![\"Marcia](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/4f3640eefa8e1b7c4239d9340bc8de3c2e5b3be1.jpeg\")
<\/p>\nWhen Marcia Hines became a star in Australia, Donna Summer \u2013 who grew up with her in Boston \u2013 offered her congratulations. But there was a time when the queen of disco considered Hines, who was thrice voted Australia\u2019s queen of pop, to be a pest.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was best friends with Donna\u2019s younger sister Linda,\u201d Hines explains. \u201cDonna was about four years older and, to us, she was the coolest chick in the world. Whenever she\u2019d leave the house, Linda and I would go through her things and look at her clothes.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Marcia Hines (left) and Casey Donovan are paying tribute to Donna Summer in a new show that will tour nationally.Credit: Simon Schluter<\/p>\n
The two teenagers made every attempt to cover their tracks \u2013 but their efforts were usually in vain. \u201cYou know how you can just tell if someone has touched your stuff?\u201d Hines says. \u201cDonna would know straight away. That\u2019s why she hated us!\u201d<\/p>\n
Earlier this year Hines decided to craft a tribute to the woman who sold more than 130 million records globally. The result is a new show, Marcia Sings Summer, with special guest Casey Donovan, which tours nationally<\/a> from October.<\/p>\n Just as Hines looked up to Summer, Donovan was inspired by Hines. At the age of 16, Donovan won the 2004 season of Australian Idol with the support and encouragement of Hines, who was a judge on the reality singing contest. \u201cBack then a little seed was planted where I thought, \u2018Maybe one day I\u2019ll get to share the stage with Marcia\u2019,\u201d Donovan says. \u201cNow, more than 20 years later, here we are.\u201d<\/p>\n Loading<\/p>\n Hines was also 16 when she got her big break, boarding a plane for Harry M. Miller\u2019s production of Hair in Sydney \u2013 which she understood to be in Austria<\/a>. \u201cThe thing is, Americans didn\u2019t learn much about Australia,\u201d Hines told this masthead in 2023, \u201cbut I got here and realised this is the best country in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n Hines, Donovan and Summer share another connection: all three rose through the ranks of musical theatre. Summer, for instance, appeared in European productions of Hair and Porgy and Bess; Hines made her name in the Australian versions of Hair and Jesus Christ Superstar; and Donovan has starred in Chicago, Sister Act and Kimberly Akimbo.<\/p>\n