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Kylie Ann Minogue is an Australia-born singer and actor who has been based in the United Kingdom for nearly a decade. She is known - particularly in the tabloid press - for her pert bottom.

Early Life

Kylie Minogue was born May 28 1968 in Melbourne, Australia, the eldest of three children (sister Dannii and brother Brendan). Influenced by her mother’s career, she decided to go into show business and at the age of 11 she made her TV debut. She appeared in several Australian television series as a child and teenager, including Young Talent Time, The Sullivans and The Henderson Kids, before rising to prominence in 1986 with her role in the Australian soap opera Neighbours.

Neighbours

Kylie played the character of Charlene Mitchell, a tomboy who rebelled at every opportunity. Charlene soon fell in love with boy next door Scott Robinson, played by Jason Donovan. The storylines between the young lovers proved popular with viewers and they soon became famous. A record audience watched Scott and Charlene’s wedding episode in 1987.

Recording Career

As part of an Australian Rules Football charity event in 1987, Kylie stood up and sang a boppy cover of The Loco-Motion . The song was so successful the Australian record company Mushroom Records released it as a single. It shot to number one in the Australian charts for 7 weeks and also topping the New Zealand charts. It became the best selling Australian single of the 80’s.

Her success caught the attention of British production team Stock Aitken Waterman, (responsible for many 80s pop hits) and she soon left Australia for London and signed a 5 year record contract. Her first album Kylie was the best selling album of the 1988 in Europe and Australia, and spawned several international number one singles like I Should Be So Lucky, The Loco-Motion and Got To Be Certain.

After the singles from Kylie, Kylie released a duet with Jason Donovan, Especially For You. The single went to number one and narrowly missed out on becoming 1988’s UK Christmas number one.

Three more PWL albums followed, Enjoy Yourself (1989) , Rhythm of Love (1990) and Let’s Get To It (1991). The albums contained several memorable pop tunes including Better the Devil You Know and Shocked, however the albums struggled to sell as well. Disagreements soon followed with producer Pete Waterman over the level of artistic freedom. In a bold move, Kylie left PWL to join indie/dance label Deconstruction.

Her first album, the self-titled Kylie Minogue, had only one single of some success: Confide In Me. The album sold disappointingly.

Her career was revived, particularly in Australia, with a dark, surreal single with Nick Cave called "Where The Wild Roses Grow" in 1995. The song was a duet between a murderer (Cave) and his victim (Minogue).

Her second (and final) Deconstruction album The Impossible Princess (renamed Kylie Minogue in the UK in light of the recent death of Princess Diana) contain collaborations with artists such as The Manic Street Preachers. The album sold even less and soon she was dropped from the album.

In 1999 she signed to Parlophone to work on a more disco-focused album. She achieved critical and commercial acclaim in Australia, the UK]], Europe and the Far East with her disco-flavoured album, "Light Years" (released 2000). Singles from the album topped charts all over the world, most notably Spinning Around.

On the back of the sucsess of Light Years . She went on to release a further album, "Fever," which debuted in the American Billboard Charts at number 3. The album was heavily influenced by 80s electropop such as the Human League. The single "Can't Get You Out Of My Head" topped in charts in many countries including the UK and Australia, and for the first time penetrated the US charts.

In 2003 she released "Body Language," and the first single from it "Slow" topped the charts in the UK and Australia.

While Minogue still retains a place in the iconography of 80s kitsch, her constant musical and image reinventions have allowed her career to progress beyond it. Kylie is the only female singer other than Madonna to reach number one on the charts in the 80's, the 90's and 00's.

Film Career

Throughout her music career, Kylie has taken breaks to return to her acting.

In 1989, she starred in The Delinquents, a tale of Australian teenage life in the late 1950s. The film was critically panned and was not a commercial success, although the soundtrack single Tears On My Pillow went to number one.

In 1994 she played Cammy in the action film Streetfighter, based on the computer game of the same name. Again the film received poor reviews.

Her greatest film success, is also her smallest role. In Moulin Rouge! (2001) she played the small part of Absinthe-The Green Fairy, singing a line from The Sound of Music

Discography

• Kylie (1988)
• Enjoy Yourself (1989)
• Rhythm of Love (1990)
• Let's Get To It (1991)
• Greatest Hits (1992)
• Kylie Minogue (1994)
• Impossible Princess (1998) (originally released as Kylie Minogue in the UK)
• Intimate and Live (1999)
• Light Years (2000)
• Hits+ (2000)
• Fever (2001)
• Body Language (2003)

External links

• Official site
• UK based Unofficial fansite