Biography

Kylie Minogue, who hails from Australia, began her career as an actress in 1986 starring as Charlene in the popular soap 'Neighbours', fans were devistated when she and then real-life boyfriend Jason Donovan, decided to no longer appear on the soap.

Soon afterwards, at a charity gig, she and a couple of friends from Neighbours decided to sing a cover of The Locomotion and it was that day which brought us Kylie Minogue, the singer. She later released The Locomotion in Australia which was a massive hit and a number 1 for a long time. She then released I Should Be So Lucky both in Australia and Europe where I Should Be So Lucky became one of the most successful songs of
1988.

She released her No:1 debut album 'Kylie' (which is also the second most successful debut album from the youngest artist second only to Britney Spears) in 1988 which got her a string of hits around the world, even her only US hit single. She had another UK number one when she duetted with then boyfriend Jason Donovan on Especially For You, her second most successful hit to date. She released 'Hand on Your Heart', her 3rd UK number 1 which was from her second album 'Enjoy Yourself' in 1989 along with her first lead film role in 'The Delinquints' from which a cover of 'Tears On My Pillow' was released, her 4th UK number one and
another hugh European hit.

In 1990, a new decade and a new look for Kylie who had now gotten over her split with Jason Donovan and had started a new love affair with Michael Hutchence (The lead singer of INXS). Kylie dumped her bubbly, smiley girl-next-door image and donned new sexier clothes and a more grown up look and attitude. Her album 'Rhythm Of Love' gave her hits such as 'Better The Devil You Know' 'What Do I Have To Do' 'Shocked' and 'Step Back In Time' None of which went to number 1, but all of which were huge everywhere, especially Australia and Europe. Kylie Minogue then went through a low period in 1992.

Whilst Smash Hits readers voted her worst dressed person and the lack of the success of previous hits and her 1992 album 'Let's Get To It' be the only Kylie Minogue album to not have reached the top 10 in the UK album charts, her 'Greatest Hits' album still took the number 1 spot on the first week of it's release. Kylie later joined a new record company, Deconstruction and was now dating French photographer and director Stephane Sednoui she released her 5th album 'Kylie Minogue' which gave her a successful UK number 2 with ballad Confide In Me which was a massive Australian single and that song has been celebrated with a stamp featuring the lyrics and her lips to comemorate the new millennium. The songs to follow were unsuccessful even though Kylie, as Madonna had done (though not so provocativly) changed her image frequently.

She released her favourite of her songs, Where The Wild Roses Grow (a duet with Nick Cave) in 1995 and a Australian no:1 came her way but she did not release anything until 1997 which saw her have the most obvious and severe of her image changes. She had help from indie stars Manic Street Preaches to release the first single from her new album 'Impossible Princess' (Later changed to 'Kylie Minogue' due to the tragic death of Princess Diana which coincedentally clashed with the release of 'Impossible Princess') The song was called 'Some Kind Of Bliss' and only reached 22 in the UK charts.

From that same album she released to more singles 'Did It Again' and 'Breathe' which both hit 14. In Australia, she released 'Cowboy Style' which failed to even chart. She was dropped by Deconstruction due to the lack of hits. In 2000, she joined a new record company, Parlophone and this time, her new album would have any of the indie that caused her last album to be lassed as a flop, this time she would return to her pop roots with Light Years. 

The first release was Spinning Around, her 5th Uk number and a European number 1 as well as a number 9 in the world chart and a number 1 in her native land Australia. It was accompanied by a video which glorified the donning of Hotpants in the year 2000 and hotpants became the must-have item. The album got to number 1 all around the world but was kept of number 1 in the UK by Madonna's 'Music' LP. Also from Light Years, kylie released one of her most successful records in Australia, On A Night Like This which went to number 1 twice in the same month! She lso released

Please Stay, a surprising choice as it was quite weak compared to the rest of the album which was a masterpiece in itself. Kylie once again was in the limelight. and in September 2001, she released a new single and undoubtedly one of the catchiest singles ever and accompanied by a very sexy video, Can't Get You Out Of My Head is still number 1 as I am typing this so I cannot say for how long it was number one but it has hit number 1 in Australia, UK, Norway, Germany, Belgium, Spain, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Macedonia and Holland and is in the top 10 everywhere else in Europe and Asia. Can't Get You Out Of My head is from the album 'Fever' which has hit the Australian and UK number 1 and is her fastest selling number 1. The only market which she has not conquered is US and now it's just a matter of time. People are uncertain about her title as Princess of pop but in her own words 'They can kiss my hotpants.

Image and celebrity status: 

Throughout her professional life, Minogue has been the subject of intense media interest in both the United Kingdom and Australia, which has remained constant even while her success as a recording artist has fluctuated. Her efforts to be taken seriously as a musician have sometimes been hindered by her high profile as noted by The Australian, who wrote in 1997, "When you have to lug around an image the size of Kylie's, it's difficult for any music you produce to match the hype—especially in a country that gives scant credibility to pop". [16] Her relationships, including her current relationship with French actor Olivier Martinez, have been extensively reported as well.

Minogue is regarded as a gay icon, which she encourages with comments such as "I am not a traditional gay icon. There's been no tragedy in my life, only tragic outfits." While part of her appeal lies in her flamboyant costumes, her confident sexual posturing and her sense of fun, she acknowledges the gay community throughout the world by performing at gay venues and events, and by supporting AIDS causes. She has said that she believes gay fans responded to her apparent distress when the news media began heavily criticising her in 1989, and that those fans have remained loyal, explaining, "My gay audience has been with me from the beginning... they kind of adopted me".

Minogue has utilised the medium of the music video as an effective way of promoting her image, and has consistently worked at creating and evolving her visual representation. Her earliest videos portrayed her as a "girl-next-door" who was innocent and somewhat gauche but when she took control of her portrayal in 1990, she developed a more adult and provocative image. This caused her to be compared unfavourably to Madonna. Minogue admitted that she was an influence, but as her confidence grew she established a coquettish persona that differed considerably from that of Madonna's sexual aggressor. Minogue presents herself as a more passive object of desire, and frequently imbues her performances with camp elements and humour. Madonna acknowledged Minogue by wearing a "Kylie Minogue" shirt for a performance at the MTV Awards in 2000.

In several of her music videos, Minogue has touched on adult themes—an interracial relationship in "Better The Devil You Know", lesbian posturing and drag queens in "What Do I Have To Do", telephone sex in "Confide In Me" and prostitution in "On A Night Like This". She performed a slow strip tease in the Barbarella inspired "Put Yourself In My Place", and wore revealing costumes in many of her videos, most notably "Spinning Around" and "Can't Get You Out Of My Head". She satirised her image in the video for "Did It Again", in which the four major incarnations of her career, "Indie Kylie", "Dance Kylie", "Sex Kylie" and "Cute Kylie" battled for supremacy.

In 1993, Baz Luhrmann introduced Minogue to the photographer Bert Stern, notable for his work with Marilyn Monroe. Stern photographed her in Los Angeles and, comparing her to Monroe, commented that she had a "similar vulnerability and awareness of the camera". She has gained credibility by her association with people such as fashion designer Jean Paul Gaultier, photographer Stephane Sednaoui, and designer John Galliano, who described her as a "blend of Lolita and Barbarella".

During her career she has chosen photographers who attempt to create a new "look" for her, and the resulting photographs have appeared in a variety of magazines, from the cutting edge The Face to the more traditionally sophisticated Vogue and Vanity Fair, making the Minogue face and name known to a broad group of people who might never buy one of her records. William Baker has suggested that this is part of the reason she has entered in the mainstream pop culture of Europe more successfully than many other pop singers who concentrate simply on selling records. She has appeared in guest roles in television series such as The Vicar of Dibley and Men Behaving Badly in Britain, and Kath & Kim in Australia, that have capitalised on her celebrity status and image for comedic effect. In the latter she played a Melbourne teenager on her wedding day, referencing her role as Charlene in Neighbours.

Despite her commercial success, and her acceptance by a large audience as a contemporary sex symbol, her critics describe her willingness to display her body as an attempt to disguise a lack of talent. Her detractors, such as those discussed in the book La La La, have described her as a "one dimensional performer" and "pretty, but mindless and talentless". 

Miki Berenyi of the group Lush said "I have a massive problem with her because she epitomises the acceptable role ... it's a shame she gets so much credibility when there are so many women worth a hundred times that. It's war—you shouldn't stick up for Kylie, she should be fought at every turn". She continues to attract discussion, both positive and negative, and in Paul Morley's study of the evolution of pop music, Words And Music: A History Of Pop In The Shape Of A City, Minogue is the vehicle by which pop is explored.

Minogue has often spoken of the stability of the team she works within. Her parents, Ron and Carol Minogue, are actively involved in her career; her father, an accountant, is her financial advisor and her mother has joined her on each of her tours. She has been managed by Terry Blamey since 1987 and the close network, along with her Stock, Aitken and Waterman origins, have led to comments that she is "manufactured", an assessment which she has freely admitted is partly accurate, saying, "If you're part of a record company, I think to a degree it's fair to say that you're a manufactured product. You're a product and you're selling a product. It doesn't mean that you're not talented and that you don't make creative and business decisions about what you will and won't do and where you want to go... Ultimately, yes, it's my name and I have to deliver the goods. But it doesn't happen without a team. So I try and work with the best people I can and take from them what I can. Hopefully I enhance what they do as well"

William Baker has described her status as a sex symbol as a "double edged sword" observing that "we always attempted to use her sex appeal as an enhancement of her music and to sell a record. But now it has become in danger of eclipsing what she actually is: a pop singer". Minogue has suggested that although her career will inevitably change direction she expects to continue as a singer, and move away from the "sex-pot" persona she has created. In 2003 she received positive reviews for some low key performances in Paris clubs where she performed jazz standards, and she indicated she may take her career in this direction. Rather than identify herself as a particular type of singer, she has assessed herself with the comment, "now more than ever, I consider myself a performer... on stage is where I have given and received so much energy and enthusiasm".

Cancer: 

On May 17, 2005, it was reported that Minogue had been diagnosed with early stage breast cancer and would receive medical treatment in Melbourne. The remainder of her Showgirl, The Greatest Hits world tour was postponed and she withdrew from a participating at the Glastonbury Festival.

The announcement of Minogue's cancer diagnosis resulted in a brief but intense period of media coverage, particularly in Australia where it was the lead news story of the day. Messages of support flooded her "Ultimate Kylie " website , where her legion of fans expressed their support. "We all love & admire you so much Kylie. You are the bright light in a sometimes dark world " as one fan , Michael had posted. As media and fans began to congregate outside the Minogue residence in Melbourne, the Victorian Premier Steve Bracks stated to the international media, that any disruption to the Minogue family's rights as Australians would not be tolerated. 

Minogue underwent surgery on May 21. Friends such as Olivia Newton-John, herself a survivor of breast cancer, urged the media and fans to respect Minogue's privacy. However, it was only after it was announced that the surgery had been successful that the intense scrutiny of the situation began to diminish. In the days following her surgery, it was reported that Minogue had commenced radiotherapy as part of her treatment regimen.

Minogue made a public 'thank you' statement, and urged fans 'not to worry'. She later added that further treatment was to be pursued in Europe. On July 8, 2005, she made her first public appearance since her surgery, when she visited a children's cancer ward at Melbourne's Royal Children's Hospital.

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