From 'Star Search' To The Dance Club

With the pop stars of yore now busy with babies or divorce papers, the stage is wide open for a new queen to step up and shake her thing.

That's where Danielle Bollinger comes in. She gave up her steady job as a pharmaceutical rep and moved from Detroit to Nashville to try and make it as a singer. The risk paid off — now Bollinger's album, "When The Broken Hearted Love Again," is generating singles that are tearing up the club charts.

Bollinger, who sang with a wedding band while working at her day job, turned heads when she appeared on the latest revival of the talent show "Star Search." She ended up losing — by two-tenths of a point. But she says the experience was worth it.

"I just told myself that as long as I get out there and do the best job that I possibly can, it doesn't really matter if you win or lose," Bollinger told The ShowBuzz's Judy Faber. "I didn't take it as a negative thing. I took it as 'OK, challenge yourself even more.'"

"Star Search" soon turned into dance clubs. The title track from her album hit No. 1 on XM satellite radio's dance station and spent 17 weeks near the top of the Billboard Club Play charts.

"My home is the stage," Bollinger said. "I transform into a different person on stage — someone who loves what she does."

The singer is also vocal about loving her body — embracing her curvy frame and posing in nothing more than headphones and a pair of jeans for promotional pictures.

"I have younger sisters who look up to me, and I want them to grow up knowing it's OK to… love who you are, no matter if you're a size 2 or a size 20."

"I'm not your typical thin, 'skinny-mini' artist," she continued. "And I take a lot pride in feeling strong about that."

Bollinger also says her varied musical tastes — ranging from Eminem to Martina McBride —all influenced the dance music on her album.

"You can hear the pop, you can hear the blues, jazz, country — you can hear it all in there," she said. "I'm a little bit of everything wrapped up into a positive energy."

Jessica Derschowitz
Jessica Derschowitz