Some 17 years after her first single release, to a succession of
critically acclaimed
albums, Kylie is one of the biggest female artists in the world.
At the same time, her sexy pout,
kinky right eyebrow and, of course, that rear, mean that she’s
also one of the most lusted after women on the planet. So how
did it
go so right?
Roles in shows like The Henderson Kids and the Suilivans
made Kylie a teen star in her native Australia. But it was when
she quit her role as tomboy Charlene Mitchell in soap opera
Neighbours with a view to cracking the pop game that she began
to make a name for herself further afield.
Kylie’s first foray into the music business was 1987 single
release, I Should Be So Lucky, which shot to number one
in eight countries and became one of the UK’s biggest selling
singles with sales of over 6l5,000. Meanwhile, her debut album,
Kylie, sold over 5 million copies.
The album Enjoy Yourself followed, and spawned two number
one singles, Hand On Your Heart and On My Pillow
The early 90’s saw a sexier Kylie
emerge, with the albums Rhythm Of Love
and Let’s Get To It, and singles like Better The Devil
You Know, Finer Feeling, Shocked and If You Were With Me
Now. Suddenly Kylie was no longer a cute, frizzy
haired teenager but a much lusted after pop princess.
In the mid to late 90’s Kylie revealed a cooler, more grown up
image with her albums Kylie Minogue and Impossible
Princess. Singles like Put Yourself In My Place, Confide
In Me, Some Kind Of Bliss and Where The Wild Roses Grow
- a duet with Nick Cave—showed the record buying public her
hipper side. And while the albums weren’t as commercially
successful as her earlier efforts, they won her a new army of
fans, Q magazine describing Impossible Princess as a
‘hidden gem’.
The millennium brought about a new chapter in the pop life of
Kylie, and in September 2000 she released what she describes as
her ‘comeback album’. Light Years was a disco
extravaganza that spawned Spinning Around, a single whose
video made gold hot pants one of the most talked about garments
of the year, and made Kylie one of only two artists (the other
is Madonna) to have a number one single in each of the last
three decades. It also provided Miss Minogue with the hits On
a Night Like This, Please Stay, Your Disco Needs You and Kids,
her duet with Robbie Williams. The album swiftly put Kylie
firmly back where she belonged— at the top of the charts.
After an incredible 2000, who would have guessed that Kylie
would come back in even more spectacular style in 2001 with the
release of her eighth studio album, Fever; The album went
straight to number one in the UK, while the first single taken
from it ——Can’t Get You Out Of My Head— provided Kylie
with her biggest hit to date. It shot to number one in every
Western European country and stayed at the top spot for four
weeks in the UK. The song also broke the
British airplay record, totting up an incredible 3,062 plays in
one week — more than any other song since airplay figures began.
2001 also saw Kylie guest-star as the Absinthe Fairy in the
year’s coolest movie, <Moulin Rouge>, and scoop two Australian
ARIA for Best Female Artist and Best Australian Pop Release for
Light Years.
2002 began brilliantly and in February Kylie performed Can’t
Get You Out Of My Head at the BRIT Awards, where she also
walked away with two golden gongs for Best International Female
and Best International Album. She later embarked on a sell out
tour of the UK, Europe and Australia, and towards the end of the
year was named Woman Of The Year at the Elle Style awards, while
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.
The diminutive star was back with
a bang in early 2003 and grabbed headlines worldwide thanks to
her now infamous bottom-grabbing BRITs duet with Justin
Timberlake. She also launched her own lingerie line, the hugely
successful Love Kylie range.
Kylie rounded off the year in style, releasing her ninth studio
album, Body Language, in November. The first single to be
taken from the album, Slow, provided her with her seventh
number one hit. Body Language has scored Kylie her fifth
nomination in the BRITs International Female category in 2004.
In March 2004 Kylie released her second single Body Language,
Red Blooded Woman, which went in to the UK charts at No.5.
some of the above paragraph is an excerpt from the BRIT Awards
magazine 2004
