Minogue, Kylie
Kylie Minogue
Singer
A Thoroughly Mediagenic Celebrity
Australian pop singer Kylie Minogue enjoyed a streak of top ten hits in Britain in the late 1980s and early 1990s, but the attractive performer’s musical career is somewhat secondary to her career as both an actor and fashionable celebrity. In Britain, Minogue enjoys a dedicated cult following, and appears regularly in newspapers and magazines throughout Europe. In North America, she is perhaps best remembered for a 1987 cover of Little Eva’s “Locomotion.”
Born on May 28, 1968, in Melbourne, Australia, Minogue was one of three children of a Welsh mother and a father who was an accountant by profession. From an early age, she was transfixed by images of Olivia Newton-John, Australia’s most famous pop export of the 1970s. Her younger sister Dannii actually began a show business career before Minogue, in 1977, and the sisters were soon competing for the same roles. Minogue bested her sister—by then the host of a popular weekly television talent show—in the audition for a role in a soap opera called The Sullivans, and again in 1985 when she won the part of Charlene, a tomboy mechanic in another drama, Neighbours. The show became a tremendous hit, and viewers tuned in daily to follow the travails of three families in a cul-de-sac. Ratings soared when Minogue and a neighbor, played by Jason Donovan, became romantically linked in both real life and on the show. There were “Charlene and Scott” magazines, T-shirts, and posters everywhere in Australia, and the show even became popular with members of the British royal family. Minogue and Donovan were mobbed everywhere they went. “It was total madness,” Minogue said in an interview with Telegraph journalist David Thomas some years later. “We’d go places and there’d be such enormous crowds we couldn’t get in. Then we couldn’t get out.”
Minogue had never planned on a career in music. “I basically wanted a job,” she said in a 1994 talk with Jonathan Bernstein for Interview magazine. “I didn’t have that hunger for success then. But I must admit, after the cast of Neighbours did this little musical performance thing, and someone said, ‘Oh, that was great. You should make a record, ’ I did have stars in my eyes.” Minogue’s first song was a cover of a catchy vintage tune from the early 1960s, “Locomotion.” The song, first released in Australia, sold well, and with her growing celebrity in Britain, Minogue was offered a deal with a production team that had recently crafted radio-friendly hits for Bananarama and Rick Astley. Moving to England in 1987, Minogue signed with Mike Stock, Matt Aitken, and Peter Waterman and their PWL International label. “I was scared to death” about this first meeting with the starmakers, Minogue recalled in the interview with Thomas for the Telegraph. “They were like, ‘Oh God, there’s wotsername, that girl from Australia. Quick! Write a song!’ It took 10 minutes.”
The result was “I Should Be So Lucky,” and it was a massive hit in both her native Australia and across
For the Record…
Born on May 28, 1968, in Melbourne, Australia.
Began television career as Charlene in Neighbours, a popular Australian soap opera, 1985; recorded “Locomotion” for Australian release on the Mushroom label; signed with PWL International label, c. 1987; released “I Should Be So Lucky,” 1988; signed with DeConstruction label and released Kylie Minogue, 1994; signed with EMI/Parlophone, 1999; released Light Years, 2000.
Addresses: Record company —EMI/Parlophone, 43 Brook Green, 5th Floor, W6 7EF London, U.K. Website —Kylie Minogue Official Website: http://www.kylie.com.
Europe. Buoyed by a video that depicted the telegenic Minogue in a series of flattering scenarios, it reached No. 1 in Britain. Foreshadowing the Britney Spears childlike-vixen look by a decade, Minogue danced about in the video dressed as a cheerleader in knee-socks. The song was included on her first LP, Kylie, released in 1988. A string of successors to “I Should Be So Lucky” followed, including “Got to Be Certain,” “Je Ne Sais Pas Pour Qui,” and “Never Too Late.” In all, Minogue enjoyed 19 straight Top Twenty singles under the PWL aegis. “I would turn up and they would play the backing track, print up the lyrics and Mike Stock would go through it with me, ’You come in here. You do this, you do that, ’” Minogue recalled in the Telegraph interview. “I had a good short-term memory from learning all those scripts, and was conditioned from doing TV.”
Criticized for Pop Fluff
But Minogue was often faulted for presenting an image that was all fluff and no substance. The Economist profiled her in 1988 with two fellow pop stars of the day, Debbie Gibson and Tiffany, and called Minogue a “New Wave Madonna.” The article described such teen singing sensations as bimbettes.“Normality, of the packaged sort, is the key to their success…. Their songs defy memory,” its writer declared. More mainstream critics were also wary of Minogue’s records. “On this album Minogue is overdubbed, backed up and orchestrated so heavily that it’s never really clear how good a singer she might be,” opined People’s Ralph Novak in a review of her debut. Another Stock Aitken Waterman production, 1989’s Enjoy Yourself, was released in the United States on the Geffen label the following year. It included a cover of another vintage pop song, “Tears on My Pillow,” and a duet with fellow soap star Jason Donovan,“Especially for You.” Novak again critiqued the record for People, praising the Little Anthony and the Imperials cover, but again heaped the blame for the record’s shortcomings on Minogue’s producers. Novak noted that Minogue’s vocal talents were not to be faulted,“but she seems like such a cog in a gray-noise machine that she projects practically zero personality.”
In 1991, Minogue reappeared with a new image and a new album for PWL, Let’s Get to It. She radiated a far more adult allure, and even toured wearing minimal stage outfits and fishnet stockings. The move only bolstered her popularity in Europe. “Watching Minogue grow up in public—one moment a ratchet-wielding scamp, the next a scantily clad, full-lipped siren—became Britain’s national pastime,” remarked Interview’s Bernstein. She caused a further stir when she began dating fellow Australian Michael Hutchence, the charismatic lead singer of rock band INXS. But Let’s Get to It failed to perform as well as her previous records, and the problems with her label and producers were becoming more acute. “I don’t think it was until my third album that I started to want to have more involvement with the making of my music, which, of course, didn’t happen,” Minogue said in the interview with Bernstein. She claimed her transition to a more sultry persona was just a natural maturation.“The experience I had early on was great,” she told Bernstein.“It was good that I was held back, that I wasn’t able to take control and do my own music, because I wouldn’t have known what I was doing anyway.”
A New, Hipper Persona
Minogue began appearing in more avant-garde British monthlies like l-D and The Face, rather than the teen pop magazines that had boosted her career in its initial years. In 1993, she surprised many by signing with a respected dance label, DeConstruction, owned by media giant BMG . The first record she made for the new home, Kylie Minogue, was released in 1994. Billboard writer Larry Flick described it as an “odd, yet mildly appealing, blend of ballads and sugar-disco.” In 1995, the singer appeared opposite Jean-Claude Van Damme in the film Street Fighter, but it was her friendships with other musical personalities that broadened her horizons. She befriended fellow Australian Nick Cave—an unlikely match, for the longtime alternative rocker was famous for his somber, darkly lyrical songs. When they met, Cave confessed he had been a fan of Minogue’s for years, and had even written several songs for her. She joined him in a duet for his Murder Ballads LP, and he encouraged her to dig deeper into herself during songwriting bouts.
At one point in the mid-1990s, Minogue and her boyfriend, photographer Stephane Sednaoui, drove across the United States, and she took a notebook with her to write down song inspirations. Testifying to the unusual cult following that the singer enjoyed, a number of well-known figures from British music stepped in to help produce her next record, including members of the Manic Street Preachers and Brothers In Rhythm. The result was a series of songs for a 1997 DeCon-struction release initially titled Impossible Princess. But, following the fatal Paris car crash that killed the Princess of Wales, the album’s title was changed at the last minute to simply Kylie Minogue. Two singles were released in the United Kingdom before the album was sent to stores, and “Some Kind of Bliss” and “Did It Again” did well on the British charts. Writing in Billboard, Flick called the record “stunning,” and singled out “Limbo” and “Say Hey” as “intense groove poems… which sew intelligent, often self-examining words into timely music that darts back and forth between moody electro-funk and richly layered modern pop.” One track, “Breathe,” hit No. 14 in the United Kingdom, but some of the British music press mocked Minogue’s alternative-music pretensions.
A Thoroughly Mediagenic Celebrity
Minogue credited Cave with helping her become more honest in her music.“He taught me to never veer too far from who I am, but to go further, try different things, and never lose sight of myself at the core,” she told Flick. Still, the second Kylie Minogue failed to meet label expectations, and DeConstruction dropped her; for a brief time Minogue was without a recording contract for the first time in her life since her pre- Neighbours days. But in 2000, Minogue signed with Parlophone, home of a diverse range of acts, from the Pet Shop Boys to Joe Cocker. Her next album was hailed as Minogue’s return to her roots in pleasant, lighthearted pop fare. “When I sat down with the people from the label to discuss what this album should be, we all agreed that I should do what I do best—a pop record,” she told Flick in Billboard. An array of hitmak-ers were involved in the creation of Light Years. Paula Abdul was one of the co-writers for the first single, “Spinning Around,” and Minogue co-wrote other tracks with British pop star Robbie Williams; songsmiths who crafted hits for George Michael, Ricky Martin, and the Spice Girls were also involved.
Minogue continues to appear in film and television. She was cast in a 2000 Australian film, Sample People, as the dangerous girlfriend of a Sydney gangster. She also makes almost-weekly appearances in the British press, and sells out newsstand issues when she appears on the covers of men’s magazines like GQ there. In an interview with Kate Thornton of the London Times, Minogue noted that the making of Light Years, and with it the return to the pop music she had once shed, gave her a new perspective on her career. It was a journey that began in 1997 when Cave cajoled her into reading the lyrics from her first hit single,“I Should Be So Lucky” at the Poetry Olympics in London’s Royal Albert Hall.“The crowd response was amazing,” Minogue told Thornton.“They laughed with me, not at me, and that night I met myself face to face and learnt to accept who I am. It was a real relief. I came to embrace and be proud of the past and the history that I’d been trying so hard to run away from, and stopped trying to be something I’m not. I realised that I do what I do, and that’s when I succeed.”
Selected discography
Kylie, Geffen, 1988.
Enjoy Yourself, Geffen, 1989.
Rhythm of Love, PWL, 1990.
Let’s Get to It, PWL, 1991.
Kylie Minogue, DeConstruction, 1994.
Kylie Minogue, DeConstruction, 1997.
Light Years, EMI/Parlophone, 2000.
Sources
Billboard, May 9, 1992, p. A21; February 13, 1993, p. 86; April 4, 1998, p. 18; June 17, 2000, p. 17.
Economist, April 30, 1988, p. 92.
Interview, December 1994, p. 116.
People, October 10, 1988, p. 40; March 12, 1990, p. 27; June 24, 1991, p. 13; January 30, 1995, p. 88.
Telegraph (U.K.), August 30, 1997.
Times (London), October 10, 1999.
Variety, May 15, 2000, p. 33.
—Carol Brennan
Minogue, Kylie 1968-
Minogue, Kylie 1968-
PERSONAL
Full name, Kylie Ann Minogue; born May 28, 1968, in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia; son of Ron (an accountant) and Carol (maiden name, Jones) Minogue; sister of Dannii Minogue (a singer) and Brendan Minogue (a television cameraman).
Addresses:
Manager—Terry Blamey Management, PO Box 13196, London SW6 4NF United Kingdom; 1 Management, 9000 Sunset Blvd., Suite 1550, Los Angeles, CA 90069.
Career:
Actress and singer. Appeared in television commercial for Coca-Cola, Pepsi Cola, Eurostar trains, Ford StreetKa automobile, and Kids Help Line; People's Choice Awards Australia, host, 1994; performed at the closing ceremonies, 2000 Summer Olympics, Sydney, Australia, 200; appeared in print ad for Ford StreetKa automobile. Launched Love Kylie (a lingerie line), 2003; launched Kylie dolls, 2004; launched Love Kylie Legs (a hosiery collection), 2004; launched Darling by Kylie Minogue (a fragrance), 2006. Nationality Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, public ambassador; Kids Help Line of Australia, celebrity ambassador.
Awards, Honors:
Silver Logie, most popular actress, 1987, 1988, Silver Logie Award nomination, most popular new talent, 1987, all for Neighbours; Gold Logie Award, 1988; Australian Record Industry Association Award nomination, biggest selling single of the year, 1988, for "I Should Be So Lucky"; Irish Record Industry Award, best international female artist, 1989; Gold Logie Award nomination, most popular personality on Australian television; Silver Logie Award nomination, 1989; Logie Award (with Jason Donovan), most popular music video in Australia, 1989, for "Especially for You"; Heart Award, recording artist of the year, Australian Variety Club, 1989; Brit Award nominations, best international female, 1989, 1995, 2001, 2004; International Outstanding Achievement Award, Board of Governors of the Australian Record Industry Association, 1990; Diamond Award for Music Excellence, 1990; World Music Award, best selling Australian artist, 1991; Australian Record Industry Association Award nomination, best Australian female of 1991, 1992; Australian Record Industry Association Award, best Australian video of 1994, for "Put Yourself in My Place"; Most Stylish Award, Elle Style Awards, 1997; Australian Recording Industry Association nomination, best Australian female artist, 1999; Australian Record Industry Association nominations, best female artist and highest selling record; Silver Clef Nordoff Robbins International Award, 2001; Mo Award, performer of the year, 2001; GQ Award, services to mankind, 2001; Top of the Pop Award, top tour, 2001; Top of the Pop Award, top song, Smash Hit Award nomination, best single, Italian Dance Music Awards, best single and best video, 2001, NME Award nomination, song of the year, Australian Record Industry Association Awards, highest selling single and single of the year, MTV Asia Award nominations, best female artist and best video, 2002, all for "Can't Get You Out of My Head"; Top of the Pops Award nomination, top pop act, 2001; Smash Hit Award nomination, best female, 2001; Italian Dance Music Award, best album, 2001; Italian Dance Music Awards, best international dance artist, 2001, 2002; Golden Otto Award, German Bravo Awards, 2002; NME Award, best pop act, 2002; NME Award, best solo artist, 2002; Brit Award, best international album, 2002, both for Fever; Brit Award, best international female, 2002; Brit Award nomination, best pop act, 2002; Brit Award nomination (with Robbie Williams), best video, 2002, for "Kids"; Elle Style Award, woman of the year, 2002; Showbusiness Personality of the Year Award, Variety Club of Great Britain, 2002; Australian Record Industry Association Music Awards, highest selling album and best pop release, Australian Record Industry Association Music Award nomination, album of the year 2002, all for Fever; Australian Record Industry Association Music Award nomination, best female artist, 2002; MTV Europe Music Awards, best pop act and best dance act, 2002; MTV Movie Award nomination, best cameo, 2002, for Moulin Rouge; Centenary Medal, Governor General of Australia, 2003, for outstanding contribution to music industry; MO Awards, showbusiness ambassador of the year and live Australian performer of the year, 2003; MTV Europe Award nominations, best female artist and best pop artist, 2003; Australian Aria Music Award nominations, best female artist, 2003, 2004, 2005; Australian Aria Music Award nomination, best pop release, 2003, for "Come Into My World"; Swedish NRJ Australian Record Industry Association, best dance act, 2004; Swedish NRJ Award nominations, best international female and best pop, 2004; Grammy Award, best dance recording, 2004, for "Come Into My World"; Elle Style Award nomination, best music artist, 2004; Mo Award nomination, Australian show business ambassador of the year, 2004; Bravo Supershow Award, outstanding contribution to pop, 2004; Dancestar USA Award, best international video, Music Week Creative and Design Award, best pop video, 2004, both for "Slow"; American Choreography Award nomination, music video, 2004, for "Chocolate"; Smash Hits Hall of Fame, inductee, 2004; Lifetime Achievement Award, Smash Hits, 2004; Australian Recording Industry Association Music Award nomination, best pop release, 2004, for Body Language; Digital Music Award nominations, online artist of the year and best pop artist, 2004; London's Favorite International Artist Award nomination, Capital Radio Awards, 2005; Special Jury Award, Onda Awards, 2005, for her contributions to popular music; Australian Recording Industry Association Music Award nomination, best pop release, 2005, for "I Believe in You"; Glamour Award, woman of the year, 2006; Q Idol Award, 2007; United Kingdom Music Industry Trust Award, 2007: awarded Officer of the Order of the British Empire, 2008; Brit Award, best international female solo artist, 2008; Golden Camera Award, best music—international, 2008.
CREDITS
Film Appearances:
Lola Lovell, The Delinquents, 1989.
Lieutenant Cammy, Street Fighter (also known as Street Fighter: The Battle for Shadaloo, Street Fighter: The Movie, and Street Fighter: The Ultimate Battle), Columbia TriStar, 1994.
The girl, Hayride to Hell, 1995.
Petra Von Kant, Bio-Dome, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 1996.
Misfit, 1996.
Diana & Me, 1997.
Hilary Jacobs, Cut (also known as The Curse), Trimark Pictures, 2000.
Jess, Sample People, Showtime Networks, 2000.
Green fairy, Moulin Rouge!, Twentieth Century-Fox, 2001.
Voice of Florence, The Magic Roundabout (also known as Pollux—Le manege enchante and Sprung! The Magic Roundabout), Weinstein Company, 2005.
Voice of Florence, Doogal, 2006.
Herself, White Diamond (music documentary), 2007.
Herself, Becoming Bert Stern (documentary), 2008.
Film Work:
Executive producer, The Island, 2000.
Executive producer, Subterrain, 2001.
Producer, White Diamond (music documentary), 2007.
Television Appearances; Series:
Carla, The Sullivans, Nine Network, 1976.
Robin, Skyways, Seven Network, 1979.
Charlotte Kernow, The Henderson Kids, Ten Network, 1985.
Samantha Collins, Fame and Misfortune, 1986.
Charlene Mitchell Robinson, Neighbours, Ten Network, 1986-88.
Cohost, Top of the Pops (also known as TOTP), 1987-99.
Television Appearances; Specials:
A Night of Comic Relief 2, BBC, 1989.
Miss Asia Pacific Quest 1989, 1989.
Tribute to John Lennon, syndicated, 1990.
Presenter, The 1994 World Music Awards, ABC, 1994.
Presenter, Brit Awards 1996 (also known as The Brits 96 Uncut), ABC, 1996.
Kylie: Intimate and Live, 1998.
Fox Studios Australia: The Grand Opening, Nine Network, 1999.
Sydney 2000: Games of the XXVII Olympiad, NBC, 2000.
Performer, Party in the Park 2000, 2000.
International Indian Film Awards (also known as IIFA Awards), 2000.
Plan Show 2000 (also known as Plan Show 2000—En at holde I handen), 2000.
Performer, MTV Europe Music Awards 2000, MTV, 2000.
Performer, The Royal Variety Performance 2000, BBC, 2000.
Performer, An Audience with Ricky Martin, 2001.
The Hit Factory: The Pete Waterman Story, Channel 5, 2001.
There's Only One Madonna, BBC, 2001.
The Kylie Videodrome, ITV, 2001.
An Audience with Kylie Minogue, ITV, 2001.
Performer, MTV Europe Music Awards 2001, MTV, 2001.
Premios Amigo 2001, 2001.
The 2001 Top of the Pops Awards, BBC, 2001.
The Record of the Year 2001, ITV, 2001.
MTV Europe Music Awards 2002 (also known as MTV Europe Music Awards Barcelona), MTV, 2002.
Spinning Around: The Kylie Minogue Story, Channel 5, 2002.
Performer, The 2002 Top of the Pops Awards, 2002.
MTV Europe Music Awards 2002 Pre-Show, 2002.
Performer, Brit Awards 2002, ITV, 2002.
Presenter, MTV Video Music Awards 2002 (also known as VMAs 2002), MTV, 2002.
The ELLE Style Awards, 2002.
The 2002 World Music Awards, ABC, 2002.
The 16th Annual ARIA Awards, Ten Network, 2002.
The Royal Variety Performance 2002, BBC, 2002.
Performer, The Brit Awards 2003, 2003.
The 45th Annual Grammy Awards, CBS, 2003.
50 Sexiest Video Moments, VH1, 2003.
Performer, MTV Europe Music Awards 2003 (also known as MTV Europe Music Awards Edinburgh 03), MTV, 2003.
Performer, Kylie, ITV, 2003.
The National Music Awards 2003, ITV, 2003.
Children in Need (telethon), BBC, 2003, 2004, 2007.
The 46th Annual Grammy Awards, CBS, 2004.
TMF Awards 2004, 2004.
Maxim Hot 100, VH1, 2004.
I Love the '90s, VH1, 2004.
Sex ‘n’ Pop, 2004.
Performer, Nordic Music Awards 2004, 2004.
Presenter, MTV Europe Music Awards 2004, MTV, 2004.
51 degree edicion de los premios Ondas, 2004.
Performer, The Record of the Year 2004, ITV, 2004.
VH1 and Self Magazine's Top 10 Rock Bodies, VH1, 2004.
Brit Awards 2005, BBC America, 2005.
Live 8, 2005.
The Kylie Interview, BBC, 2006.
Presenter, The Orange British Academy Film Awards, BBC, 2007.
Happy Birthday Elton! From Madison Square Garden, New York, MyNetwork, 2007.
Performer, The Kylie Show, ITV, 2007.
Performer, Brit Awards 2008, BBC America, 2008.
Idol Gives Back 2, Fox, 2008.
Music performer and presenter, The 2008 Brit Awards, BBC America, 2008.
Television Appearances; Episodic:
Young Talent Time, Ten Network, 1983.
Yvonne, "Yvonne the Terrible," The Zoo Family, Nine Network, 1985.
Rebecca, The Comedy Company, Ten Network, 1988.
Top of the Pops (also known as All New Top of the Pops and TOTP), 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1994, 1995, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004.
Motormouth, ITV, 1989.
Good Morning Britain (also known as TV-am), ITV, 1990.
The Word, Channel 4, 1991.
Rockopop, 1991.
Going Live!, BBC, 1991.
Parabens, 1993.
Rage, ABC [Australia], 1994.
Herself, "Community Spirit," The Vicar of Dibley, BBC1, 1994.
Live and Kicking, BBC, 1996.
TFI Friday, Channel 4, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000.
Guest presenter, "The Mouse That Roared/Dragon Tale," Australian Story, ABC [Australia], 1997.
"Comic Relief Special 1997," Men Behaving Badly (also known as British Men Behaving Badly), BBC and BBC America, 1997.
Herself, "G'day, G'day, Yum Yum," Light Lunch, Channel 4, 1997.
The Panel, 1998.
Musical guest, The Ben Elton Show, BBC, 1998.
The Jack Docherty Show (also known as Not the Jack Docherty Show), Channel 5, 1998.
So Graham Norton, Channel 4, 1998.
The Frank Skinner Show, ITV, 2000.
Mundo VIP, 2000.
Rove Live, Ten Network, 2000, 2003, 2004, 2005.
"I Love 1989," I Love the 1980s, BBC2, 2001.
"Pure Pop," Walk On By: The Story of the Popular Song (also known as Popular Song: Soundtrack of the Century and The Story of Pop), BBC and ABC, 2001.
Senkveld med HC og Tommy, 2001.
Tout le monde en parle, 2001.
Guest star, "Domino Day 2001," Domino Day, 2001.
TV Total, 2001, 2004.
CD:UK, ITV, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004.
Wetten, dass …?, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2007.
GMTV, ITV, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2007.
Exclusive, Channel 5, 2002.
"When Kylie Met Christopher Price," Liquid News, BBC, 2002.
One-Hit Wonders, VH1, 2002.
"Soap Queens," Top Ten, Channel 4, 2002.
Live with Regis and Kelly, syndicated, 2002.
Last Call with Carson Daly, NBC, 2002.
(Uncredited) Herself, Airport, BBC, 2002.
Friday Night with Jonathan Ross, BBC, 2002.
The Saturday Show, BBC, 2002.
Total Request Live (also known as TRL and Total Request with Carson Daly), MTV, 2002.
The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, NBC, 2002.
Musical guest, Saturday Night Live (also known as SNL), NBC, 2002.
Parkison, BBC, 2002, 2004.
Boogie (also known as Boogie Arthus, Boogie Listen, and Boogie Update), 2002, 2007.
Total Request Live (also known as TRL UK), MTV, 2003, 2004.
RI:SE, Channel 4, 2003.
The Chat Room, 2003.
A Current Affair, syndicated, 2003.
Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway, ITV, 2003, 2004.
More Kids from It'll be Alright on the Night, LWT, 2003.
"Kylie Minogue," Charlotte Roche trifft 2003.
"Kurkistus Kylien hameen alle," 4Pop, 2003.
Quelli che il calcio, 2003.
Top of the Pops 2, BBC, 2003.
Today Tonight, Seven Network, 2003, 2004.
Today (also known as The Today Show), NBC, 2003, 2004, 2008.
Jimmy Kimmel Live!, ABC, 2004.
On-Air with Ryan Seacrest, syndicated, 2004.
Deborah Norville Tonight, MSNBC, 2004.
Good Morning America, ABC, 2004.
Late Show with David Letterman (also known as Letterman and The Late Show), CBS, 2004.
"Radio Ralph: Ralph S," Queer Eye for the Straight Guy (also known as Queer Eye), Bravo, 2004.
Tinseltown TV, International Channel, 2004.
"Echo 2004—Deutscher Musikpreis," Echo-deutscher musikpreis, 2004.
Interaktiv, 2004.
Top of the Pops Saturday, BBC, 2004.
The Big Arvo, Seven Network, 2004.
Today with Des and Mel, ITV, 2004.
T4, Channel 4, 2004.
Eponney Rae, "99% Fat Free," Kath & Kim, ABC [Australia], 2004.
(Uncredited) The Friday Night Project (also known as The Sunday Night Project), Channel 4, 2005.
Corazon de …, 2006.
RTL Boulevard, 2006.
Entertainment Tonight (also known as E.T.), syndicated, 2006, 2008.
Sunrise, Seven Network, 2006, 2008.
"2007 Australian Grand Prix," ITV—Formula One, ITV, 2007.
Performer, "Show 9 Results," Strictly Come Dancing, BBC, 2007.
Special guest, The X Factor, ITV, 2007.
Herself, "Kylie Meets the Doctor," Doctor Who Confidential (also known as Doctor Who Confidential: Cut Down), BBC, 2007.
Astrid Peth, "Voyage of the Damned," Doctor Who, BBC1 and Sci-Fi Channel, 2007.
"Round 2: Results," Dancing with the Stars, ABC, 2008.
Ellen: The Ellen DeGeneres Show, syndicated, 2008.
"Live Results Show: One Contestant Eliminated," American Idol: The Search for a Superstar (also known as American Idol), Fox, 2008.
The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, CBS, 2008.
Also appeared as herself, "Becoming Kylie Minogue—Love at First Sight," Becoming, MTV.
Television Executive Producer; Specials:
Kylie, ITV, 2003.
RECORDINGS
Albums:
Kylie, Mushroom Records, 1998.
Enjoy Yourself, Mushroom Records, 1998.
Rhythm of Love, Mushroom Records, 1998.
Kylies Remixes, Vol. 1, Mushroom Records, 1998.
Kylie Minogue, Mushroom Records, 1998.
Impossible Princess, Mushroom Records, 1998.
Impossible Remixes, Mushroom Records, 1998.
Greatest Remix Hits, Vol 1, Mushroom Records, 1998.
Greatest Remix Hits, Vol 2, Mushroom Records, 1998.
Greatest Remix Hits, Vol 3, Mushroom Records, 1998.
Greatest Remix Hits, Vol 4, Mushroom Records, 1998.
50 + 1, Mushroom Records, 1998.
Intimate & Live, Mushroom Records, 1999.
Kylies Remixes, Vol 2, Mushroom Records, 1999.
Impossible Princess, Import, 1999.
Greatest Hits, Mushroom Records, 1999.
Spinning Around, Mushroom Records, 2000.
Hits +, Festival Records, 2000.
On a Night Like This, Pt. 1, EMI International, 2000.
Light Years, EMI International, 2001.
Your Disco Needs You, EMI International, 2001.
Breathe, Pt. 1, Sony International, 2001.
Light Years (Bonus CD), EMI International, 2001.
Fever, EMI, 2001.
Body Language, EMI, 2003.
Ultimate Kylie, Parlophone, 2004.
Showgirl Homecoming Live, WEA, 2007.
X, Parlophone, 2007.
Videos:
Kylie: The Kylie Collection, 1988.
Kylie: The Videos, 1988.
Kylie: The Videos 2, 1989.
"Especially for You," Jason Donovan: Greatest Video Hits, 1991.
Kylie: Live—"Let's Get to It" Tour, 1992.
The Kylie Tapes 94-98, 1998.
"Where the Wild Roses Grow," Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds: The Videos, 1998.
Kylie: Live in Sydney, 2001.
Kylie Minogue: In Your Eyes, 2002.
Kylie: Love at First Sight, 2002.
Kylie Minogue: Kylie Fever 2002 in Concert—Live in Manchester, 2002.
I've Been Twelve Forever (documentary), Palm Pictures, 2003.
Kylie: Greatest Hits 88-92, 2003.
"Come Into My World" and I've Been Twelve Forever," The Work of Director Michel Gondry, Madman Entertainment, 2003.
Videos (as Executive Producer):
Kylie: Live—"Let's Get to It" Tour, 1992.
Kylie Minogue: Kylie Fever 2002 in Concert—Live in Manchester, 2002.
Video Games:
Voice of Cammy, Street Fighter: The Movie, 1994.
Herself, SingStar Party, 2004.
WRITINGS
Video Scripts:
Kylie Minogue: In Your Eyes, 2002.
Kylie: Greatest Hits 88-92, 2003.
Television Specials:
MTV Europe Awards: 10 the Best Performances, 2003.
Books:
Showgirl Princess (for children), 2006.
OTHER SOURCES
Books:
Contemporary Musicians, Vol. 32, Gale Group, 2001.
Newsmakers, Issue 4, Gale Group, 2003.
Scatena, Dino, Kylie—An Unauthorized Biography, 1997.
Stanley-Clark, Jenny, Kylie: Naked, Random House UK, 2002.
Stone, Sasha, Kylie Minogue: The Superstar Next Door, Omnibus Press, 1990.
Periodicals:
Interview, April, 2008, p. 82.
USA Today, March 31, 2008, p. 7D.
Electronic:
Kylie Minogue Website,http://www.kylie.com, September 6, 2008.
Minogue, Kylie
KYLIE MINOGUE
Born: Melbourne, Australia, 28 May 1968
Genre: Rock, Pop
Best-selling album since 1990: Light Years (2001)
Hit songs since 1990: "Better the Devil You Know," "Spinning Around," "Can't Get You Out of My Head"
Kylie Minogue has managed to retain her status as an international pop icon since the late 1980s. After appearing on several Australian television programs, she gained national fame with the popular Australian soap opera series Neigh-bours, a hit in the United Kingdom as well. During a charity performance Minogue decided to sing the song "Loco-Motion," made famous by Little Eva. A tape of this performance was submitted to a record company called Mushroom, which grabbed the opportunity to release a single by a young TV star. Few would have guessed that this song would become a number one hit in Australia in 1987.
Mushroom Records' relationship with the London songwriting factory Stock Aitken and Waterman (SAW) soon led to Minogue's first English number one hit, "I Should Be So Lucky," and second number one in Australia. Following this success, SAW took over production of all her songs and videos and re-recorded "Loco-Motion," which reached the Top 10 in the United States. Minogue's success as a pop star resulted in her leaving Neighbours. In 1990 against SAW's advice, she decided to opt for a more sexy and sensual image in the promo video for "Better the Devil You Know." Following the success of this video, and her insistence for more of a say in her lyrics, she left SAW and released two albums with Brothers in Rhythm, Kylie Minogue (1994) and Impossible Princess (1997). During this period Minogue's contact with a range of other artists, such as Michael Hutchence, Nick Cave, and the Pet Shop Boys, had a profound effect on her musical development that was most discernible in the album Impossible Princess, in which she draws on the rock-oriented style of Britpop and dance-based numbers. In the track "Some Kind of Bliss," the melodic content of her vocal lines is warm and sensitively delivered, with Minogue's expressive tone convincing and sincere. Throughout the album her vocal tone is mature and polished, a far cry from the shrill squeakiness of her early material.
By 2000 Minogue had been encouraged by the Pet Shop Boys to change to their Parlophone label. This move paid off as she succeeded in reestablishing her status in Europe with the release of Light Years, an exciting compilation of catchy disco, Europop, and dance-driven tracks. The hits "Spinning Around" and "Your Disco Needs You," co-written by Robbie Williams and Guy Chambers, firmly established her credibility within dance-based pop. Moreover, Light Years contributed significantly to the revival of disco at the turn of the twenty-first century, with Minogue in a strong position as a leading international pop artist.
Minogue sustained her status by releasing Fever (2001), another hit album that remained in the dance-based disco vein of her previous album. The single "Can't Get You Out of My Head" became a smash hit in the United States, her first major success there in fifteen years. In the United Kingdom this song helped win her two BRIT Awards in 2002, one for Best International Female Artist and the other for the Fever album, which was recognized as Best International Album. Other hits on this album include "Burning Up," "Love Affair," and "Come into My World," all catchy numbers that abound with an energy that draws on Euro-dance-pop grooves.
While Minogue has not achieved the same status as Madonna, nevertheless she has demonstrated tenacity in maintaining her position at the top. By reinventing her playful image countless times and working with a creative team of musicians and producers to create catchy pop songs and fun videos, she has emerged as one of the most successful artists in Europe and Australia at the beginning of the twenty-first century.
SELECTIVE DISCOGRAPHY:
Kylie (Geffen, 1988); Enjoy Yourself (1989); Rhythm of Love (Mushroom 1990); Let's Get to It ( Mushroom, 1991); Kylie Minogue (De-Construction, 1994); Impossible Princess (De-Construction, 1997); Intimate & Live (Mushroom, 1999) Light Years (Parlophone, 2000); Fever (Parlophone, 2002).
stan hawkins