Aussie beauty Kylie Ann Minogue was born to an Irish father, Ron, and Welsh mother, Carol in 1968.  The eldest of three siblings she attended Camberwell High School in the Melbourne suburbs whilst also following an acting career from a young age.  At 11 Kylie took bit parts in soaps such as The Henderson Kids, Skyways and The Sullivans while her sister, Dannii gained fame on Young Talent Time, the show on which Kylie gave her first singing performance in 1983.

In 1986 Kylie was offered the role of Charlene Mitchell in upcoming soap Neighbours.  Her storylines made her a household name in both Australia and the UK and the on screen wedding between Charlene and Scott Robinson (played by Jason Donovan) attracted record numbers of viewers.

Whilst performing The Locomotion on stage at a benefit in 1987 Kylie was spotted by representatives of Mushroom Records who signed her up and released the track.  The success of her first release saw Kylie travel to London to meet with pop moguls Stock Aitken and Waterman who penned I Should Be So Lucky for her on the spot.  The single was a smash and launched Kylie as one to watch and indeed her debut album became the biggest seller of the year here in the UK. 

Panned by critics, Especially For You, a duet recorded with Jason Donovan (by this time a pop star in his own right) was a huge hit in 1989 but Kylie’s follow up album, Enjoy Yourself, whilst successful in Europe and Australia flopped in the US, resulting in the singer being dropped by her American label.

1990 saw Kylie make the first radical adjustment to her image.  Gone was the cutesy girl next door in favour of a more sexy look for Better The Devil You Know, while a relationship with bad boy rocker Michael Hutchence cemented Kylie’s new ’cool’ status.  Rhythm of Love produced several well received dance-orientated singles and was enough of a success to persuade Kylie to produce a further album despite her contract with PWA being up.  Let’s Get To It was a critical success but was her first release to miss the top ten.  Realising that she was stifled by the Stock Aitken and Waterman formula she recorded three new tracks for a Greatest Hits album and made a break for it.

So it was time for another change in direction.  Kylie went indie following her signing to Deconstruction Records and Confide in Me spent several weeks at the Aussie top spot.  The self titled album released alongside sold reasonably well although it received mixed reviews from the press while follow up singles eached top twenty.  Elsewhere Kylie went extra dark, appearing on Nick Cave’s Where The Wild Roses Grow, a move which promised a more credible pop star in the future. 

By 1997 Kylie had overhauled her image again, and the release of Impossible Princess the following year reflected that.  A collaboration with the Manic Street Preachers wasn’t enough to stop the album from becoming the least successful of her releases and the end of Kylie’s pop career looked near.

However a split with Deconstruction resulted in Kylie hooking up with Parlophone and in an explosion of gold glitter and disco the pop starlet burst back on to the scene in an unfeasibly small pair of gold hotpants to promote Spinning Around and accompanying album Light Years.  The single was Kylie’s first UK number one in ten years and resulted in a duet with Robbie Williams and a sell out tour.  However, it was 2001’s Fever which cemented Kylie’s future.  The unforgettable video for impossibly catchy single Can’t Get You Out Of My Head ensured that the track reached number one in over 40 countries.  Follow up singles were almost equally successful and the awards flooded in while next album, Body Language, was another hit while Ultimate Kylie, a greatest hits release was accompanied by a lavish tour.

It was during this time that Kylie was diagnosed with breast cancer, much to the shock of her fans.  Her headline slot at Glastonbury was cancelled and the rest of the Showgirl tour was postponed but after treatment from Australia and France’s best doctors Kylie was back on the scene looking better than ever.  She began work on a new album and released a children’s book The Showgirl Princess closely followed by a perfume, Darling.  She resumed her Showgirl tour and split with French boyfriend Olivier Martinez.

Elsewhere Kylie’s film career has been slightly less successful than her musical one.  From The Deliquents to Street Fighter she has been panned for her on screen work her only success coming in the form of the green absinthe fairy in Baz Luhrmann’s Moulin Rouge!
updated March 2007
October 2007

Dannii Minogue
Jason Donovan

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