reports that “Mother and baby are doing well and dad is very proud”. “They request their privacy at this special time to adjust as new parents.” Also, Smith’s Twitter account reads as “On behalf of the 3 of us I would like to thank you all for your kind words and best wishes. It means a lot to us.”

On the other hand, Kylie Minogue’s tweet is as follows: “Congratulations to my little Sister, @danniiminogue and @krissmith13 on their beautiful baby boy, Ethan. He is gorgeous!!!”

Larrikin Music is asking for 50% worth of royalties from Men at Work. Larrikin Lawyers in Australia claims that Men at Work‘s hit song Down Under is the same as Kookaburra Sits on the Gum Tree, a children’s song which was composed by Marion Sinclair. The song was then used for a jamboree of the Girl Guides dating back to the 1930s. Since then, Australian children from different generations have become quite familiar with the song.

As evidence to Larrikin’s claim that Men at Work plagiarised part of Kookaburra Sits on the Gum Tree, Martin Armiger was presented to the court. Mr. Amiger is currently employed at the Australian Film, Television and Radio School where he happens to lead screen composition. He is also a good friend to the band in question. Moreover, Martin Amiger maintains that the two songs are identical although giving him different impressions. He shares that Down Under has a South Pacific style compared to Kookaburra’s Victorian music style.

Men At Work ordered by a judge to hand over royalties from their No 1 hit single Down Under.

A source from the music industry shares that Men at Works’s Down Under has made an estimate of $14M since it was first released in 1982. It seems that Men at Work will only have to pay Larrikin Music $700,000 since the judge who handled the case ordered the former to pay only 5% of royalties instead of the 50% claim that the latter was asking for.

Apparently, Justice Peter Jacobsen feels that said claim is “overreaching, excessive and in my view unrealistic”. He also adds that there are other factors to be considered. According to the judge, weighing “the significance of the bars of Kookaburra to the overall musical qualities of Down Under” were done in order for the court to calculate the amount that Men at Work should pay Larrikin.

Hence, royalties dating back to 2002 onwards should be made payable to Larrikin Music. Colin Hay (guitar player) and Ron Strykert (vocalist) were also the songwriters of Down Under, did not attend court during judgement day.