World's Beautiful Women : Collection

Kylie Ann Minogue, OBE (born 28 May 1968) is an Australian pop singer, songwriter, 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 despite negative 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 opening and 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 throughout the world, 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 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 2008 and was followed by the KylieX2008 tour. In 2009, she embarked upon her For You, for Me Tour, her first concert tour of the US and Canada.
Although she was dismissed by some critics, especially during the early years of her career, she 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 concert tours and received a Mo Award for "Australian Entertainer of the Year" for her live performances. She was awarded an OBE "for services to music", and an Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 2008.

Life And Career

1968–86: Early life and career beginnings

Kylie Ann Minogue was born 28 May 1968 in Melbourne, Australia, the first child of Ronald Charles Minogue, an accountant of Irish ancestry and Carol Ann (née Jones), a former dancer from Maesteg, Wales. Her sister, Dannii Minogue, is also a pop singer and a judge on The X Factor, and her brother, Brendan, works as a news cameraman in Australia. The Minogue children were raised in Surrey Hills, Melbourne, and educated at Camberwell High School..
The Minogue sisters began their careers as children on Australian television. From the age of 11, Kylie appeared in small roles in soap operas such as The Sullivans and Skyways, and in 1985 was cast in one of the lead roles in The Henderson Kids. Interested in following a career in music, she made a demo tape for the producers of the weekly music programme Young Talent Time, which featured Dannii as a regular performer. Kylie gave her first television singing performance on the show in 1985 but was not invited to join the cast. Dannii's success overshadowed Kylie's acting achievements, until Kylie was cast in the soap opera Neighbours in 1986, as Charlene Robinson, a schoolgirl turned garage mechanic. Neighbours achieved popularity in the UK, and a story arc that created a romance between her character and the character played by Jason Donovan culminated in a wedding episode in 1987 that attracted an audience of 20 million British viewers.
Her popularity in Australia was demonstrated when she became the first person to win four Logie Awards in one event, and the youngest recipient of the "Gold Logie" as the country's "Most Popular Television Performer", with the result determined by public vote.

1987–92: Stock, Aitken and Waterman and Kylie

"I Should Be So Lucky" (1987) was one of the early music videos that presented Minogue as a "girl-next-door".
During a Fitzroy Football Club benefit concert with other Neighbours cast members, Minogue performed "I Got You Babe" as a duet with the actor John Waters, and "The Loco-Motion" as an encore, and was subsequently signed to a recording contract with Mushroom Records in 1987. Her first single, "The Loco-Motion", spent seven weeks at number one on the Australian music charts. It sold 200,000 copies, became the highest selling single of the 1980s, and Minogue received the ARIA Award for the year's highest selling single. Its success resulted in Minogue travelling to England with Mushroom Records executive Gary Ashley to work with Stock, Aitken & Waterman. They knew little of Minogue and had forgotten that she was arriving; as a result, they wrote "I Should Be So Lucky" while she waited outside the studio. The song reached number one in the UK, Australia, Germany, Finland, Switzerland, Israel and Hong Kong, and was a hit in many parts of the world. Minogue won her second consecutive ARIA Award for the year's highest selling single, and received a "Special Achievement Award".[17] Her debut album, Kylie, a collection of dance-oriented pop tunes spent more than a year on the British album charts, including several weeks at number one. The album did not sell strongly in the United States and Canada, although the single, "The Loco-Motion", reached number three on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart, and number one on the Canadian Singles Chart. "It's No Secret", released only in the U.S., peaked at number 37 in early 1989, and "Turn It Into Love" was released as a single in Japan, where it reached number one.
In July 1988, "Got To Be Certain" became Minogue's third consecutive number one single on the Australian music charts, and later in the year she left Neighbours to focus on her music career. Jason Donovan commented "When viewers watched her on screen they no longer saw Charlene the local mechanic, they saw Kylie the pop star."[3] A duet with Donovan, titled "Especially for You", sold almost one million copies in the UK in early 1989, but critic Kevin Killian wrote that the duet was "majestically awful ...[it] makes the Diana Ross, Lionel Richie 'Endless Love' sound like Mahler."[21] She was sometimes referred to as "the Singing Budgie" by her detractors over the coming years, however Chris True's comment about the album Kylie for Allmusic suggests that Minogue's appeal transcended the limitations of her music, by noting that "her cuteness makes these rather vapid tracks bearable".
Her follow-up album Enjoy Yourself (1989) was a success in the United Kingdom, Europe, New Zealand, Asia and Australia, and contained several successful singles, including the British number one "Hand on Your Heart", but it failed throughout North America, and Minogue was dropped by her American record label Geffen Records. She embarked on her first concert tour, the Enjoy Yourself Tour, in the United Kingdom, Europe, Asia and Australia, where Melbourne's Herald Sun wrote that it was "time to ditch the snobbery and face facts—the kid's a star."[24] In December 1989, Minogue was one of the featured vocalists on the remake of "Do They Know It's Christmas", and her debut film, The Delinquents, premiered in London. It was poorly received by critics, and the Daily Mirror reviewed Minogue's performance with the comment that she "has as much acting charisma as cold porridge", but it proved popular with audiences; in the UK it grossed more than £200,000, and in Australia it was the fourth-highest grossing local film of 1989 and the highest grossing local film of 1990.
Rhythm of Love (1990) presented a more sophisticated and adult style of dance music and also marked the first signs of Minogue's rebellion against her production team and the "girl-next-door" image. Determined to be accepted by a more mature audience, Minogue took control of her music videos, starting with "Better the Devil You Know", and presented herself as a sexually aware adult. Her relationship with Michael Hutchence was also seen as part of Minogue's departure from her earlier persona; Hutchence was quoted as saying that his hobby was "corrupting Kylie", and that the INXS song Suicide Blonde had been inspired by her. The singles from Rhythm of Love sold well in Europe and Australia and were popular in British nightclubs. Pete Waterman later reflected that "Better the Devil You Know" was a milestone in her career and said that it made her "the hottest, hippest dance act on the scene and nobody could knock it as it was the best dance record around at the time". "Shocked" became Minogue's thirteenth consecutive British top-10 single.
In May 1990, Minogue performed her band's arrangement of The Beatles's "Help!" before a crowd of 25,000 at the John Lennon: The Tribute Concert on the banks of the River Mersey in Liverpool. Yoko Ono and Sean Lennon offered Minogue their thanks for her support of The John Lennon Fund, while the media commented positively on her performance. The Sun wrote "The soap star wows the Scousers—Kylie Minogue deserved her applause". Her fourth album, Let's Get to It (1991), reached number 15 on the British album charts and was the first of her albums to fail to reach the Top 10; her fourteenth single "Word Is Out" was the first to miss the Top 10 singles chart, though subsequent singles "If You Were with Me Now" and "Give Me Just a Little More Time" reached number four and number two respectively. Minogue had fulfilled the requirements of her contract and elected not to renew it. She later expressed her opinion that she was stifled by Stock, Aitken and Waterman, and said, "I was very much a puppet in the beginning. I was blinkered by my record company. I was unable to look left or right."
A Greatest Hits album was released in 1992. It reached number one in the UK and number three in Australia, and the singles "What Kind of Fool (Heard All That Before)" and her cover version of Kool & The Gang's "Celebration" each reached the UK Top 20.

1993–98: Deconstruction, Kylie Minogue and Impossible Princess

Minogue's subsequent signing with Deconstruction Records was highly touted in the music media as the beginning of a new phase in her career, but the eponymous Kylie Minogue (1994) received mixed reviews. It sold well in Europe and Australia, where the single "Confide in Me" spent four weeks at number one.[35] She performed a striptease in the video for her next single, "Put Yourself in My Place", inspired by Jane Fonda as Barbarella.[36] This single and her next, "Where Is the Feeling?" each reached the British top 20,[18] and the album peaked at number four,[18] eventually selling 250,000 copies.[37] During this period she made a guest appearance as herself, in an episode of the comedy The Vicar of Dibley. The director Steven E. de Souza was intrigued by Minogue's cover photo in Australia's Who Magazine as one of "The 30 Most Beautiful People in the World", and offered her a role opposite Jean-Claude Van Damme in Street Fighter (1994).[38] The film was a moderate success, earning USD$70 million in the U.S.,[38] but received poor reviews with The Washington Post's Richard Harrington calling Minogue "the worst actress in the English-speaking world".[39] She co-starred with Pauly Shore and Stephen Baldwin in Bio-Dome (1996), but it was a failure, dismissed by Movie Magazine International as the "biggest waste of celluloid space".[38] Minogue returned to Australia where she appeared in the short film, Hayride to Hell (1995), and then to the UK where she filmed a cameo role as herself in the film Diana & Me (1997).[40]

1999–2005: Light Years, Fever and Body Language

William Baker has cited the 1940s "Vargas Girl" pinups of Alberto Vargas as an influence, as demonstrated in the music video for "Spinning Around". (2000)
Minogue and Deconstruction Records parted company. She performed a duet with the Pet Shop Boys' on their Nightlife album and spent several months in Barbados performing in Shakespeare's The Tempest.[57] Returning to Australia, she appeared in the film Sample People and recorded a cover version of Russell Morris's "The Real Thing" for the soundtrack.[57] She signed with Parlophone Records in April 1999.[58] Her album Light Years (2000) was a collection of dance songs, influenced by disco music. Minogue said that her intention was to present dance-pop music in a "more exaggerated form" and to make it "fun".[58] It generated strong reviews and was successful throughout Asia, Australia, New Zealand and Europe, selling over one million copies in the UK.[59] The single "Spinning Around" became her first British number one in ten years, and its accompanying video featured Minogue in revealing gold hot pants, which came to be regarded as a "trademark".[60][61] Her second single, "On a Night Like This" reached number one in Australia[62] and number two in the UK.[18] "Kids", a duet with Robbie Williams, was also included on Williams's album Sing When You're Winning, and peaked at number two in the UK.[18]
Early in 2005, Kylie : The Exhibition opened in Melbourne. The free exhibition featured costumes and photographs spanning Minogue's career and went on to tour Australian capital cities receiving over 300,000 visitors,[89] and was exhibited at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London in February 2007.[90] Minogue commenced her Showgirl: The Greatest Hits Tour, and after performing in Europe, travelled to Melbourne, where she was diagnosed with breast cancer.[91]

2005–06: Breast cancer

Minogue's breast cancer diagnosis in 2005 led to the postponement of the remainder of her Showgirl – The Greatest Hits Tour and her withdrawal from the Glastonbury Festival.[92] Her hospitalisation and treatment in Melbourne resulted in a brief but intense period of media coverage, particularly in Australia, where the Prime Minister John Howard issued a statement supporting Minogue.[93] 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.[94] His comments became part of a wider criticism of the media's overall reaction, with particular criticism directed towards paparazzi.[95][96] Minogue underwent surgery on 21 May 2005 at Cabrini Hospital in Malvern, and commenced chemotherapy treatment soon after.[93]
On 8 July, 2005, she made her first public appearance after her 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.[97] 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.[98] 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".[98] 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",[99] but she later spoke of her respect for the medical profession.[100]
Minogue was acknowledged for the impact she had made by publicly discussing her cancer diagnosis and treatment; in May 2008, the French Cultural Minister Christine Albanel said, "Doctors now even go as far as saying there is a 'Kylie effect' that encourages young women to have regular checks."[101]

2006–09: Showgirl: The Homecoming Tour, X, KylieX2008 and For You, for Me Tour

Performing in Berlin during KylieX2008
In November 2006, Minogue resumed her Showgirl: The Homecoming Tour with a performance in Sydney. She had told journalists before the concert that she would be highly emotional, and she cried before dedicating the song "Especially for You" to her father, a survivor of prostate cancer.[102] Her dance routines had been reworked to accommodate her medical condition, and slower costume changes and longer breaks were introduced between sections of the show to conserve her strength.[103] The media reported that Minogue performed energetically, with the Sydney Morning Herald describing the show as an "extravaganza" and "nothing less than a triumph".[102] The following night, Minogue was joined by Bono, who was in Australia as part of U2's Vertigo tour, for the duet "Kids", but Minogue was forced to cancel a subsequent planned appearance at U2's show, because of exhaustion.[104] Minogue's shows throughout Australia continued to draw positive reviews, and after spending Christmas with her family, she resumed the European leg of her tour with six sold-out shows in Wembley Arena, before taking her tour to Manchester for a further six shows.

2010–present: Aphrodite

In mid-2009, Minogue confirmed that she was working on her eleventh studio album commenting that it will be an album of dance and pop music. Confirmed producers and songwriters working with Minogue on the album have been Nerina Pallot and Andy Chatterley, Xenomania, Calvin Harris, Jake Shears and Babydaddy of Scissor Sisters, Richard Stannard, Lucas Secon, Greg Kurstin, Stuart Price, Tim Rice-Oxley, Fraser T Smith and RedOne, who has produced music for Lady Gaga, Little Boots and Sugababes amongst others. The only track to be heard from the sessions so far is "Better than Today", written by Nerina Pallot and Andy Chatterley, which Minogue performed on her 2009 For You, for Me Tour. Minogue referred to it as "a song that will feature on my next album". The United States is expected to be a priority this time around, after rave reviews for her debut American tour.
RedOne stated, "To me I was expecting a diva, you know, somebody who's going to be like (that) because she's been doing it for so long," he said of Minogue. "It was fun, easy to work with her. We did three songs in two days ... (and) we said we're going to do more songs in LA." Minogue stated on her official Twitter page that the album will be released in the Summer of 2010.
On 20 April 2010, Minogue revealed on her site and her Twitter page, that her album will be called Aphrodite and will be released worldwide on 5 July 2010. She also revealed that the lead single will be called "All the Lovers" and will be released a week before the album on 28 June 2010. A 30 second snippet of the single was released along with the album cover art. Also, on 3 June 2010 she will be hosting 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.

Discography

Kylie (1988)
Enjoy Yourself (1989)
Rhythm Of Love (1990)
Lets Get To It (1991)
Kylie Minogue (1994)
Impossible Princess (1997)
Light Years (2000)
Fever (2001)
Body Language (2003)
X (2007)
Aphrodite (2010)


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