Ms Kylie Ann Minogue OBE (born 28 May 1968), is one of the biggest stars on the planet. Since her international début single I Should Be So Lucky Kylie has gone on to sell 100 million records worldwide, including UK no.1 albums and 7 UK no.1 singles.

Kylie really can sing as well, unlike most pop stars today. You only have to listen to her strong renditions of The Crying Game medley, Confide In Me, If You Don’t Love Me, Come On Strong, Ocean Blue, You Are There etc;

Growing up in a modest Melbourne suburb, Kylie quickly discovered The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and Donna Summer, later being influenced by Abba, Madonna and Olivia Newton-John. Kylie remembers having her friends come over and act out scenes from Grease. Kylie also remembers imagining that the next door neighbours dad was a record producer and one day he would hear her singing and help her record a record.

It was Dannii who rose to Australia’s affections first, as a regular on Young Talent Time. Meanwhile elder sister Kylie got her first acting gig as a dutch girl in The Sullivans in 1979. Other minor acting roles followed and she eventually landed the role of Charlene Mitchell on super soap Neighbours. Her on screen wedding to Jason Donavon was watched by over 20 million in the UK alone. Soon Kylie released a record and the rest is history!

Since international début single, I Should Be So Lucky, Kylie has released 54 hit singles, 11 multi-platinum studio albums and sold over 100 million records worldwide. In 2010 Kylie became the first and only artist to have a UK no.1 album in the 80′s (Kylie & Enjoy Yourself), 90′s (Greatest Hits), 00′s (Fever) and 10′s (Aphrodite).

In 2012, Kylie celebrates her 25th successful year in the music industry.
On the 28 May 1968 a star was born in Bethlehem Children’s Hospital, Melbourne, Australia. The oldest of three siblings (Dannii and Brendan), parents Carol (a former Welsh ballet dancer) and Ron (an accountant) had high hopes for Kylie. In fact, her stage presence shone through at a very young age when Kylie remembers bounding on stage, playing Run Rabbit Run on the piano and giving the judges a great, big beam. She says it was her smile that won her 2nd prize.

Although, it was Dannii who was famous before Kylie was, (well, in Australia at least), who had a regular slot on the then popular Aussie children’s talent show Young Talent Time. Kylie appeared on the show alongside Dannii once, where she pleaded to be called Kylie and not ‘Dannii’s older sister’.

However, in 1979 (when Kylie was 11), she and Dannii both auditioned for the role of Carla in Australian soap, The Sullivans. Kylie reminisces that she had to put on an awful Dutch accent and somehow got the role. Dannii was inconsolable, but after Kylie left the soap after 6 episodes, Dannii was cast as Carla for a dream sequence.

Other Aussie TV roles followed including appearances in The Zoo Family, Fame and Misfortune and The Flying Doctors. It was the latter that she met future Neighbours co-star Jason Donavon (who didn’t recognise her on the set of Neighbours).

Kylie also appeared in the first series of hugely popular Aussie TV show The Henderson Kids, where she earned respect and fans for her appearance. After filming had finished Kylie concentrated on getting her HSC (High School Certificate), which she did. Speaking later on about what she would do if she hadn’t gone into show business, Kylie said that she would have quite liked to have been a designer or run her own shop.

When The Henderson Kids was re-commissioned for a second series, Kylie’s character was written out so she was not asked back. Happily however, this gave Kylie the chance to audition for the role of Charlene Mitchell in soap Neighbours.

Neighbours was originally broadcast on the Seven Network in Australia before being axed due to low ratings after a few weeks. Network Ten bought the rights to the show and with a bit of promotion and a shake up amongst the cast, Neighbours became one of the biggest shows in the world.

The show won Kylie countless awards, including the Gold Lodgie for Most Popular Actress. Charlene (Kylie) and Scott (Jason Donavon) gripped the audiences in Australia and in the UK. The wedding episode was watched by 21.16 million in the UK, making it the 25th most watched TV broadcast ever in the UK and was the most watched non-sporting event in Australia that year.
It was while filming Neighbours that Kylie joined the cast’s band. For a Australian charity event, the band were invited to perform and the audience loved it and demanded an encore. Kylie suggested the sing Locomotion, a hit for Little Eva in the 60′s and it was suggested that Kylie record it, which she did.

Locomotion hit no.1 in Australia becoming the fastest selling single of the decade (80′s) and Kylie travelled to London with new manager Terry Blamey to record a follow up single. However, Pete Waterman forgot about her and I Should Be So Lucky was written in 10 minuted and was rush recorded before Kylie was whisked back to the airport.

PWL forgot about the track, until Waterman heard it at a party and wanted to know who the singer was, it was now he decided to find a record label to release the single. PWL had only ever produced records and never released them as a record label, but since Waterman couldn’t find a label interested in signing Kylie he decided it was time he set his own up!

I Should Be So Lucky entered the UK charts at no.90, before climbing up to the top spot within a matter of weeks.The song stayed at no.1 for 5 weeks. I Should Be So Lucky also went on to be a worldwide hit.

After a grovelling apology to Kylie, she agreed to sign up to PWL. It was decided that Locomotion would be remixed for release worldwide. The Loco-Motion hit no.1 in numerous territories worldwide and went top 2 in the UK and no.3 in the US. Kylie was now a worldwide super star.
After a string of no.1 singles and albums, Kylie decided to quit Neighbours to focus on her music career. She also broke off with secretboyfriend Jason Donavon. In 1990, Kylie took control of her image and her life. She started dating INXS front man Michael Hutcheance, who described his favourite hobby as ‘corrupting Kylie Minogue’.

1990 saw Kylie release her 3rd album Rhythm of Love, with a more mature sound and Kylie showed off a more provocative and sexier image. Tracks like Better The Devil You Know and What Do I Have To Do? were like nothing she had ever done before, Kylie had grown up and matured musically.

The year also saw the release of Kylie’s debut film, critically acclaimed box office hit The Delinquents that shocked audiences worldwide and almost eclipsed the then new Batman film at the box office, though sadly it was not to be.

1991 saw the release of Let’s Get To It, her final release on PWL. First single Word Is Out only peaked at no.14 in the UK, making it her first single to miss out on the top 10, however, Kylie became the first artist to have their first 13 releases go top 10, a musical achievement added to her growing collection that included becoming the only artist to hold the no.1 spot in the UK and Australia at the same time.
Let’s Get To It saw Kylie co-write songs for the first time, and release singles completely different to others such as If You Were With Me Now and Finer Feelings.

After Kylie left PWL, she and Hutchence split despite the fact that they seemed to be very much in love. In fact, the INXS track Suicide Blonde was writted by Hutchence about Kylie.

The following years saw Kylie sign to deConstuction and begin work on a new album, with a new direction and hip new collaborators. During the deConstruction era Kylie worked with artists such as Brothers in Rhythm, Manic Street Preachers and Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds.

Her debut album on deConstruction, simply entitled Kylie Minogue, was proceeded by critically acclaimed single Confide In Me, which peaked at no.2 in the UK and no.1 in the UK. This was a complete new direction, complete with an orchestra Kylie Minogue was back.

The album peaked at no.4 in the UK and despite low chart positions for Put Yourself In My Place and Where Is The Feeling, Kylie was cool and extremely popular, especially on the festival scene. 1995 saw Kylie work with ‘dark prince’ Nick Cave, a fellow Australian who had been a fan of Kylie since Better The Devil You Know. The outcome of this collaboration was the amazing Where The Wild Roses Grow. The single was about Eliza Day’s (Kylie) lover (Nick Cave), who kills her while she is young and beautiful.

Impossible Princess was released in 1998, a fan and critic favourite, but flopped worldwide except from in Australia and Israel. Kylie toured with the LP, her first tour for 7 years. Kylie left deConstruction before the label went bust. The entire Impossible Princess album was penned by Kylie herself.

After her career waned, 2000 saw Kylie’s return to glory with no.1 single Spinning Around, her first no.1 in the UK since 1990. Kylie also met boyfriend James Gooding in LA whilst working on the Light Years album. The project proved a huge success and the album has shifted almost 3 million copies worldwide.

2001 saw Kylie’s most successful album to date, selling 11 million units worldwide, with the unstoppable single Can’t Get You Out Of My Head, which went no.1 in 40 territories including Germany, France, Australia, Russia and the UK as well as no.7 in the US, where the album went no.3, her biggest hit in the US since 1987′s The Loco-Motion.

Kylie had firmly cemented herself as the Pop Queen although her film choices weren’t as good, as a string of box office flops in the 90′s proved.

2003′s Brit Award performance enraged James Gooding, as he saw Justin Timberlake grope Kylie’s bottom on stage and he flew into a rant at the an EMI after Kylie, which forced Kylie to have security keep him away. He later called Kylie a control freak in a Sunday rag, Kylie’s first boyfriend to sell his story. Kylie was considerably upset.

2003 also saw the release of Body Language, which was preceded by hypnotic single Slow, which debuted at no.1 in the UK, selling 75,000 units during the first week of sales, becoming one of the lowest selling UK no.1 singles of all time. The hugely Americanised album didn’t live up to expectations, spending one week in the UK top 10 at no.6 and peaking at no.48 in the US despite a huge marketing campaign. The album being released Grammy week didn’t help matters, though the album did re-introduce Kylie to the Mid to Eastern Asian market, proving to be a success in Taiwan and Japan. The following year Kylie won her first Grammy.

In 2005 Kylie got the worst news of her life. She had been diagnosed with breast cancer. Not wanting to let her fans down, Kylie tried to fly to Sydney to continue her sold out Showgirl: The Greatest Hits Tour, which had sold out dates worldwide, broken box office record and even put phone lines out of service as they were jammed up in a mad rush to get tickets, but was stopped by her father, who himself had fought cancer. Kylie spend a day with her family before the announcement and started immediate treatment.

Kylie refused to be seen upset in public and branded then boyfriend Olivier Martinez her rock.

During her fight Kylie wrote a children’s book, The Showgirl Princess and in 2006 continued her Showgirl: The Greatest Hits Tour under the name Showgirl Homecoming, phone lines went down in demand for tickets and original dates sold in just 2 minutes.

Despite engagement rumours, Kylie and Olivier broke up amidst rumours that he had cheated on her. Both sides kept an amicable silence.

During 2007 tracks rumoured to be from her upcoming 10th studio album leaked onto the internet including In My Arms and Lose Control.

The album finally dropped in November 2007, selling over one million units worldwide and saw Kylie tour with it, her biggest tour to date entitled KylieX2008 which featured innovating video curtains. 2008 also saw Kylie presented with an OBE.

2010 saw the release of All The Lovers, Kylie’s highest selling single since 2001′s Can’t Get You Out Of My Head. The album Aphrodite went no.1 in the UK on week of release, Kylie’s 5th UK no.1 album and making her the first and only artist to have no.1 albums in the ’80′s (Kylie and Enjoy Yourself), 90′s (Greatest Hits), 00′s (Fever) and 10′s (Aphrodite).
The album also made a splash in the US, peaking at no.19, her highest peak since 2001′s Fever and single Get Outta My Way became Kylie’s third highest selling single ever in the US behind Locomotion and Can’t Get You Out Of My Head.

Aphrodite also saw the currently ongoing Les Folies tour, which features 32 water cannons, 18 dancers and acrobats and the production cost $25,000,000.

The future looks bright for Kylie, with rumours of marriage to Andres Velencoso, surrogacy reports and her 5 year all clear from cancer, we can’t wait to see what the future holds for Ms Kylie Minogue OBE!

Late 2011 saw Kylie be presented with a honourary doctorate in Social Sciences from the Angela Ruskin University in East Anglia.

In 2012 Kylie celebrates #K25, her 25th year in the music industry, with special treats such as Anti Tour, the new single Timebomb and her orchestral greatest hits album.

1979
The Sullivans – Australian Soap-Opera – as Carla

1980
Skyways – Australian Soap-Opera – as Robin

1985
The Henderson Kids – Australian Television Drama – as Charlotte ‘Char’ Kernow

The Zoo Family – Australian Television Drama – as Yvonne (episode: Yvonne The Terrible)

1986
Fame and Misfortune – Australian Children’s Programme – as Samantha Collins

Neighbours (-1988) – International Soap Opera – as Charlene Mitchell/Robinson – Nominated: Silver Lodgie for Most Popular New Talent. Won: Silver Lodgie for Most Popular Actress (twice), Gold Lodgie for Notable Performance.

1989
The Comedy Company – Australian Comedy Programme – as Rebecca/Herself

The Delinquents – Film – as Lola Lovell

1994
Street Fighter – Film – as Cammy

1995
Hayride To Hell – Short Film – as The Girl

The Vicar of Dibley – British Comedy Drama – as Herself

1996
Misfits – Film

Biodome – Film – As Dr. Petra von Kant

1997
Diana & Me – Film – as Herself

Men Behaving Badly – Comic Relief Special Episode – as Herself

2000
Cut – Film – as Hilary Jacobs

Sample People – Film – as Jess

2001
Moulin Rouge – Film – as The Green Fairy – Oscar Nomination: Best Cameo – MTV Movie Awards Nomination: Best Cameo

An Audience With… Kylie Minogue – British Entertainment Programme – As Herself

2004
Kath & Kim – Australian Comedy Drama – as Epponnee-Rae Craig/herself (99% fat free)

2005
The Magic Roundabout (Known as Doogal in North America) – Film – as Florence (voice over)

2007
White Diamond – Bio-film – as Herself

The Kylie Show – British Entertainment Programme – as Herself

2009
Horne & Corden – British Sketch Show – as Herself

Blue – Bollywood Film – as Herself

The Wiggles Go Banana’s – Guest Appearance in Music Video – as Herself

2011
Jack & Diane – Film – as Diane’s Friend - Filmed in 2010, slated for release in September 2012

Holy Motors – French Film – Premiered at Cannes Film Festival



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