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Kylie
Minogue has become one of Australia's biggest exports.
The girl from down under has succeeded in conquering
the world's record charts with her singles and albums.
Kylie's first single - "Loco-motion" produced by PWL
producer engineer Mike Duffy, reached No 1 in Australia
in the summer of 1987, remaining there for 7 weeks and
becoming the biggest single of that year and biggest
selling Australian single of the decade.
It
was during a brief promotional visit to London that
she recorded her second record, but first worldwide
release, "I Should Be So Lucky" with the legends Stock
Aitken Waterman - and the rest as they say is history.
"I Should Be So Lucky", Kylie's first UK release in
January 1988, topped the UK charts for no less than
five weeks, the first single to do so for over ten years.
It became a No 1 throughout Europe selling over a million
copies and remaining at the top of the Pan- European
charts for three weeks, No 1 in japan remaining there
for twelve weeks and in Australia it became the biggest
selling single of 1988.
Following
a bit of this magnitude would be a difficult task for
any artist but kylie's second single "Got To Be Certain"
encountered few difficulties, reaching No 2 in the UK
in 1988, and No I in Australia Belgium, Israel, New
Zealand, Hong Kong and Finland, together with Top 10
positions throughout Europe and Asia. Kylie was firmly
established as an artist to be reckoned with, and with
the release of her debut album - "Kylie" in July 1988
the success continued. It debuted at No 2 in both Britain
and Australia, making history as the highest entry on
either country's chart for a female artist's debut album.
On release it went double platinum in Australia, gold
in Britain and Singapore. It reached No I in Britain
and stayed there for 4 weeks. In the UK sales passed
the 2 million mark - making it the biggest selling album
of that year. Kylie released her third UK single - "The
Loco-motion" a re-make Of the Mike Duffy version, produced
by Stock Aitken Watennan, which reached No 1 throughout
Europe, attaining a top place on the official Euro-chart
only three weeks after release.
"TheLoco-motion"
debuted on the British charts at No 2, giving Kylie
the record for the highest entry on the UK single charts
by a female artist, a record previously held by Madonna
when she entered at No 3. "The Loco-motion" reached
No 3 on the American charts with sales in excess of
half a million, following with "I Should Be So Lucky",
another top 40 hit, and so establishing Kylie as a star
on both sides of the Atlantic. Kylie is in the enviable
position of combining a successful acting career with
that of being a top recording artist. She started her
acting career at the early age of 11 when she appeared
in the Australian shows, "Skyways" and "The Sullivans",
but it was not until she left high school in 1986 that
she landed the role she became famous for - Charlene
in "Neighbours". At the age of 19, Kylie had earned
5 Logies (the Australian TV industry awards) making
her the youngest actress ever to do so. At the 1988
awards, she collected 4 Logies in one night, another
first, including the gold, the silver and two bronzes.
Despite this phenomenal success Kylie has remained down
to earth in her attitudes towards her career She says
"It is so important to keep growing and maturing - a
recording career is something I always felt confident
that I could pursue and although it would have been
easy to be satisfied with acting, I always knew that
the time would come to expand." Kylie's belief in her
singing abilities proved to be founded with the UK Smash
Hits Poll voting her the Best Female Artist of 1988
and The Sun, Daily Express and Sunday People national
newspapers voting her Top Female Singer and Newcomer
of 1988.
With the release of her duet with Jason Donovan "Especially
For You" in November 1988, Kylie became the first female
artist ever to have her first five singles all go silver
This brought Kylie's single sales in the UK to well
over 2 million and gave her her second UK No 1. Combining
her singing and acting, her first video collection "Kylie
Minogue The Videos" was released at the end of 1988,
debuting at No l and selling in excess of double platinum
within three weeks. Kylie ended 1988 with a flood of
awards around the world.- Record of the year for "I
Should Be So Lucky" in the Japanese Pop Disc Awards,
Australian Smash Hits Award for the Best Female Singer
TV Hits Award for Best Female TV Personality and Most
Popular Singer of the year in Israel (having been the
only artist to end the year with three singles in the
Top 40). Kylie also achieved an all time first in Finland
with 4 consecutive No I singles during 1988.
Early
in 1989, Kylie was offered a chance to expand her horizons
yet again, by receiving the script to a 50's based film
"The Delinquents". Kylie fell in love with the story
and the character Lola Lovell and so accepted the starring
role in her first feature film. Filming took place in
a small country town in the outback of Australia and
her co-star was American actor Charlie Schlatter. In
the USA Kylie had her third hit with "It's No Secret"
charting on the first week of release and her album
"Kylie" also tumed gold in Feb. 1989. 1988 had been
an extraordinary year for Kylie and with the release
of a new album, singles, and a feature film, 1989 looked
set to be just the beginning of what could be one of
the most talented and successful singing and acting
careers of the decade. Music Week in the UK reflected
this in February 1989, as Kylie was nominated in a total
of five categories, winning the No 1 LP and No I Video
award. The equivalent award in Ireland voted Kylie as
the bestir international Female Artist by a landslide.
At the beginning of 1989 Madame Tussauds paid Kylie
the honour of immortalizing her in the "Hall Of Fame"
alongside such greats as Madonna, The Beatles and Mick
jagger thus symbolizing the extent of her success and
popular appeal. In November 1989 Kylie became the third
artist ever to star in the "Hard Rock" Walk of Fame
in Sydney Australia.
With
the release of "Hand On Your Heart" in May 1989, the
first single from her second album ,Kylie enjoyed her
third No I in the UK, debuting at NO 2 on the Week of
release. In Japan at this time, Kylie had an amazing
5 singles in the Top 40 - thus dominating one of the
largest record selling markets in the world. Her success
in this market is clearly seen in the fact that during
that twelve month period Kylie spent 27 weeks (almost
six months) in the No 1 spot on their intentional charts.
Kylie's single "Wouldn't Change A Thing " debuted at
No 2 in the UK in July and remained there for two weeks,
thus creating history again for Kylie with all of her
7 singles, album and video charting at either NO1 or
2 in the UK. On 28 May that year Kylie turned 21 and
celebrated her coming of age at a private party in Melbourne
plagued by paparazzi. A month latter saw the end of
Kylie's filming on " The Delinquents", which was released
in Australia and in the UK on 26 December. Kylie's second
album "Enjoy Yourself" was released in October and entered
the UK chart at NO 1 with tripled platinum sales. this
success was reflected in the popularity of Kylie's second
video collection, " Kylie Minogue The Videos 2" which
charted at NO 1 and went silver on the day of release.
Kylie
went on tour for the first time in the K in October
when she headlined the Coco-Cola Hitman Roadshow throughout
the UK. Kylie release her eighth single "Never Too Late"
on 23 October which she performed for the first time
at the Smash Hits Poll Winner's Party at the London
Arena. For the second year in the row the Smash Hits
Reader voted Kylie Best Female Singer in the world and
most Fanciable female of 1989. At the end of December
Kylie flew into the UK to take a place normally reserved
for royalty by turning on the Regent Street Christmas
lights and thus caused chaos in central London. She
drew a crowd of 20,000 in Leicester Square when she
attended the world premiere of her first film, "The
Delinquents". Before Flying home for Christmas Kylie
teamed up with Jason Donovan, Bros, Cliff Richard, Wet
Wet Wet and Lisa Stansfield among others to record Band
Aid II's " Do They Know It's Christmas?" to raise money
for the starving millions in Ethiopia. This tightly
entered the charts at No I and stayed therefor Christmas,
allowing Kylie to share(., the coveted position of the
Christmas No 1. On New Year's Eve 1989 Kylie was presented
with the prestigious award of "Woman of the Decade"
from her fellow Australian Clive James. She appeared
on the show performing the song that made her initially,
"I Should Be So Lucky" and brought the house down -
seeing the 1990's in in her inimitable style. At the
beginning of January 1990, Kylie released "Tears On
My Pillow" which appeared in her feature film "The Delinquents"
and reached No I in the UK charts.
Kylie spent jan/Feb of 1990 touring her homeland Australia
and to rave review. As headlines revealed "Kylie Man
sing, can dance and certainly can wow an audience" Following
such an enthusiastic reaction, Kylie then brought the
tour to the UK to coincide with the release in April
1990 of a brand new single "Better The Devil You Know",
with it, a controversial video showing a much more mature
and sophisticated Kylie Minogue. The tour was a sellout
as fans from 6 to 60 years of age danced in the aisles
to the hits that made her the star she is today. What
the tabloids called a "Sizzling & Raunchy "show, was
in fact, a very, energetic and enjoyable performance
from an Australian, who loved every minute on stage
and wasn't afraid to show it. The Tour Finished in the
UK in front of a sell out crowd at the Wembley Arena
and Kylie Promised to be back as she waved from the
stage and headed off to the Far East to complete the
tour. The release of her much awaited third album "Rhythm
Of Love" in November 1990 introduced Kylie the songwriter
Kylie traveled to Los Angeles to record with Michael
Jay, best known for his success with Martika; Stephen
Bray, responsible for numerous bits with Madonna, and
Keith Cohen Kylie recorded four tracks 'with these producers
and the remainder of the album Stock Aitken Waterman
wrote and produced including 4 top 10 hits "Better The
Devil You Know'; "Step Back In Time', (Kylie's tribute
to the 70 a unique remix of " What Do I Have To Do"
and "Shocked'. These single came accompanied with four
remarkable and classy videos. This "new look" Kylie
inspired the prestigious and up market gloss-y, , magazine
Vogue to do a 6 page fashion spread on her. 1991 saw
kylie taking to the stage once again as she embarked
on a sell out Australian tour which also took in japan.
The
tour extended to include the UK in October and November.
PWL Records released the fourth single from her chart
topping LP in May 1991. The track "Shocked" caught the
attention of top mixers DNA (famous for their remix
of Susanne Vega's "Tom's Diner') who then approached
producers Stock Aiken Waterman asking for the opportunity
to do their own special remix. the result is a very
different rendition from the original version and introducing
Jazzie P on the rap. The "Rhythm of Love" album was
re-released in a special limited edition gold sleeve
package, sending the album straight back into the charts.
"Shocked" also gave Kylie her 13th hit and an incredible
record making achievement - the only artist ever to
achieve thirteen consecutive top 10 hits with her first
thirteen releases! Kylie arrived in the UK in June 1991
to begin recording with Stock and Waterman for her fourth
album "Let's Get to It". The First single to be released
from this album was the brilliant "Word is Out" which
became Kylie's fourteenth hit. " Let's Get To It" was
released in the UK on October 14th. the next single
from the new albuum is " If You Were With Me Now", a
duet with Keith Washinton.
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Sister
of Dannii Minogue
Younger brother Brenden Minogue is a television
camera men.
(January 2000) Dating male model James Gooding.
Performed at the closing ceremony of the 2000 Summer
Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia.
1997 saw a rather alternative Kylie Mrop up after
two years of silence. Collaborations with Manic
Street Preachers and others gave the Impossible
Princess album an indie touch. Although not a commercial
success, it was acclaimed by critics as being the
final proof that Kylie and her music had matured.
Kylie did however return to her roots and what she
knows best with her smashing comeback to pop music
in the year 2000. The first single released from
the album Light Years immediately hit the number
one spot in the UK, making her one of the few artists
such as Madonna and Elton John with number one hits
in both the eighties, nineties and noughties. Kylie
also released a duet, Kids, with pop star Robbie
Williams.
Briefly dated Michael Hutchence
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