Kylie Minogue
: Biography |
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Kylie : The legend that is
Kylie |
Kylie
has delighted us with some of the most memorable pop ditties in history.
From 'I Should Be So Lucky' through to her new material, her music has
always stood out.
Born in Melbourne Australia on May 28 1968, Kylie Ann Minogue shot to stardom in 1987 by starring as Charlene
Mitchell in the hit Australian soap 'Neighbours', after
stints on 'Skyways', 'The Sullivans' and ' The Henderson
Kids' on Australian TV.
Before long Kylie was being mobbed in Sydney shopping
centres and receiving awards, including the youngest ever
actress to win the Silver Logie for the "Most Popular
Actress."
Kylie and some other members of the cast perform a version
of the Little Eva hit 'The Loco-motion'.
Afterwards someone suggests to Kylie that she records it.
In July 1987 it is released and by August it had hit the
number one spot and remained there for seven weeks.
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Kylie and her early PWL/Stock,
Aitken & Waterman days |
Kylie was quickly picked up by
pop-producer Pete Waterman and signed up to his PWL label.
Her first single I Should Be So
Lucky shot to number one in the UK charts. Her production and writing
team was the award winning Stock, Aitken and Waterman team
(Mike Stock, Matt Aiken & Pete Waterman).
Despite being branded as disposal pop, Kylie followed the
success of 'Lucky' up with the Loco Motion, Je Ne Sais Pas Pour Quoi, Got
To Be Certain and Especially for you, a duet with old flame and
Neighbours co-star Jason Donovan.
Kylie also continued her acting career by appearing in the film 'The
Deliquents' but it wasn't long before her music starting taking over.
Having quit Neighbours, Kylie's
next album 'Enjoy Yourself' yielded numerous other smash hits including
the number one Hand On Your Heart and
Never Too Late.
With her next album 'Rhythm Of Love', Kylie also sexed up
her image - the album yielding great
tracks including one of her trademark tracks, Better The Devil You Know.
Further singles included Step Back In Time. For the first time on this
album Kylie had co-written and produced some of the tracks
with credible artists, with only half the album being
written and produced by Stock, Aitken and Waterman.
Her last album with PWL, 'Let's Get To It' paved the way for
her next two albums. Kylie had dropped the bubblegum pop for
more adult beats and R&B numbers. Matt Aitken had since
dropped out Kylie co-wrote the tracks with Mike Stock and
Pete Waterman.
However she ended her PWL days where she began - with two
bubblegum pop tracks 'What Kind Of Fool' and a cover of Kool
& The Gangs 'Celebration'.
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The move to deConstruction
away from bubblegum pop |
She left PWL in 1992 craving
more musical independence and joined the Deconstruction
label. Her first single was the super sexy 'Confide In Me'
which stormed the UK charts at number two. Kylie was now
proving her talents as a trained vocalist with some stunning
ranges on her first album with the label simply called
'Kylie Minogue'.
The Kylie of the mid nineties was completely different to
that of the late eighties and early nineties. Gone was the
manufactured pop, gone was the dungarees and shoes - in was
the soft sultry tracks, in were the sexy dresses, small
heels and knee high boots.
Follow up singles included 'Put Yourself In My Place'. A
second album was released on the label, named 'Impossible
Princess' where Kylie worked with Dave Ball (of Soft Cell
fame) and Ingo Vauk. The album was delayed in the UK because
of the death of Princess Diana and on it's release in 1998
it was re-branded as 'Kylie Minogue' - her third album to
have new name in the title
Kylie also embarked on her first tour since the 'Let's Get
To It' tour with 'Intimate & Live' in small venues across
the UK and Australia. The show included many of her old
favourites including 'What Do I Have To Do' and 'I Should Be
So Lucky' in a new style.
However the two albums were not commercially successful.
After the success of 'Confide in Me', Kylie did not break
the top ten with any more of her singles with the label.
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Parlophone era brings back
the pop-tastic Kylie |
In 1999, having being dropped by
Deconstruction, Kylie bounced back on her new record label Parlophone in 2000
with a number one smash Spinning
Around, which was a throw back to her PWL days. The follow up album
'Light Years' in which she collaborated
with Robbie Williams, was out and out pop and the next three singles,
'On A Night Like This', 'Kids (duet with Robbie) and 'Please Stay'
from the album all reached the top ten.
The album was full of pop tunes with standout tracks including
'Butterfly', 'So Now Goodbye', 'Your Disco Needs You' and 'Disco Down'.
Kylie being Kylie, the new era brought a new look - the fun loving and
disco diva Kylie, with gold hotpants, stiletto heels and the wholesome
girl image back once more.
Spring 2001 saw the kick off of a major world tour,
'On A Night Like This', which was instantly acclaimed by the press with
NME saying 'Generation K has glimpsed heaven. And that is slightly
wonderful' and the Daily Mail said that 'Kylie is in her element,
revelling in her status as the queen of pop - a woman at the apex of her
career'.
The tour had a distinct disco feel to it and many old classic Kylie
tracks were revived including 'Never Too Late', 'Turn It Into Love',
'Hand On Your Heart' and 'Wouldn't Change A Thing'.
Germany and Australia saw one more release from 'Light Years' - the
ultra-camp 'Your Disco Needs You'. UK fans petitioned for its release
over here but it never happened, although it had a strong part in the
tour.
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Dance 'Fever' hits the
world! |
In September 2001 Kylie released the first single from her new album 'Fever'
called Can't Get You Out Of My Head. Kylie Fever took off and it became
one of the biggest number one singles of all time and it even managed to
break the US - her first big hit there since the
'Loco-Motion' in 1988.
Kylie was given her own 'Audience With' on ITV1, and despite
using the same musical backing as she did for the 'On A
Night Like This', the costumes were sexier than the tour and she revealed a stunning new sexy accessory
- thigh high boots.
She wore the same boots/outfit for the
Bambi Awards, now
fully intending to make the thigh boots a regular part of
her performance wardrobe.
It was clear that Kylie would need a really sexy outfit to
accompany her thigh boots and she found what she was looking
for in Dolce & Gabanna corset dresses. In March 2002 Kylie made headlines with her
corset/boots appearances at the Brit Awards, World Music Awards and
Italian Music Festival.
The Fever Tour followed soon after and Kylie wowed audiences rising from
the centre of the stage in a robot outfit which came apart to reveal her
most stunning stage outfit to date, wearing her now trademark pair of
thigh high boots, and during the first encore Kylie donned a
gold pair of thigh high boots.
Kylie followed up the success of 'Can't Get You Out Of My Head' with 'In
Your Eyes' and 'Love At First Sight' which charted at number 3 and
number 2 in the UK charts respectively.
One more single from Fever awaited the fans after the tour had finished.
Winning a Grammy for Best Dance recording, 'Come Into My World' entered
the UK charts at number 8 after so successfully opening the Fever tour.
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Kylie goes for musical
creativeness |
In 2003 Kylie returned with a new
album, new look and a new musical style. The first single 'Slow' had an
sexy-electro vibe to it and showed off Kylie's bleached blonde Brigitte
Bardott look.
The accompanying album 'Body Language' showed off a range of various
styles from electro, hip-hop to R&B with Kylie determined not to bring
out a Fever #2 album.
There was no tour for Body Language but for her fans Kylie performed a
one-off show at London's Hammersmith Apollo with her mixture of material
from her 'Body Language' album and her other Parlophone work with some
re-workings of some hits from her deConstruction era.
Early
2004 saw more success for Kylie with
singles 'Red Blooded Woman' and 'Chocolate' both making the top ten.
'Red Blooded Woman' was R&B mixed with pop and brought about yet another
new image to accompany the single - jeans with black leather knee high
boots over the top. 'Chocolate' was the last single from 'Body Language'
was was a sexy piece of sultry pop at it's very best.
These singles, as with 'Slow' showcased Kylie's creativeness and were a far shout from the
disco pop of Light Years.
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The Showgirl hits the stage.... |
However it was only a matter of time before Kylie
returned to what she was best at and in December, the single I Believe
In You that accompanied 'Ultimate Kylie', her greatest hits collection
entered the UK charts at number two. As with every other new Kylie
release, a new image accompanied the album and single -
glittery dresses and small heels and also jeans and small
heels. By March the follow up Giving You Up had
reached number six continuing Kylie's stranglehold on the UK Top Ten.
Kylie then embarked on her world tour to promote the album. The 'Showgirl
Tour' was instantly acclaimed by press and her fans. It was a
celebration of her career to date with most of the fan-favourite
songs making an appearance on the tour. Much to the fans
delight 'I Should Be So Lucky' was again performed as the
original version, after different versions of it on
'Intimate & Live', 'On A Night Like This' and 'Fever2002'.
She was also to
headline UK's Glastonbury Festival in June after the Australia and Asia
dates as a grand finale for the tour.
Unfortunately in May 2005, as she prepared for her
homecoming shows, Kylie was diagnosed with the early stages
of breast cancer and had immediate surgery to remove it,
postponing her tour and cancelling Glastonbury.
Chemotherapy and treatment awaited in Paris and by January
sister Dannii had confirmed that with the cancer in 'full
remission' the Showgirl tour was being re-scheduled finally
for December 2006.
Biography written by Steven |
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