Kylie Minogue

You can count on the fingers of one hand the number of "pop" artists who’ve lasted more than a decade, let alone more than two! In July 1987 Kylie released her first single; a remake of the 1962 Little Eva hit "Locomotion". The song hit No.1 in Australia and remained in the top spot for seven weeks, becoming the biggest Australian single of the ‘80’s. Two decades later Kylie achieved the record for the most played female artist on UK radio over the last 20 years!

Since then she has released ten studio albums, two live CDs, eight live concert DVD’s, plus her Greatest Hits and the Ultimate Kylie double album and multiple video packages. This is of course in addition to almost 50 singles released internationally, all of which have been hits.

Kylie has been the guest of Royalty in Britain and Europe, she’s received countless gold and platinum discs; she’s been honoured with numerous prestigious awards, sold-out eight record breaking world tours and in 2000 closed the Sydney Olympics.

She’s graced the covers of the world’s leading magazines, including Attitude, Australian Style, Cleo, Cosmopolitan, Elle, The Face, FHM, Follow Me, Glamour, GQ, Harpers Bazaar, Heat, Hello, ID, Melody Maker, Ministry, Music Week,
OK, Paris Match, Rolling Stone, Sky, Select, Time and multiple covers of Vogue (Australian Guest Editor in 2006), the list is endless.

Early on in her career, after the release of "Shocked", her 13th hit single in 1991, the British industry "bible" Music Week magazine declared that Kylie was the ONLY act in the history of the British pop music to have their first 13 releases all go Top 10. Kylie now has 42 consecutive U.K. hits, none of which failed to peak in the Top 20, 32 in the Top 10!

Today Kylie is one of the world's most successful female music artists, but she wasn't always known as a singer. Kylie started her career at age eleven when approached to act in the national Australian T.V. drama series “Skyways”, this was followed by more Australian television roles in the popular drama "The Sullivans" and later "The Henderson Kids".

After her seventeenth birthday Kylie left school to take up acting as a full time profession. Her character "Charlene" in the Australian "soap" Neighbours is still arguably today, one of the most popular characters ever to come out of Australian television.

By the time Kylie was out of her teens she had won five Logies (the Australian equivalent of an Emmy); the youngest actress ever to do so. In 1987 she won the Silver Logie for "Most Popular Actress" and in 1988 she was the first artist ever to win 4 Logies on one night, including the Gold for "Most Popular Personality on Australian Television", and another Silver.

Kylie’s recording career began in 1987 when she released "Locomotion" which topped the charts in Australia and S.E.Asia. The success of this release led to Kylie teaming up with famed British record producers Stock, Aitken and Waterman in London.

Kylie’s eponymously titled debut album, released July 1988, contained the hit singles "I Should Be So Lucky", "Got To Certain", a re-recorded version of "The Loco-motion" and "Je Ne Sais Pas Pourquoi". It sold over 5 million copies worldwide. Her duet with Jason Donovan, "Especially For You" debuted at #2 and shipped silver on release bringing Kylie's single sales in the U.K. to well over 2 million in under 12 months. The album sold similar quantities, going seven-times platinum in the UK. An impressive debut.

In October 1989 Kylie released her eagerly awaited second album "Enjoy Yourself" which shot to No.1 in the U.K. with pre-sales of over 600,000 copies. The album spawned 4 worldwide hits including the No.1 singles "Hand On Your Heart" and "Tears On My Pillow".

In December Kylie's first feature film "The Delinquents" was released around the world to rave reviews and became the top grossing movie in the U.K. Also that month, Kylie joined the likes of Bob Geldof, Lisa Stansfield, Bananarama, Bros, Cliff Richard, and Wet Wet Wet for Band Aid 2's 1989 recording of "Do They Know It's Christmas" to raise money for Ethiopia.

Two more albums - "Rhythm Of Love" and "Let’s Get To It" – and more classic singles – "Better The Devil You Know", "What Do I Have To Do", "Shocked" - followed before the release of "Kylie's Greatest Hits" in 1992. The album collected all 19 hits along with three new songs and debuted at #1 on the UK charts.

On her move from PWL to the dance label Deconstruction, Kylie effectively made the difficult transition from "Pop Princess" to "Career Artist", a delicate jump very few artists have been able to make successfully.

September 1994 saw the release of her album simply entitled "Kylie Minogue". Greeted with much critical acclaim the album debuted at no. 4 in the U.K. All three singles released from the album became worldwide hits.

Kylie's third duet "Where The Wild Roses Grow", a "Murder Ballad" penned by Nick Cave and recorded with Nick and his band The Bad Seeds was released internationally in 1995, becoming her 25th consecutive hit peaking at No. 2 in Australia and 11 in Britain. The release introduced Nick Cave to a whole new audience whilst doing the same for Kylie.

In 1994 Kylie had a lead role in the $40 million dollar epic Streetfighter with Jean Claude Van Damme, and in 1995 she starred in a short film entitled Hayride To Hell shot in Australia for the European Film Festivals. 1996 saw the release of a comedy called "Bio-Dome" for the producers of "Dumb & Dumber" in Hollywood with Pauly Shore and Steven Baldwin. In 1998 Kylie starred in an Australian independent film called "Sample People"; and alongside Molly Ringwald in Mushroom Pictures horror film "Cut". Earlier in 1999 she also found time to appear in a Caribbean production of Shakespeare's "The Tempest" for which she received rave reviews. More recently Kylie appeared in Baz Luhrmann’s film "Moulin Rouge", as the Green Fairy.

Kylie’s sixth studio album "Impossible Princess" (aka "Kylie Minogue") was released in March 1998. With all lyrics by Kylie Minogue, "Impossible Princess", featuring collaborations with The Manic Street Preachers, Brothers In Rhythm and Dave Ball (Soft Cell, The Grid), became yet another No 1 for Miss Minogue (AUSTRALIAN MUSIC REPORT).

In addition to her famous murder ballad with Nick Cave, Kylie’s list of collaborations extend to the successful cult underground dance track "G.B.I." recorded with leading Japanese artist Towa Tei (of Dee-lite fame); a track called "In Denial" with the Pet Shop Boys for their album, a duet with Ben Lee on "The Reflex" for a Duran-Duran tribute album, and the famous duet with Robbie Williams, "Kids" which debuted at No. 2 in the UK charts! May 2009 saw the release of her duet for children "Monkey Man" recorded with the Wiggles for UNICEF.

In October 1999 Kylie released a collectible art book featuring contributions from many of the world's most respected artists, on the theme of "Kylie". Demand for the book was unprecedented with a second printing within the first month of release! In 2008 Kylie released her collectible limited edition "K" book featuring William Baker’s photos of her. 90% of stock sold out during her KylieX2008 world tour.

June 2000 saw the much anticipated release of "Spinning Around" the first single from Kylie's debut studio album for Parlophone Records. In true style she caused a sensation by debuting at Number 1 in both the UK and Australian charts. "Spinning Around" also gave Kylie the honour of being one of only two artists (the other being Madonna) to have a number one in the eighties, nineties and noughties!

In September 2000 her follow up single, "On A Night Like This" was released repeating Spinning Around's success by debuting in the UK charts at #2 and Australian charts at #1. Kylie's most anticipated album yet, "Light Years", was released at the same time to massive critical & commercial success debuting at #2 in the U.K. and reaching #1 in Australia (double platinum!)

Kylie performed to her biggest audience ever at the closing ceremony of the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games! Kylie thrilled more than 4 billion viewers with her rendition of "Dancing Queen" and "On A Night Like This". Less than two weeks later she headlined the opening ceremony of the Paralympic Games.

Kylie ended a phenomenal year with the release of a fourth single from "Light Years", "Please Stay" on December 11th, as well as a prestigious appearance at the Royal Variety Performance. The top 10 hit "Please Stay" was Kylie's 33rd hit single and her 20th UK Top Ten hit.

In January 2001 tickets went on sale for Kylie's first major tour in nine years. The "On A Night Like This" tour sold out immediately for shows in the UK, Europe and Australia, where the tour became the most successful arena tour by a female artist EVER. The tour was no less successful in the UK, where the capacity doubled to accommodate the huge number of ticket applications.

The tour garnered rave reviews in the press, with the NME declaring that "the hits wheeled out tonight are pop at its most exciting" and the Guardian writing that the show was "utterly fabulous".

By now "Light Years" was platinum in the UK and 4 x platinum in Australia, where readers voted her "Best Pop Artist" in Australian Rolling Stone. Back in the UK, Kylie was nominated for a prestigious Brit Award for Best International Female.

September 2001 saw the Kylie phenomenon reach fever peak with the release of her global smash hit "Can’t Get You Out Of My Head" from the multi-platinum selling album "Fever". The album generated a further three smash hit singles "In Your Eyes", "Love At First Sight" and "Come Into My World" and sold over six million copies worldwide.

Kylie garnered a host of major awards including Top of The Pops Awards for Best Tour for "On A Night Like This" and Top Song for "Can’t Get You Out Of My Head", 3 Italian Dance Music Awards for Best International Artist, Best Song and Best Video, an NME Award for Best Pop Act, and ‘Showbusiness Personality of The Year’ at the Variety Club of Great Britain Awards.

Kylie stole the show at the 2002 Brit Awards with an incredible performance of "Can’t Get You Out Of My Head" and won two major awards for Best International Female and Best International Album. At the World Music Awards in Monaco, Kylie delivered another show stopping performance to an world-wide audience of a billion people and was honoured as Best Selling Australian Artist of The Year.

In the spring Kylie embarked on her most ambitious live tour to date. Kylie’s ‘Fever’ tour kicked off in Cardiff in April 2002 before moving on to Manchester, Birmingham, Sheffield, Glasgow, Newcastle and London. Tickets to the 25 date tour sold out within minutes of them going on sale and The Manchester Evening News presented Kylie with a plaque in recognition of having the most number of shows by a solo artist to sell out the Arena EVER a record she later broke herself!

Kylie took her "Fever!" tour to Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Germany and Holland, and then on to Australia in August where she sold out six nights at Sydney’s Entertainment Centre and a further six nights at the Rod Laver Arena in her native Melbourne.

Kylie was awarded "Woman Of The Year" 2002 at the Elle style awards while the record-breaking "Can’t Get You Out Of My Head" garnered 3 Ivor Novello Awards for Best International Single, Best Dance Record and Most Played Record of The Year, and scooped an MTV Award for Best Choreography in a Music Video.

She swept the board at the ARIA’s winning 4 awards including the first Special Achievement award! Just weeks later Kylie triumphed at the 2002 MTV Music Awards Best Pop Act and Best Dance Act and stole the show at Top of The Pops Awards with a stunning performance of "Come Into My World" and a second award for Tour Of The Year for "Fever 2002".

November 2002 saw the highly anticipated release of the Fever 2002 Live DVD and the book "Kylie: La La La". Written in collaboration with her artistic director Will Baker, "La La La" documents Kylie’s remarkable career and includes over 300 photos, most of which have never been seen before.

In 2003 Kylie’s lingerie range, ‘Love Kylie’, was launched in the UK in Selfridges to a massive media frenzy and incredible sales. Demand far exceeded supply with Selfridges doubling their orders to cope.

Kylie was awarded a Centenary Medal by the Governor General of Australia for "Outstanding Contribution to the Music Industry" and for the third year in a row won "Australian Performer of the Year" and "Showbusiness Ambassador of the Year" for the second consecutive year at the 28th Annual MO Awards in Australia.

In May 2003 Kylie appeared in the Rambert Dance Company project, "21" choreographed by Rafael Bonachella ("On A Night Like This Tour", "Fever2002 Tour") in a short black & white filmed piece.

In June Kylie was voted the sexiest pop pin up in the world by viewers of music channel VH1 and her "Agent Provocateur" commercial won Best Cinema Commercial of the Year at the British TV Awards.

Kylie spent the summer of 2003 recording her ninth studio album, "Body Language" in London, Ireland and Spain. "Body Language" was released in various territories on 17th November 2003. It was preceded by the hypnotic single "Slow", written by Kylie Minogue/Emiliana Torrini and Dan Carey which debuted at number 1 in Australia and the UK.

In February 2004 Kylie received a Grammy for ‘Come Into My World’ which was the ‘Best Dance Recording’. During 2004 polls released by the PPL reveal that Kylie is the most played female artist on UK radio over the last 20 years and 4th overall !

When the tickets went on sale for Kylie’s biggest concert tour to date, ‘Showgirl’ a greatest hits extravaganza celebrating her extraordinary career thus far, dates sold out instantly. Kylie’s greatest hits CD package, ‘Ultimate Kylie’ dominated the Christmas charts and also included the new track, ‘I Believe In You’ co-written with Jake Shears and Babydaddy from the Scissor Sisters which debuted at No. 2 in the UK charts.

Early in 2005, ‘Kylie – the Exhibition’ opened in Melbourne. The free exhibition featured costumes and photographs spanning Kylie’s entire career and went on to tour Australian capital cities receiving over 500,000 visitors, before opening at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London in January 2007 where the show set a new attendance record with 8000 visitors in one week. After a successful stint in Manchester the Exhibition concluded with a record breaking residence at the Kelvingrove Art Gallery in Glasgow.

In March ’05 Kylie’s sold out ‘Showgirl – The Greatest Hits Tour’ opened to great critical acclaim in Glasgow. She went on to perform 23 sold out nights at only four venues in the UK including seven nights at Earls Court Arena where she set the record for the most dates by a female artist ever at a UK venue. The tour also played 14 sold out dates throughout Europe before travelling to Australia where the rest of the tour had to be postponed due to Kylie being diagnosed with early stage breast cancer.

Kylie spent the next twelve months focusing on her treatment and recovery from cancer and in June of 2006 readers of leading British fashion magazine GQ and Glamour both vote Kylie ‘Woman of The Year’. In October of 2006 Kylie’s enchanting children’s book, ‘The Showgirl Princess’ was published, delighting her younger fans (and some older ones too!) Shortly after the release of the book Kylie’s first fragrance ‘Darling’ was released by beauty giants Coty. ‘Darling’ became the most successful fragrance launch in the history of Australian retailing and also is a huge success in the UK and throughout Europe.

On the 11th November 2006 Kylie made an emotional return to the stage in Australia to resume her Showgirl Tour which was retitled, ‘Showgirl Homecoming’, before taking it back to the UK for seven dates at Wembley and another seven in Manchester! The reviews were superlative.

To top off an incredibly busy end to the year Kylie not only appeared on the cover of Australian Vogue but also took on the role of guest editor for the issue. She simultaneously appeared around the world on the cover of Elle Magazine in a beautiful photo-shoot by the legendary Karl Lagerfeld.

In January 2007 Madame Tussaud’s in London unveiled a new waxwork of Kylie. This is her fourth waxwork and only the Queen has had more models created.

On 29th October 2007 Kylie was honoured by Britain’s prestigious annual Music Industry Trusts’ Award, the first woman in the event’s 16 year history to receive the honour. Previous recipients include Elton John and Bernie Taupin, Sir George Martin, Michael Parkinson, John Barry and Peter Gabriel.

Sir Paul McCartney asked Kylie to duet with him "live" on BBC TV nationally throughout the UK to see out the last few minutes of 2007 – only to wake up on 1st January ‘08 to the news that the Queen had honoured her with an OBE!

Just over two weeks later John Travolta honoured Kylie in America at the now famous Australia Week Gala held by Australia’s Consul General to Los Angeles and in May the French Minister of Culture and Communications awarded Kylie one of France’s highest cultural awards, the "Chevalier de L’ordre des Arts et Lettres" insignia (‘Knight’ in the Order of Arts and Letters) for her "contribution to the enrichment of French culture".

Her world tour KylieX2008 opened at the Paris Bercy on May 6th 2008. She travelled to 21 counties throughout Europe this (northern) summer playing to over half a million fans at 53 sold out shows! The London papers called the tour "pop perfection!" KylieX2008 continues on to South America in November before moving on to Dubai then through Asia to NZ and finishing in Australia just before Christmas. "A show NOT to be missed!".

Kylie concluded the year with her 5th Grammy nomination when finalists for the
51st Grammy Awards were announced in Los Angeles. Her album "X", released in the U.S. in February 2008 was nominated as "Best Dance Album".

"Kylie at Home", Kylie’s range of bed-linen, first released only a year ago has already broken sales records around the world and is currently the best selling range in House of Fraser, in the UK.

Early 2009 saw Kylie travel to Mumbai to take part in the most expensive Bollywood feature film ever to be made entitled ‘Blue’. As well as filming a cameo role Kylie also performed the main musical production number for the film. The track was written and recorded with the internationally renowned composer, AR Rahman.

In February 2009 Kylie’s 5th perfume, ‘Couture’ was released and ensured the on-going success of her fragrance brand ‘Kylie Minogue Parfums’ which is now enjoying it’s 3rd year of international success. She also hosted the prestigious Brit Awards in London alongside comedians Matt Horne and James Corden.

Kylie is currently preparing for a series of one off performances and is planning a US tour later in the year. She is also commencing work on her 11th studio album for Parlophone Records.

Source: www.kylie.com

Pic: Dave Hogan/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images