Kylie Minogue (born May 28, 1968, in Melbourne, Australia) is an Australian pop singer who rose to fame after starring in the Australian TV soap Neighbours. Whilst her cover of The Loco-Motion in 1987 reached the Australian #1 spot, it was the Stock Aitken Waterman 'hit factory' which produced her first UK chart-topper, I Should Be So Lucky, in 1988. Throughout the late 1980s, Minogue was a phenomenon in both Australia and the UK, and also saw success in Asia and Europe.
Minogue went on to have the most number of consecutive UK top ten hits of any new artist. However, she left Stock Aitken Waterman and PWL Studios in 1992 and signed with Deconstruction (through BMG). Her next single, "Confide in Me", reached number one in Australia and was a hit in several European countries in 1994, and a duet with Nick Cave, "Where the Wild Roses Grow", brought Minogue a greater degree of artistic credibility. Drawing inspiration from a range of musical styles and artists, Minogue took creative control over the songwriting for her next album, Impossible Princess (1997). Parting ways with Deconstruction, she spent a short time in the musical wilderness before pulling on a pair of gold hotpants and returning to her pop roots with the #1 hit Spinning Around. Her music videos showed a more sexually provocative and flirtatious personality and several hit singles followed.
Minogue's biggest hit to date is Can't Get You Out Of My Head, from the globally successful album Fever. It reached #1 in 40 countries, including the US, a market in which Minogue had previously received little recognition and has sold over ten million copies worldwide. She has become one of the most successful female recording artists in the world with #1 hits spanning three decades, and is considered a national treasure in both the UK and her native Australia.
In 2005, midway through her Showgirl: The Greatest Hits Tour, Minogue was diagnosed with early stage breast cancer, causing her to halt the Australian leg of her tour. The news shocked both fans and non-fans alike, and the 'Kylie effect' was felt by breast cancer charities - both in terms of donations and the upsurge of queries from concerned women of all ages. Through her personal suffering, Minogue had inadvertently increased global awareness of breast cancer issues. After successfully coming through a tough twelve-month battle with the disease, in early July 2006 Minogue announced rescheduled dates of her now renamed Showgirl: The Homecoming Tour - fulfilling her Australian dates with a concert on November 11, 2006 in Sydney, along with extra dates, taking the updated show back to London and Manchester in January 2007.
Although now more prominent in music, Minogue makes an occasional return to acting - her most recent project being her well-publicized appearance alongside David Tennant in the Doctor Who Christmas 2007 episode, "Voyage Of The Damned".
On November 12, 2007 Minogue released the single 2 Hearts which reached #4 in the UK chart, and which also peaked at #1 in Australia. The album it was from, X, earned her a BRIT Award nomination for Best International Album. The album saw her collaborate with many writers and producers including the Freemasons and Calvin Harris. The following year, Minogue won the Best International Female Solo Artist award at the 2008 BRIT Awards, and in May also received the French Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, France's highest cultural honor.
On December 1, 2008, Coldplay released "Lhuna", a collaborative project with Minogue, at the launch of the (RED)WIRE™ website to mark World AIDS Day 2008. This would be the world premiere of the song.
Minogue's tenth studio album, X, received a Grammy Award nomination for Best Electronic/Dance Album of 2009. It was her fifth Grammy Award nomination.
In 2010,Minogue released her 11th studio album titled Aphrodite,preceeded by the hit single All the Lovers,one of her most succesful singles to date.With Aphrodite,Minogue became the first female artist ever to have #1 albums on the UK charts for 4 consecutive decades.In 2011,she embarked on the Les Folies Tour,which travelled to 5 continents,and was seen by over 600,000 fans worldwide. Minogue made history in the United States for having two songs inside the top three on any U.S. Billboard chart, with her songs "Better Than Today" and "Higher" charting at one and three on the U.S. Hot Dance Club Songs.
Minogue is celebrating her 25th anniversary in the music industry in 2012. Timebomb was released by Minogue as a single to coincide with the celebration of the singer’s quarter century in the music business. The Timebomb Songfacts reports that the song was dropped on May 25, 2012, two months short of twenty-five years after her debut single, a cover of little Eva’s The Locomotion.
Minogue also released the compilation album, The Abbey Road Sessions in October 2012. The album contained reworked and orchestral versions of her previous songs. It was recorded at London's Abbey Road Studios and was produced by Steve Anderson and Colin Elliot. The album received favourable reviews from music critics and it debuted at number-two in the United Kingdom. The album spawned two singles, "Flower" and "On a Night Like This".
Minogue also starred in two films; a cameo appearance in the American independent film Jack & Diane and a lead role in the French film Holy Motors. Jack & Diane opened at the 2012 Tribeca Film Festival on 20 April 2012, while Holy Motors opened at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival.
In January 2013, Minogue and her manager Terry Blamey, whom she had worked with since the start of her musical beginnings, parted ways. The following month, she was signed to Roc Nation for a management deal. Minogue is currently recording on her twelfth studio album since the spring of 2012. The upcoming album is reported to feature works from producers such as Fernando Garibay, Pharrell Williams, Darkchild, Sia, Nervo and Jay-Z.
In September, she was featured on Italian singer-songwriter Laura Pausini's single "Limpido", which was a number-one hit in Italy and has received a nomination for "World's Best Song" at the 2013 World Music Awards. In the same month, she joined as a coach in the third series of BBC One's talent competition The Voice UK for one season, alongside record producer and Black Eyed Peas member, will.i.am, Kaiser Chiefs' lead singer Ricky Wilson and pop singer Sir Tom Jones. Minogue's first episode on the show as a judge aired on 11 January 2014. In November, she was hired as one of the new coaches for the third season of The Voice Australia.
In March 2014, Minogue released her 12th studio album, Kiss Me Once. The album featured contributions from Sia Furler, Mike Del Rio, Cutfather, Pharell Williams, MNEK and Ariel Rechtshaid. It peaked at number one in Australia and number two in the United Kingdom. The singles from the album, "Into the Blue" and "I Was Gonna Cancel", did not chart inside the top ten of the UK Singles Chart, peaking at number 12 and number 59.
In September 2014, Minogue will embark on the Kiss Me Once Tour. She is also set to appear in the upcoming 2015 disaster film, San Andreas alongside Dwayne Johnson. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.
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