Biography : Kylie Minogue

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 Waterman, which reached No 1 throughout Europe, attaining a top place on the official Euro-chart only three weeks after release.

"The Loco-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 turned 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 Coca-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 therefore 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 sell-out 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 travelled 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 album is " If You Were With Me Now", a duet with Keith Washington.

Sister of Dannii Minogue

Younger brother Brendan 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 crop 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 beyond millennium. Kylie also released a duet, Kids, with pop star Robbie Williams.

Briefly dated Michael Hutchence