MANY TRICKS UP HER SLEEVE
Singer makes a name as a multitalented performer

The Record Wednesday, November 12, 2008, EST 2:45 PM
BY BARRY GRAMLICH STAFF WRITER

WHO: The Annie Minogue Band.
WHAT: Go Girls Music Fest.
WHEN: 9:30 p.m. Saturday, November 15, 2008.
WHERE: Otto's Shrunken Head, 538 E. 14th St., Manhattan; 212-228-2240
or ottosshrunkenhead.com.

HOW MUCH: $5.

LISTEN: myspace.com/annieminogueband;
annieminogueband.com.

Some of us go to great lengths to forge a career, and one singer-songwriter from Weehawken sheepishly tells the tale of how a gesture of thanks suddenly became a moment of disconcert.

Annie Minogue had big ideas about a television reality show, and her tourmate, Van Halen frontman David Lee Roth, was in her corner. A pilot was laid out. Meetings with Showtime and MTV ensued, and Minogue's pitch about a rock star taking a young band on the road — and under his wing — was gaining ground. Vince Neal of Mötley Crüe and Dee Snider of Twisted Sister were listening, too.

Minogue was excited. She had to do something.

"I brought David Lee Roth a fruit basket to his trailer and only wound up meeting two big bodyguards who didn't know who I was," says the leader of the Annie Minogue Band, which was opening at the time for Diamond Dave on his solo tour. "They stared at me and said, 'Can I help you?' Roth wasn't there and I felt pretty embarrassed."

The reality show, though not a dead banana, is on the back burner. Minogue's music career, however, is full steam ahead. She'll provide a basket full of cheer Saturday at the Go Girls Music Fest in Manhattan, a nationwide charitable tour (this year benefiting the United Network for Organ Sharing) that celebrates independent women in music and their spirit.

Music is a profession in which Minogue doesn't have to sell her product. Her rock band of six years has toured nationally and internationally, and recently inked a deal with Urban Angel Records of Belfast, which "fell in love" with her sound. The accomplished guitarist has put down the ax to front her band with kinetic vocals, which earned her female vocalist of the year honors in 2004 from the South Bay (Calif.) Music Awards.

"I'm endorsed by Daisy guitars and was originally a folk artist, but I evolved more into blues and rock," says Minogue, who grew up in the Bronx. "I want to get the guitar out there again, but now I'm very band-oriented. I used to bill myself as solo, but our latest release ["Tripping the Velvet," 2006] took on a very contemporary rock approach."

Joining Minogue will be Nunzio Signore (guitar), Jeff Catania (guitar), Peter Williamson (bass) and Nick Saya (drums), all New Yorkers with a bold rock attitude who helped the band win the L.A. Music Awards' National Artist of the Year tag in 2002. They've opened for Roth, Dave Navarro, the Black Eyed Peas and Soul Asylum, and recently shared the stage with the Young Dubliners at the Canal Room in Manhattan.

Their U.S. recognition speaks volumes because Urban Angel does not distribute Minogue's music in the states. Their overseas fan base is picking up momentum.

"It still needs a little time to grow," says Minogue, who quickly added, "but we've gotten a second offer to perform in India. That's pretty wild."

Not handcuffed to rock by any means, Minogue also writes country songs and says she has some "things working" in Nashville that could trigger another breakthrough. The Annie Minogue Band's music has been heard on MTV's "Real World," "Dawson's Creek," "The Mitch Albom Show" and "The Young and the Restless."

"I'm known for music, but I'm always looking to do things outside of music, too," says Minogue.

That's why she'll never put all her fruit in one basket.