Danielle Colby (born December 3, 1975) is an American

reality television Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring unfamiliar people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 19 ...

personality who appears on the

History History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the History of writing#Inventions of writing, invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbr ...

reality television show ''

American Pickers ''American Pickers'' is an American reality television series that premiered on January 18, 2010 on History, produced by A&E Television Networks in collaboration with Cineflix Media. In the series, the hosts travel across America in search of rar ...

''.

Personal life

Danielle Colby was born in

Davenport, Iowa Davenport is a city in and the county seat of Scott County, Iowa, United States. Located along the Mississippi River on the eastern border of the state, it is the largest of the Quad Cities, a metropolitan area with a population of 384,324 and a ...

, and brought up as a Jehovah’s Witness. By 2004, she was married to Englishman Robert Strong with two children. Colby's television career eventually led to the breakup of her marriage. In May 2012, she told

WQAD-TV WQAD-TV (channel 8) is a television station licensed to Moline, Illinois, United States, serving the Quad Cities area as an affiliate of ABC and MyNetworkTV. Owned by Tegna Inc., the station maintains studios on Park 16th Street in Moline, and i ...

that "fame and notoriety are not easy for him to deal with at all, so the relationship ended up not working out".

Performance career

Colby owned and participated in a female

roller derby Roller derby is a roller skating contact sport played by two teams of fifteen members. Roller derby is played by approximately 1,250 amateur leagues worldwide, mostly in the United States. Game play consists of a series of short scrimmages (jam ...

team, the Big Mouth Mickies, for three years until injuries forced her to give it up. While living with her family in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, she attended a

burlesque A burlesque is a literary, dramatic or musical work intended to cause laughter by caricaturing the manner or spirit of serious works, or by ludicrous treatment of their subjects.

performance starring comedian

Margaret Cho Margaret Moran Cho (born December 5, 1968) is an American comedian, actress, LGBT social activist, and musician. She is known for her stand-up routines, through which she critiques social and political problems, especially regarding race and se ...

and dancer

Satan's Angel Angel Cecelia Helene Walker (September 18, 1944 – April 11, 2019) was an American exotic dancer specializing in stripping and burlesque under her stage name Satan's Angel. Career Satan's Angel started dancing in San Francisco in 1961, after ...

. This prompted in her a desire to become a burlesque dancer; and, after she moved back with her family to the

Quad Cities The Quad Cities is a region of cities (originally four, see History) in the U.S. states of Iowa and Illinois: Davenport and Bettendorf in southeastern Iowa, and Rock Island, Moline and East Moline in northwestern Illinois. These cities are t ...

area of Iowa, she created the professional burlesque troupe ''Burlesque Le Moustache'', with nine performers, including Colby herself under the stage name Dannie Diesel, touring eastern Iowa and western Illinois. As of October 2014, Colby owned a burlesque academy called Dannie Diesel's Bump 'n' Grind Academy in the

Rogers Park Rogers Park is the first of Chicago's 77 community areas. Located from the Loop, it is on the city's far north side on the shore of Lake Michigan. The neighborhood is commonly known for its cultural diversity, lush green public spaces, early ...

neighborhood of

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

''American Pickers''

Colby had been a close friend of Mike Wolfe for a decade before the concept of the show had even been developed. Once the show was sold to the

History Channel History (formerly The History Channel from January 1, 1995 to February 15, 2008, stylized as HISTORY) is an American pay television network and flagship channel owned by A&E Networks, a joint venture between Hearst Communications and the Disney ...

, Wolfe asked Colby to work at the office of the antique shop Antique Archaeology. ''American Pickers'' premiered on the History Channel on January 18, 2010. As of September 8, 2010, it was the top rated non-fiction series of 2010 among total viewers and adults 25–54.

Fashion design

Colby owned and operated 4 Miles 2 Memphis, a retro clothing based company. A brick and mortar location opened on January 8, 2013 in the Wicker Park area of Chicago; however, it closed within a year.

References

External links

Danielle Colby American Pickers site
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Colby, Danielle 1975 births Living people American neo-burlesque performers American female dancers Dancers from Iowa American roller skaters Participants in American reality television series People from Davenport, Iowa Roller derby skaters American antiques experts Former Jehovah's Witnesses 21st-century American women