NEWS: Twenty Years of Dannii’s ‘Neon Nights’

Dannii celebrates 20 years of her Pop comeback album “Neon Nights”

The early 00’s were kind to the Minogue sisters. First, Kylie made her triumphant return in 2000 with the “Light Years” album and then went global with “Fever” in 2001. Younger sister Dannii soon followed with a big revival of her own career beginning with her ‘guested vocals’ on Riva’s dance smash, “Who Do You Love Now?” in late 2001. The track went to No.3 in the UK, giving Dannii her highest chart placing yet. The song was a chart hit all across Europe and hit No.15 ‘down under’ and would eventually turn up on Dannii’s next album, “Neon Nights” in 2003. Dannii worked with pop hitmakers Ian Masterson, Henrik Korpi and Mathias Johansson, Terry Ronald and Jewels & Stone on the modern Pop-Dance sound of this album, Dannii’s return to this genre for some ten years.

Dannii spend the next year recording and selecting the right songs for this ‘comeback’ and a year after “Who Do You Love Now?”, released “Put The Needle On It”, a heavy synth-Pop electro sounding tune that cemented her return hitting No.7 in the UK and No.11 in Australia. Dannii herself had a hand in most of the tracks on the album, so this time it was personal and she was on a mission to prove herself and also separate herself from the stigma of just being Kylie’s little sister. Just prior to the release of the album, Dannii put out “I Begin to Wonder” in March 2003 and it gave her an even bigger hit in the UK, peaking at No.2 as well as turning up on the US Dance sales chart. “I Begin to Wonder” made No.14 in her home country while the album itself, titled “Neon Nights”, debuted two weeks later.

“Neon Nights” produced one further single, “Don’t Wanna Lose This Feeling”, in June that went top five in the UK, giving Dannii for the very first time, four consecutive top five hits and all from one album! Perhaps aiding this was a clever ‘mash up’ with Madonna‘s “Into The Groove” that was played more on radio than Dannii’s original. The song found its way into the US Dance Airplay chart and peaked at No.8. “Neon Nights” would chart at No.8 in the UK, equaling the highest position of her debut, “Love And Kisses”, some twelve years earlier. It would pick up a Gold certification for sales of 100,000 copies. The album was mid-charting in Australia (No.25) and perform moderately in parts of mainland Europe. Over the years, the album has seen a number of re-issues with an expanded edition coming in 2007 and vinyl release in 2018, bringing together all of the tracks recorded during this period along with mixes and remixes.