Kylie Ann Minogue, OBE, born 28 May 1968 — often known simply as Kylie — is an Australian singer, recording artist, songwriter, showgirl, and actress. After beginning her career as a child actress on Australian television, she achieved recognition through her role in the television soap opera Neighbours, before commencing her career as a recording artist in 1987. Her first single, "Locomotion", spent seven weeks at number one on the Australian singles chart and became the highest selling single of the decade. This led to a contract with songwriters and producers Stock, Aitken & Waterman. Her debut album, Kylie (1988), and the single "I Should Be So Lucky", each reached number one in the United Kingdom, and over the next two years, her first 13 singles reached the British top ten. Her debut film, The Delinquents (1989) was a box-office hit in Australia and the UK, and received generally positive reviews.
Initially presented as a "girl next door", Minogue attempted to convey a more mature style in her music and public image. Her singles were well received, but after four albums her record sales were declining, and she left Stock, Aitken & Waterman in 1992 to establish herself as an independent performer. Her next single, "Confide in Me", reached number one in Australia and was a hit in several European countries in 1994, and a duet with Nick Cave, "Where the Wild Roses Grow", brought Minogue a greater degree of artistic credibility. Drawing inspiration from a range of musical styles and artists, Minogue took creative control over the songwriting for her next album, Impossible Princess (1997). It failed to attract strong reviews or sales in the UK, but was successful in Australia.
Minogue returned to prominence in 2000 with the single "Spinning Around" and the dance-oriented album Light Years, and she performed during the closing ceremonies of the 2000 Sydney Olympics. Her music videos showed a more sexually provocative and flirtatious personality and several hit singles followed. "Can't Get You Out of My Head" reached number one in more than 40 countries, and the album Fever (2001) was a hit in many countries, including the United States, a market in which Minogue had previously received little recognition. Minogue embarked on a concert tour but cancelled it when she was diagnosed with breast cancer in May 2005. After surgery and chemotherapy treatment, she resumed her career in 2006 with Showgirl: The Homecoming Tour. Her tenth studio album X was released in 2007 and was followed by the KylieX2008 tour. In 2009, she embarked upon her For You, For Me Tour, her first concert tour of the United States and Canada, and the following year released her eleventh studio album, Aphrodite.
Minogue has achieved worldwide record sales of more than 68 million, and has received notable music awards, including multiple ARIA and Brit Awards and a Grammy Award. She has mounted several successful and critically acclaimed concert world tours and received a Mo Award for "Australian Entertainer of the Year" for her live performances. Bestowed from the Queen of Australia Queen Elizabeth II, she was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (O.B.E.) at Buckingham Palace in 2008 "for services to music". In the same year she was awarded France's highest cultural honour, the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres from the French government for her contribution to the enrichment of French culture. In 2011, "I Should Be So Lucky" was added to the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia's Sounds of Australia registry. While also in 2011, Minogue was awarded an honorary Doctor of Health Science (D.H.Sc.) degree by Anglia Ruskin University in the United Kingdom of for her work in raising awareness for breast cancer. On 27 November 2011, on the twenty-fifth anniversary of the ARIA Music Awards, Kylie Minogue was inducted by the Australian Recording Industry Association into the ARIA Hall of Fame.
2010–present: Aphrodite and K25 anniversary
Minogue performing on her Aphrodite Tour, in France, March 2011
Minogue's eleventh studio album, Aphrodite, was released in Japan on 30 June 2010 and worldwide in July 2010. The lead single, "All the Lovers", premiered on radio in May 2010 and was made available for purchase in June 2010. The album debuted at number one in the UK charts, exactly twenty two years after her first UK number one hit. On 3 June 2010, she hosted the inaugural AmfAR "Inspiration Gala" at the New York Public Library honouring Jean Paul Gaultier for his lifelong contribution to men's fashion and the fight against AIDS. Minogue appeared on BBC1's Friday Night With Jonathan Ross on 25 June 2010, during which she confirmed she is a UK resident, and announced that she will tour in 2011.
In July 2010, Minogue filmed a cameo performance as a rock star in the American independent film Jack and Diane. The movie stars Juno Temple, Riley Keough and Jena Malone She also recorded a duet titled "Devotion" with British synthpop duo Hurts for their debut album Happiness, released on 6 September 2010. The second single from Aphrodite, titled "Get Outta My Way" was released on 27 September 2010. In October 2010, Minogue performed in front of the Sphinx and the Pyramids at Giza, Egypt to celebrate the anniversary of "Enigma" magazine, with profits going to the We Owe It To Egypt Foundation. A third single, "Better Than Today", was released on 6 December 2010.
Minogue's singles, "All the Lovers" and "Get Outta My Way", were popular in U.S. clubs, each reaching number one on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Songs chart. On 5 March 2011 "Better Than Today" was at number one on the chart, and her collaboration with Taio Cruz, "Higher", was at number three, making her the first artist in the chart's history to have two singles simultaneously in the top three. On 1 December 2010, Minogue and Parlophone records released the EP A Kylie Christmas on iTunes, which included a cover of the 1945 song "Let It Snow" as well as "Santa Baby" which was previously available as a b-side to her 2000 single "Please Stay". Kylie performed the song "Santa Baby" at the 2010 rockefeller tree lighing in New York on 30 November 2010.
In August 2011, "Put Your Hands Up (If You Feel Love)", also reached number one on the Billboard dance chart, where Minogue has now achieved five consecutive number one spots on the chart for her last five releases — including her collaboration with Taio Cruz on the track, "Higher".
In 2011, Minogue embarked on the Aphrodite World Tour, travelling to Europe, North America, Asia, Australia and Africa. A DVD/Blu-ray of the concert, filmed in London, was released at the end of November 2011.Minogue is currently working on a new compilation album featuring re-worked versions of hits that will celebrate the 25th anniversary of the release of her debut single "Locomotion".
To celebrate her 25 years in the music industry, Minogue began a year-long celebration in 2012. Known as "K25", the singer plans to release a greatest hits collection containing acoustic and orchestral versions of her biggest hits. On her YouTube channel, Minogue has released a video on 25 January and February showcasing two recordings at the historic Abbey Road Studios.In addition, the singer has performed at various music festivals including the Sydney Mardi Gras. On 5 March 2012 Minogue announced the first dates of the K25 Anti Tour. The intimate show will feature b-sides, demos and rarities from her music catalogue. On 20 April 2012, Minogue's film Jack and Diane premiered at the 2012 Tribeca Film Festival. In May 2012, Minogue premiered in another film, Holy Motors, at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival. The film received an overwhelmingly positive reception with the audience cheering and loudly applauding.
On May 4, 2012, Billboard announced that Minogue would release a brand new greatest hits album entitled The Best of Kylie Minogue.
Minogue also released a new single, "Timebomb", on May 25, 2012 as part of her K25 celebrations.
Bronze statue of Kylie Minogue at Waterfront City, Melbourne Docklands
Minogue's efforts to be taken seriously as a recording artist were initially hindered by the perception that she had not "paid her dues" and was no more than a manufactured pop star exploiting the image she had created during her stint on Neighbours. Minogue acknowledged this viewpoint, 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."[89] 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 Minogue had a similar mix of vulnerability and eroticism. During her career Minogue 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. Stylist 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 solely on selling records.
By 2000, when Minogue returned to prominence, she was considered to be have achieved a degree of musical credibility for having maintained her career longer than her critics had expected. That same year, Birmingham Post noted "[o]nce upon a time, long before anybody had even heard of Britney, Christina, Jessica or Mandy, Australian singer Kylie Minogue ruled the charts as princess of pop. Back in 1988 her first single, I Should Be So Lucky, spent five weeks at number one, making her the most successful female artist in the UK charts with 13 successive Top 10 entries. Her progression from the wholesome "girl next door" to a more sophisticated performer with a flirtatious and playful persona attracted new fans to her. Her "Spinning Around" video led to some media outlets referring to her as "SexKylie", and sex became a stronger element in her subsequent videos. William Baker 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.After 20 years as a performer, Minogue was described as a fashion "trend-setter" and a "style icon who constantly reinvents herself". She has been acknowledged for mounting successful tours, and for worldwide record sales of more than 68 million.
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 ..." and "My gay audience has been with me from the beginning ... they kind of adopted me."[89] Minogue has explained that she first became aware of her gay audience in 1988, when several drag queens performed to her music at a Sydney pub and she later saw a similar show in Melbourne. She said that she felt "very touched" to have such an "appreciative crowd" and this had encouraged her to perform at gay venues throughout the world, as well as headlining the 1994 Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras.
"Madonna subverts everything for her own gain. I went to see her London show and it was all so dour and humourless. She surpasses even Joan Crawford in terms of megalomania. Which in itself makes her a kind of dark, gay icon ... I love Kylie, she's the anti-Madonna. Self-knowledge is a truly beautiful thing and Kylie knows herself inside out. She is what she is and there is no attempt to make quasi-intellectual statements to substantiate it. She is the gay shorthand for joy."
Rufus Wainwright,
Observer Music Monthly, 2006
Minogue has been inspired by and compared to Madonna throughout her career.[10] Her producer, Pete Waterman recalled Minogue during the early years of her success, with the observation, "She was setting her sights on becoming the new Prince or Madonna ... What I found amazing was that she was outselling Madonna four to one, but still wanted to be her. Minogue received negative comments that her Rhythm of Love tour in 1991 was too similar visually to Madonna's Blond Ambition World Tour of the previous year for which the critics labelled her a Madonna wannabe. Kathy McCabe for The Telegraph notes that Minogue and Madonna follow similar styles in music and fashion,[167] and concludes, "Where they truly diverge on the pop-culture scale is in shock value. Minogue's clips might draw a gasp from some but Madonna's ignite religious and political debate unlike any other artist on the planet ... Simply, Madonna is the dark force; Kylie is the light force."Rolling Stone comments that, with the exception of the U.S., Minogue is regarded throughout the world as "an icon to rival Madonna", and says, "Like Madonna, Minogue was not a virtuosic singer but a canny trend spotter." Minogue has said of Madonna, "Her huge influence on the world, in pop and fashion, meant that I wasn't immune to the trends she created. I admire Madonna greatly but in the beginning she made it difficult for artists like me, she had done everything there was to be done ...", and "Madonna's the Queen of Pop, I'm the princess. I'm quite happy with that.
In January 2007 Madame Tussauds in London unveiled its fourth waxwork of Minogue; only Queen Elizabeth II has had more models created. During the same week a bronze cast of her hands was added to Wembley Arena's "Square of Fame". On 23 November 2007, a bronze statue of Minogue was unveiled at Melbourne Docklands for permanent display.
In March 2010, Minogue was declared by researchers as the "most powerful celebrity in Britain". The study examined how marketers identify celebrity and brand partnerships. Mark Husak, head of Millward Brown's UK media practice, said: "Kylie is widely accepted as an adopted Brit. People know her, like her and she is surrounded by positive buzz". She was named one of the "100 Hottest Women of All-Time" by Men's Health.
Personal life
Minogue was diagnosed with breast cancer at age 36 on 17 May 2005,leading to the postponement of the remainder of her Showgirl — The Greatest Hits Tour and her withdrawal from the Glastonbury Festival. Her hospitalisation and treatment in Melbourne resulted in a brief but intense period of media coverage, particularly in Australia, where Prime Minister John Howard issued a statement supporting Minogue. As media and fans began to congregate outside the Minogue residence in Melbourne, the Victorian Premier Steve Bracks warned the international media that any disruption of the Minogue family's rights under Australian privacy laws would not be tolerated. His comments became part of a wider criticism of the media's overall reaction, with particular criticism directed towards paparazzi. Minogue underwent surgery on 21 May 2005 at Cabrini Hospital in Malvern, and commenced chemotherapy treatment soon after.
On 8 July 2005, she made her first public appearance after surgery, when she visited a children's cancer ward at Melbourne's Royal Children's Hospital. She returned to France where she completed her chemotherapy treatment at the Institut Gustave-Roussy in Villejuif, near Paris. In December 2005, Minogue released a digital-only single, "Over the Rainbow", a live recording from her Showgirl tour. Her children's book, The Showgirl Princess, written during her period of convalescence, was published in October 2006, and her perfume, "Darling", was launched in November. This range was later augmented by eau de toilettes such as Pink Sparkle, Couture and Inverse. On her return to Australia for her concert tour, she discussed her illness, and said that her chemotherapy treatment had been like "experiencing a nuclear bomb".While appearing on The Ellen DeGeneres Show in 2008, Minogue said that her cancer had originally been misdiagnosed. She commented, "Because someone is in a white coat and using big medical instruments doesn't necessarily mean they're right", but later spoke of her respect for the medical profession.
