Information AboutKylie Minogue |
Signed to a contract by British songwriters and Producers Stock, Aitken & Waterman , she achieved a string of hit records throughout the world, but her popularity began to decline by the early 1990s, leading her to part company from Stock, Aitken & Waterman in 1992. For several years she attempted to establish herself as an independent performer and songwriter, distancing herself from her earlier work. Her projects were widely publicised, but her Album s failed to attract a substantial audience and resulted in the lowest sales of her career. In 2000, Minogue returned to popularity as a Pop – Dance artist and became well-known for her provocative Music Video s and expensively mounted stage shows. She has established one of the longest and most successful careers as a performer in contemporary pop music, and in Europe and Australia, she has become one of her generation's most recognisable Celebrities and Sex Symbol s. In Australia, after being dismissed early in her career by many critics, she has been acclaimed for her achievements; she holds the record for the highest concert ticket sales for a female performer, and has attained nine number-ones on the ARIA Single s chart. CHILDHOOD AND BEGINNING Kylie Minogue was born in Melbourne , Australia , to an Australian father, Ron Minogue, and a Welsh -born mother, Carol Jones who had immigrated as a child from Maesteg , Wales in 1955 to Townsville , Queensland . Kylie is the eldest of three children; her sister Dannii Minogue (born Danielle Jane Minogue) is also a Pop Singer , and her brother, Brendan, works as a news cameraman in Australia. The Minogue sisters began their careers as children on Australian Television , and from the age of 11, Minogue appeared in Soap Opera s such as '' Skyways '', '' The Sullivans '' and ''The Henderson Kids'' without attracting much attention. Dannii Minogue became successful as a regular performer on the weekly music program '' Young Talent Time '', in which Kylie gave her first singing performance in 1983. Kylie was overshadowed by her younger sister until achieving success in 1986 with her role in the soap opera '' Neighbours ''. Minogue played the character of Charlene Mitchell; a in 1987, and it achieved high Ratings . RECORDING AND PERFORMING CAREER Stock, Aitken and Waterman: 1987 – 1992 " (1988) was one of the early music videos that presented Minogue as a "girl-next-door".]] During a '' Kylie '', a collection of dance songs, reached number one on the British albums chart and became the year's highest-selling album. It sold over seven million copies worldwide, with most sales occurring in Europe and Asia , and it contained six successful singles, which includes the largest success "I Should Be So Lucky". It was only in the United States and Canada where the album did not sell strongly; however, the re-recorded version of "The Loco-Motion" reached number three on the U.S. '' Billboard Magazine '' Hot 100 and number one on the Canadian '' Jam! '' Singles Chart. In late 1988, Minogue departed from ''Neighbours'' in order to concentrate fully on her music career. A duet with Jason Donovan, titled "", in part because she is only 5ft 1in (1.55 M ) tall and this tag continued to be used by her detractors over the coming years. Chris True's comment about the album ''Kylie'' for '' All Music Guide '' suggests that Minogue's appeal transcended the limitations of her music, by noting that "her cuteness makes these rather vapid tracks bearable". ''All Music Guide'' review of album ''Kylie'' by Chris True, July 13, 2005. Retrieved January 26, 2006. Her follow up album '' Enjoy Yourself '' (1989) was a success in the United Kingdom, Europe and Australia, and contained several successful singles, but it failed throughout North America, and Minogue was dropped by her American Record Label Geffen Records . She embarked on her first concert tour in the United Kingdom, France , Belgium and Australia, where Melbourne's '' The Herald Sun '' wrote that it was "time to ditch the snobbery and face facts—the kid's a star". Limbo Kylie.co "Biography: The Life of Kylie". Retrieved January 26, 2006. Minogue had become Stock, Aitken and Waterman's highest selling act, so in the face of widespread comment that the second album was a poor imitation of the first, it was decided to adjust the overall style of her music. ". (1990)]] '' Rhythm Of Love '' (1990) presented a more sophisticated and adult style of dance music and also marked the first signs of 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. A relationship with INXS lead singer Michael Hutchence furthered her attempts to gain acceptance as a mature performer, with Hutchence saying his favourite hobby was "corrupting Kylie", and writing the INXS hit song "Suicide Blonde" in reference to her. ''The Scotsman'' Kirsty McLuckie, "Dating Danger", January 23, 2003. Retrieved January 26, 2006. The singles from ''Rhythm of Love'' sold well in Europe and Australia and were popular in British nightclubs where Minogue started to be regarded as fashionable by the older audience she had targeted. When "Shocked" reached the British Top 10 in 1991, she became the first recording artist to place their first 13 single releases in the Top 10. In May 1990, Minogue performed her band's arrangement of 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". Kylie.com Kylie.com official site. Retrieved January 26, 2006. Minogue's contract had been for three albums, but she was persuaded to record a fourth. '' Let's Get To It '' (1991) was designed to broaden her appeal by presenting a diverse range of ballads and slower dance songs, but despite positive reviews it failed to make the British Top 10. Still, a British concert tour in late 1991 sold out. In Australia her popularity of the previous years diminished, and when the Australian public appeared to have grown indifferent, her supporters described her as a victim of Tall Poppy Syndrome . By this time Minogue had fulfilled the requirements of her contract and elected not to renew it. She had often expressed the viewpoint that she was stifled by Stock, Aitken and Waterman, and later compared the experience to her time with ''Neighbours'', saying all they wanted her to do was "learn your lines... perform your lines, no time for questions, promote the product". Realizing that her fans were growing apathetic towards the Stock, Aitken and Waterman formula, and that she could only develop as an artist if she broke away from them, she decided to leave. She agreed to record three new songs to be included on the '' Greatest Hits '' album, which was released to coincide with her departure from them in 1992. The album reached number one in the United Kingdom, but the new singles were only minor hits. Deconstruction: 1993 – 1998 Minogue's subsequent signing with '' review of ''Impossible Princess'', Larry Flick, March 1998. Retrieved January 27, 2006. ' '' Ophelia ''. (1851/52)]] Australian artist Nick Cave had been interested in working with Minogue since hearing "Better the Devil You Know", saying it contained "one of pop music's most violent and distressing lyrics" and "when Kylie Minogue sings these words, there is an innocence to her that makes the horror of this chilling lyric all the more compelling".Baker and Minogue, Hodder and Stoughton, 2002. p 99 " Where The Wild Roses Grow " (1995), was a brooding ballad whose lyrics narrated a murder from the points of view of both the murderer (Cave), and his victim (Minogue), and its success demonstrated that Minogue could be accepted outside of her established genre as a dance artist. It received widespread attention in Europe, where it reached the top 10 in several countries, and acclaim in Australia where it reached number two, and won ARIA Award s for "Song of the Year" and "Best Pop Release". She performed it with Cave at the Australian summer rock festival, " The Big Day Out " before a crowd of Alternative Music fans, and was well received. She also appeared with Cave during several of his concerts in small venues throughout Europe, as well as the T In The Park festival in Scotland which gave her more experience performing outside of the dance/pop genre and before audiences that were not necessarily her fans. She recited the lyrics to "I Should Be So Lucky" as poetry in London's Royal Albert Hall "Poetry Jam", at the suggestion of Cave, and later credited him with giving her the confidence to express herself artistically, saying: "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. For me, the hard part was unleashing the core of myself and being totally truthful in my music". By 1997 Minogue was in a relationship with the "). '''' described the album as "stunning" and concluded that "it's a golden commercial opportunity for a major company with vision and energy release it in the United States . A sharp ear will detect a kinship between ''Impossible Princess'' and Madonna 's hugely successful album, '' Ray Of Light ''". In the UK, ''Music Week'' gave a negative assessment, "Kylie's vocals take on a stroppy edge ... but not strong enough to do much". ''Limbo'' Quoting from ''Music Week'' review of ''Impossible Princess'', August 1997. Retrieved January 27, 2006. It became the lowest-selling album of her career in the UK, but was her highest-selling album in Australia since her debut album, with sales boosted by a highly successful live tour. In reviewing her show, '' The Times '' wrote of her ability to "mask her thin, often nondescript voice with musical diversity and brittle charisma and genuinely great pop songs by any standard", and a live album recorded during her tour, titled '' Intimate And Live '', was successful in Australia. She maintained her high profile in Australia with live performances, including the 1998 Sydney Gay And Lesbian Mardi Gras , the opening of Fox Studios in Sydney in 1999, where she performed Marilyn Monroe 's "Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend", and a Christmas concert in Dili , East Timor in association with the United Nations Peace-Keeping Forces . Parlophone: 1999 – present has cited the 1940s "". (2000)]] Minogue and Deconstruction Records parted company and following a duet with the , Asia and Australia , and sold over 2 million copies worldwide. The single " Spinning Around " became her first British number one in 10 years, and its accompanying video, which featured Minogue in revealing gold hot pants, received widespread television airplay. The subsequent single releases, which includes the duet " Kids " with Robbie Williams , also sold strongly. She joined Madonna as the second artist to achieve British number one singles in the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s. In 2000, Minogue performed at the 2000 Sydney Olympics , where she performed a cover version of the ABBA hit " Dancing Queen " and her then-current single, " On A Night Like This ". She then embarked upon a concert tour, ''On a Night Like This'', which played to sell-out crowds in the United Kingdom and Australia , where she sold over 200,000 tickets and set an Australian record for a female artist. Her 6 planned Melbourne shows were increased to 22 due to public demand. Minogue was inspired by the style of Broadway shows such as '' 42nd Street '' and films such as '' Anchors Aweigh '', '' South Pacific '' and the Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers musicals of the 1930s. Later describing Bette Midler as a "heroine", she also incorporated some of the "camp and burlesque" elements of Midler's live performances.Baker and Minogue, Hodder and Stoughton, 2002. pp 165-167 The show featured elaborate sets such as the deck of an ocean liner, an Art Deco New York City skyline, and the interior of a space ship, and Minogue was praised for her new material and her reinterpretations of some of her biggest hits, turning " I Should Be So Lucky " into a Torch Song and " Better The Devil You Know " into a 1940s Big Band number. She won a "Mo Award" for live entertainment in Australia , as "Performer of the Year". Following the tour she was asked by a ''Seattle Post-Intelligencer'' journalist what she thought was her greatest strength, and replied, "That I am an all-rounder. If I was to choose any one element of what I do, I don't know if I would excel at any one of them. But put all of them together, and I know what I'm doing." ''Seattle Weekly'' "I Heart Kylie", Kurt B. Reighley, June 26, 2002. Retrieved January 27, 2006. In 2001, Minogue released ''", " Love At First Sight " and " Come Into My World " were substantial hits throughout the world, and Minogue established a presence in the mainstream American market, achieving particular success in the Club scene. In 2003 she received a Grammy Award nomination for "Best Dance Recording" for "Love at First Sight", and the following year won the same award for "Come Into My World". Minogue's former stylist and creative director William Baker explained that the music videos for the ''Fever'' album were inspired by Science Fiction Film s—specifically those by Stanley Kubrick —and accentuated the electropop elements of the music by using dancers in the style of Kraftwerk . Alan MacDonald, the designer of the 2002 ''Fever'' tour, brought those elements into the stage show which was based around a framework of seven iconic female images, drawing from Minogue's past incarnations. The show opened with Minogue as a space age Vamp , which she described as "Queen of Metropolis with her drones", through to scenes inspired by Kubrick's '' A Clockwork Orange '', followed by the various Persona s of Minogue's career. Minogue said that she was finally able to express herself the way she wanted, and that she had always been "a showgirl at heart". ''Feel the Fever'' documentary (2002). Interviews with Kylie Minogue, William Baker and Alan McDonald Her next album, '' Body Language '' (2003), was released following an invitation-only concert, titled '' Money Can't Buy '', at the Hammersmith Apollo in London. The event marked the presentation of a new visual style, designed by Minogue and Baker, inspired in part by 1960s icon Brigitte Bardot , about whom Minogue commented: "I just tended to think of BB as, well, she's a sexpot, isn't she? She's one of the greatest pinups. But she was fairly radical in her own way at that time. And we chose to reference the period, which was... a perfect blend of coquette and rock and roll." ''Body Language Live'' DVD documentary (2003). Album launch press conference with Kylie Minogue. The show attracted mixed reviews, with the main criticisms being that nothing substantially new was presented, and that the new songs did not match the appeal of her previous hits. Despite this, the concert was made into a successful television special that drew high ratings. The album downplayed the disco style and Minogue said she was inspired by 1980s artists such as Scritti Politti , Human League , Adam And The Ants and Prince , blending their styles with elements of Hip Hop . ''VH1.com'' Interview, "Kylie Minogue – The Thin White Dame", February 24, 2004. Retrieved January 27, 2006. It received some of the most positive reviews of her career with ''Billboard Magazine'' writing of "Minogue's knack for picking great songs and producers". Metacritic.com Quoting from ''Billboard Magazine'' review of album, ''Body Language''. Not dated. Retrieved January 27, 2006. ''All Music'' described it as "a near perfect pop record... ''Body Language'' is what happens when a dance-pop diva takes the high road and focuses on what's important instead of trying to shock herself into continued relevance" ''All Music'' Review of album, ''Body Language'', Chris True, not dated. Retrieved January 27, 2006. Sales in the United Kingdom and Australia were relatively low, despite the success of its first single, " Slow " and in the United States the album made little impression, although the singles became major club hits. In November 2004, "Slow" was nominated for a Grammy Award in the category of "Best Dance Recording". Minogue released her second official greatest hits album on November 22 , 2004, entitled '' Ultimate Kylie '', along with her music videos on a DVD compilation of the same title. The album introduced her singles " I Believe In You ", co-written with Jake Shears and Babydaddy from the Scissor Sisters , and " Giving You Up ". Both songs reached the British top ten, and with a tally of twenty-nine Top 10 singles, Minogue became the second most successful woman on the British singles charts, behind Madonna . Minogue was nominated for a Grammy Award for the fourth consecutive year, when "I Believe in You" was nominated in the category of "Best Dance Recording". In April 2005, Minogue and her creative director William Baker ended their professional relationship, with Minogue commenting that it had been timed to coincide with the release of the ''Ultimate Kylie'' album and the launch of the '' Showgirl - The Greatest Hits Tour ''. The tour was intended to be the most extensive of her career, and anticipated a total audience of more than 700,000. Minogue completed the European stage of the tour, and was in Melbourne When She Was Diagnosed with Breast Cancer , leading to the postponement of the remainder of the tour. In December 2005, following successful treatment for her illness, she announced her intention to begin work on a new album, with a planned released date of late 2006 ''UK-Flava.co News'' Retrieved January 29, 2006. , and released a digital-only single, ". ''ITV News'' Retrieved March 11, 2006. FILM CAREER See Also: List of Kylie Minogue films '' (2001)]] In 1989, Minogue starred in '''' (1996), ''Sample People'' and ''Cut'' (both 2000) failed to attract an audience. Australian Film Director Baz Luhrmann , impressed by her ''Intimate and Live'' tour, cast Minogue in '' Moulin Rouge! '' (2001) where she played the part of Absinthe, The Green Fairy , singing a line from '' The Sound Of Music ''. This cameo remains her most widely seen film performance. In 2002, Minogue provided the voice of a young girl in the animated film '' The Magic Roundabout '', released in 2005. Minogue also sang the title song in the movie and was one of the two starring actors not replaced when the film was released in North America as ''Doogal'' in 2006. IMAGE AND CELEBRITY STATUS Throughout her professional life, Minogue has been the subject of intense media interest in both the United Kingdom and Australia, which remained constant even while her success as a recording artist has fluctuated. Her efforts to be taken seriously as a musician have sometimes been hindered by her high profile as noted by '' actor Olivier Martinez , have been extensively reported as well. ''Mirror.co.uk'' ''The Mirror'', "Kylie at the Crossroads", Barbara Davies, August 7, 2004. Retrieved January 29, 2006. Minogue is regarded as a Gay Icon , which she encourages with comments such as "I am not a traditional gay icon. There's been no tragedy in my life, only tragic outfits." While part of her appeal lies in her flamboyant costumes and her confident sexual posturing, she acknowledges the Gay community throughout the world by performing at gay venues and events, and by openly supporting AIDS and Gay Rights causes. She has said that she believes gay fans responded to her apparent distress when the news media began heavily criticising her in 1989, and that those fans have remained loyal, explaining, "My gay audience has been with me from the beginning... they kind of adopted me". After playing the " Girl Next Door " in her early videos, Minogue began to touch on adult themes—an Interracial Relationship in "Better the Devil You Know", Lesbian posturing and Drag Queen s in "What Do I Have To Do", Telephone Sex in "Confide in Me" and Prostitution in "On a Night Like This". She performed a slow strip tease in the '' Barbarella '' inspired "Put Yourself In My Place", and wore revealing costumes in many of her videos, most notably "Spinning Around" and "Can't Get You Out Of My Head". She satirised her image in the video for "Did It Again", in which the four major incarnations of her career, "Indie Kylie", "Dance Kylie", "Sex Kylie" and "Cute Kylie" battled for supremacy. Her evolving image and often overt sexuality led some critics to accuse her of attempting to duplicate Madonna . Minogue has admitted her admiration for Madonna and has cited her as a significant influence. Minogue's status has led to her being mentioned in several pop songs including The KLF 's "Kylie Said to Jason" (1989), The Pretenders ' "Popstar" (1999) and The Androids ' "Do it with Madonna" (2003). In 1993, Baz Luhrmann introduced Minogue to the photographer Bert Stern , notable for his work with Marilyn Monroe . Stern photographed her in Los Angeles and, comparing her to Monroe, commented that she had a "similar vulnerability and awareness of the camera". She has gained credibility by her association with people such as Fashion Designer Jean Paul Gaultier , photographer Stephane Sednaoui , and designer John Galliano , who described her as a "blend of Lolita and Barbarella ". During her career she has chosen photographers who attempt to create a new "look" for her, and the resulting photographs have appeared in a variety of magazines, from the cutting edge '' The Face '' to the more traditionally sophisticated '' Vogue '' and '' Vanity Fair '', making the Minogue face and name known to a broad group of people. Stylist William Baker has suggested that this is part of the reason she has entered in the mainstream Pop Culture of Europe more successfully than many other pop singers who concentrate simply on selling records. She has appeared in guest roles in television series such as '' The Vicar Of Dibley '' and '' Men Behaving Badly '' in the UK, and '' Kath & Kim '' in Australia, which capitalised on her celebrity status and image for comedic effect. In the latter she played a Melbourne teenager on her wedding day, referencing her role as Charlene in '' Neighbours ''. Despite her commercial success, and her acceptance by a large audience as a contemporary Sex Symbol , her critics describe her willingness to display her body as an attempt to disguise a lack of talent. Her detractors, such as those discussed in the book ''La La La'', have described her as a "one dimensional performer" and "pretty, but mindless and talentless". Miki Berenyi of the group Lush said "I have a massive problem with her because she epitomises the acceptable role ... it's a shame she gets so much credibility when there are so many women worth a hundred times that. It's war—you shouldn't stick up for Kylie, she should be fought at every turn". Minogue continues to attract discussion, and in Paul Morley 's study of the evolution of pop music, ''Words And Music: A History Of Pop In The Shape Of A City'', Minogue is the vehicle by which pop is explored. Minogue has often spoken of the stability of the team she works with. Her parents, Ron and Carol Minogue, are actively involved in her career; her father, an accountant, is her financial advisor and her mother has joined her on each of her tours. She has been managed by Terry Blamey since 1987 and the close network, along with her Stock, Aitken and Waterman origins, have led to comments that she is "manufactured", an assessment which Minogue has admitted is partly accurate, saying, "if you're part of a record company, I think to a degree it's fair to say that you're a manufactured product. You're a product and you're selling a product. It doesn't mean that you're not talented and that you don't make creative and business decisions about what you will and won't do and where you want to go... Ultimately, yes, it's my name and I have to deliver the goods. But it doesn't happen without a team. So I try and work with the best people I can and take from them what I can. Hopefully I enhance what they do as well" William Baker has described her status as a sex symbol as a "double edged sword" observing that "we always attempted to use her sex appeal as an enhancement of her music and to sell a record. But now it has become in danger of eclipsing what she actually is: a pop singer". Minogue has suggested that although her career will inevitably change direction, she expects to continue as a singer, and move away from the "sex-pot" persona she has created. In 2003 she received positive reviews for some low key performances in Paris nightclubs where she performed Jazz Standard s, and she indicated she may take her career in this direction. Rather than identify herself as a particular type of singer, she has assessed herself with the comment, "now more than ever, I consider myself a performer... on stage is where I have given and received so much energy and enthusiasm". BREAST CANCER On 17 May 2005, it was reported that Minogue had been diagnosed with early stage Breast Cancer and would receive medical treatment in Melbourne. The remainder of her ''Showgirl, The Greatest Hits'' world tour was postponed and she withdrew from participating at the Glastonbury Festival . ''CNN.com International'' "Minogue's Cancer Shock Ends Tour", May 17, 2005. Retrieved January 28, 2006. The announcement of Minogue's cancer diagnosis resulted in a brief but intense period of media coverage, particularly in Australia where the . ABC - ''Sunday Profile'' "Peter Carrette and Peter Blunden on Kylie Minogue and the Media", May 22, 2005. Retrieved January 28, 2006. ABC Radio - ''Correspondent's Report'' "Media Coverage of Kylie Minogue: Circulation or Compassion?", Transcript, May 22, 2005. Retrieved January 28, 2006. Minogue underwent surgery on 21 May 2005. Friends such as Olivia Newton-John , herself a survivor of breast cancer, urged the media and fans to respect Minogue's privacy. However, it was only after it was announced that the surgery had been successful that the intense scrutiny of the situation began to diminish. Soon after surgery, she commenced Chemotherapy as part of her treatment regimen. Minogue issued a public statement, thanking her fans for their support and urging them not to worry. On July 8, 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.1 In November 2005 Minogue's tour management in Australia announced that she will continue her ''Showgirl: The Greatest Hits Tour'' in late 2006. It was reported in ''The Times Online'' in January, 2006 that Minogue had completed her chemotherapy treatment however it also noted that her publicists were unwilling to speculate on its apparent success, as Minogue required a further six months of radiotherapy to prevent a recurrence of tumours. ''The Times Online'' "Kylie Finishes 'Successful' Breast Cancer Treatment", Simon Freebman, January 16, 2006. Retrieved January 28, 2006. DISCOGRAPHY For complete discography and sales information see: Albums #'' Kylie '' (1988) #'' Enjoy Yourself '' (1989) #'' Rhythm Of Love '' (1990) #'' Let's Get To It '' (1991) #'' Greatest Hits '' (1992) #'' Kylie Minogue '' (1994) #'' Impossible Princess '' (1998) #'' Light Years '' (2000) #'' Fever '' (2001) #'' Body Language '' (2003) #'' Ultimate Kylie '' (2005) Hit singles The following singles reached the top ten in the United Kingdom and/or Australia . Their chart peak positions are shown, along with peak positions for other regions, as an indication of Minogue's chart performance in other markets, such as North America, Europe, Asia, and Africa, represented by Canada & the United States (and '' Billboard Magazine '''s Hot Dance Music/Club Play ); Ireland , Germany & Slovenia ; Hong Kong & Israel ; and South Africa respectively. Key to chart headings: UK (United Kingdom), '''AU''' (Australia), '''CA''' (Canada), '''U.S.''' (United States), '''D/CP''' (Hot Dance Music/Club Play), '''IR''' (Ireland), '''GE''' (Germany), '''SL''' (Slovenia), '''HK''' (Hong Kong), '''IS''' (Israel) and '''SA''' (South Africa). NOTES AND REFERENCES Notes: References:
SEE ALSO
EXTERNAL LINKS
|
|
|