| |
| |
| |
Next
Kylie Minogue :
During her early years Kylie was influenced by taking piano, tap and jazz lesson's. Early musical influences were ''The Beatles'', ''The Rolling Stones'' and ''Abba''. Even though Kylie was quite a shy child her mother had already decided they(both sister's)would not follow her footsteps and become dancers.''I was never very keen on them taking up dancing becauseit's such a hard life''.It was when Kylie turned 11 that her debut part inAustralian television show ''The Sullivans'' began to pave an incredible rise to fame within the Australian television industry.Kylie always balanced her studies with her acting career and it was after she passed her HSc that Kylie decided she was going to give acting a go...Naturally though the schoolgirl Kylie and the child star made it difficult for Kylie and her friends to adjust to the rising fame. In February 1986, Kylie auditioned and got the part of feisty, fiery girl next door mechanic Charlene Mitchell in the reletively new soap, ''Neighbours''. A deluge of fanmail and rising viewing figures saw them extend the 12 week contract and ''Charlene'' with on and off screen love ''Scott Robinson''(played by JasonDonovan) took the show to the number one ratings spot in Australia and the United Kingdom. A record 23.8 million witnessed there marriage and this for a daytime soap!! the frenzy caused by neighbours was also casuing kids to bunk off schools and take televisions with them just to keep up with the show. Looking back only Russell Crowe(Gladiator) and Guy Pearce(L.A.Confidential) have also found fame. It was no surprise that Kylie went on to win 5 logies(television awards) including Most Popular Television Actress the same year. In 1987 Kylie performed with the cast for a charity function and an opportunity arose to sing a solo of Little Eva's sixties smash ''The Locomotion''. The reception was crazy and Kylie was swept into the studio to record and release the song within days. The single was released and went to number one in Australia for 7 weeks during 1987. Kylie decided that this was a direction that was now calling her, so in 1988 when Kylie finished filming her last Neighbours scenes, she flew to England to meet with reknowned producers Stock, Aitken+ Waterman.
Immediately the potential was seen in kylie and she was signed for a 5 year four album deal including a Greatest Hits.Pete Waterman states, ''She has a great voice.I love working with her because she has a terrific sense of humour, a fabulous personality and she knows how to really sell a song.'' Kylie's first release musically in the UK was to be a newly penned song, ''I Should Be So Lucky'', it climbed the charts slowly to reach No.1 and it stayed there for 5 weeks, selling over 800,000 copies and the album, ''Kylie'' went 7x platinum with sales of over 1.85 million. her string of hits and her record over the next five years has placed Kylie in the Guiness Book Of Records and within Music history forever. ''The Locomotion'' incidentally peaked at No.3 in the USA with sales of 500,000, but Europe too was loving every minute. The first four singles went No.1 in Finland (a record) and the album ''Kylie'' went on to sell over 7.3 million worldwide. This was one of the most successful starts to a pop career ever. In 1989 a second album was released, ''Enjoy Yourself'' and Kylie decided that she was missing her acting and the lifestyle that entailed so she began lookign for a dceent Australian script, Kylie wanted a small film to try and find her feet in the movie world. the problem was/is Kylie is such a huge star within the music scene the media were on the case and made her acting debut asuccess but also a carefully watched baptism. The character ''Lola'' in the ''The Delinquents'' with Charlie Schlatter told the stroy of a young girl growing up in the 50's. It was soon a No.1 box office smash in both the UK and AUS, mostly thanks to Kylie's growing number of supporter's. No rest period though and ylie was intent on moving her musical career forward, some call it a huge leap as the bubblegum pop turned into bubblegum classics as her third album ''Rhythm Of Love'' spawned the golden quartet of singles, Step Back n Time, Shocked, What Do I Have To Do? and Better The Devil You Know. This album handed the opportunity to work with Stephen Bray(Madonna) and also begin to write her own songs, the new sexier look was also inpired from a relationship with late rock legendMichael Hutchence of INXS.Never before had a teenager been watched and written about so much, Kylie was beginning to see her health suffer and also her family life become non existent as life on the road away from Australia was taking it's toll on the 21 year old star. ''Let's Get To It'' her fourth album was opportunity for Kylie to stage her second world tour and close off her deal with S/A/W paving the future for, what us fans remember was a very uncertain time in the life and career of Kylie Minogue....September 24th 1994, ''Kylie Minogue'' was released, the huge successful single ''Confide In Me'' helped it to debut at No.4. Confide meanwhile was being hailed as one of the coolest songs of the year.At home Kylie enjoyed a 5 week reign at No.1...The critics and the press ate humble pie. Streetfighter although not critically acclaimed was still a box office smash taking over $100 statesside. It was in 1994 that Kylie's army of gay fans began to emerge and lift her up to an iconic Queen of Pop, she was cool, camp and kitcsh, in just three minutes bursts her videos could stun a room to silence, her beauty equalled only by Rita Hayworth or Bette Davis.Kylie was moving away from appearences on Smash Hits and would now be seen on ''The Face'', ''Q'' and ''NME'', everyone was suddenly interested in Deconstructing the 1994 Kylie.Life after Michael Hutchence was proving somewhat difficult for her and I think she began to lose a little of the motivation which kept her nonstop lifestyle on full speed.After a relativley successful album Kylie was conscious that music was again moving and changing, she went home to Melbourne after filming Bio-Dome(another bad movie) and it was clear that the direction and the inspiration had all but disappeared after years of demanding workloads and press commitments. It was vital that somehow someone had to walk into her life and inject some sense of achievement and credibility.
Finally in 1995 Kylie met Nick Cave, he became the ''someone'' that lifted her spirits and with his own song written specifically for Kylie a duet was on the cards. A murder ballad, a dark mysterious song which saw Kylie's character killed by the end, ''Where The Wild Roses Grow'' was about to shake every kylie fan and even the ''cool'' people could not believe the power and the emotion from these two Aussie's. It peaked at No.11 in the UK, went top 5 in Australia and went top 10 all over Europe, the video was so popular on MTV that it made their top 5 European countdown chart.During this period Kylie also attended the poetry olympics held at the Royal Albert Hall, London and Nick managed to get Kylie to read ''I Should Be So Lucky'' in poem format.Kylie always remember's this period with fondness because it was with this new confidence that she credited herself with the influence and also the past which at least gave kylie some calm and room to explore a new album direction.Kyli enever stopped working with long time partner Steve Anderson throughout the mid 1995/6, they were working eithe rin the studio or attending chairty gala's just to keep people known Kylie was still here. It was her gay fans that got to see her mostly and its a relationship which carries through to today. It was also during this period that William Baker(Kylie's current creative Director and Stylist) managed to meet Kylie and have a coffee.They shared idea's and a friendship was born, but most importantly a working relationship which has developed into the 2000 awad winning ''On A Night like This'' tour.Kylie's duet with Nick cave gave her a 23rd UK top 20 single, of which 4 were No.1's and a further 11 were top 5 smashes.
A surburban Aussie, a neighbour by any other definition is a Gay icon world wide.Gay culture world-wide are a kin to knowing her lyrics and the 3 minute bursts of pop, from Soho to Sydney, Paris to New York.At just 5ft1'' Kylie is positively delicate and angellic in her prescence, alittle sister amongst her gay family. Kylie's fashion knowledge and her apparent gift to be dressed in the right thing at the right time combined with her doll like size, makes her the perfect puppet for a gay man's bedroom. In the seeking of creative and musical freedom the social struggle fought by Kylie was close and resembled a gay man's fight to admit the issues surrounding sexuality and in her three minute bursts, Kylie helped somewhat to make everything seem okay.If the titles of the songs were illustrations of a gay lyric then we need look no further than ''Better The Devil You Know'', What Do I Have To Do'' and ''Confide In Me''. Kylie's close relationship with her fans and her overwhelming support towards them travelled hand in hand, all in a time when the pink pound was nothing more than hear'say. In the straight world Kylie was neglected and cast aside, chastised and mocked so rightfully just that the gay men planted her within their world and gave the chance to bloom once more. There may not be alot of tragedy to her life as with former gay icon's but the unique aspect to Kylie is the angellic nature and complete lady like qualities that shine through.Lyrics from ''Cowboy Style''..''Found my voicve to have my say, you take me close to far away, and now i find and now i feel, the ordinary is surreal, peace and terror all in one, my future life has just begun''.Kylie appeard in early 1997 as a cameo in an independant film ''Diana and Me'' the story revolved around one fan's fondness towards Princess Diana, ironically and sadly Diana was tragically later that year to be killed in Paris, and cause more problems for Kylie than could be imagined. A delay on her second album release with Deconstruction was prompted and the l title of ''Impossibe Princess was deemed innapropriate and was change to ''Kylie Minogue (1997)''
With all the fresh material from the two Deconstruction albums kylie had neglected to tour for nearly 8 years and her fans were eager to see the new tour scheduled for the summer of 1998, ''Intimate and Live''. In total Kylie played main venues in the UK before heading home to a sellout 7 minute crowd. It was the first chance Kylie had at creating a tour from scratch. WIth the death of ex Michael Hutchence a few months earlier it was just the tonic to re-produce the excitement that the fans knew she possessed. The whole period is best contrasted with the lyrics to the opening album and tour track lyrics. ''Too Far'': Caught up in this house, trapped my own self in the snare of my mind, no more space than a slither, what I'd give for a deep breath inside where the chaos has me captive, where theres no exit signs, to fuel this stupuid fire with these feelings of mine.'' Her homecoming was full of credibility and the reviews were sensational. Kylie was back with her fans, it had been too long.After the tour finished in Sydney Kylie decided on compiling a book of photographics images with some comments from fellow stars including Bono, Boy George and Julie Burchill.The Book promo titled ''evidence'' was ''a valid way at looking at my career'' says Kylie. I attended the signing at Selfridges in November 1999 and came face to face for the first time with the lady of pop. After the book signing took Kylie back to Sydney in December an invite from the government for Kylie to play for the Australian troops fighting in Eastimor. In December Kylie aong with John Farnham flew to war ridden East Timor on a trip of goodwill.It was during this sometimes camp show that Kylie decided to sign with Parlophone records in the UK and sit down and work ona disco album.
And so a deal was done with Parlophone and EMI, Kylie stayed with Mushroom Records Australia (since 1987). The direction and the influence would be disco and dance. Kylie continued to write and input on the album and she also worked with long time writer friend Steve Anderson. Her most publicised work though was with Robbie Williams who had the duet ''Kids'' which reached No.2 with the camp anthem ''Your Disco Needs You'' and ''Loveboat'' included. It was though ''Spinning Around'' which debuted at No.1 in Australia and the UK which gave Kylie her 6th number one and a return to high sales as Light Years also entred the charts at No.1 (Aus. No.2 (Uk). It went on to sell well over 2 million and confirmed to all the critics the loosely named comeback queen was on top of the pop throne again.More press pages were granted to Kylie's gold hotpants that anything else, even though they are a well known piece of wardrobe for our little minx. Men weer drooling and MTV could not get enough of the videos. The album was also a great reason to launch a huge European and Australasian tour. ''On A Night Like This'' broke all records in Sydney and infact all records for any tour ever in Australia.No other act in history to date has played as many shows.The show also toured the UK and Europe and it was the first time for many to witness Kylie live, since 1991.Many of her newer and revisiting fans had not witnessed Intimate and Live so when they did attend, they were blown away.The tour won Kylie awards and also crtitical acclaim. It seems in a world where many artists mime to backing tracks, Kylie professional approach was now seen to be something to admire.
Light Years produced four top 10 UK singles in total and kept Kylie busy up until Spring 2001. The momentum was in full motion and the writing for her 8th Studio album had commenced nicknamed ''Coming of Age'', ''Fever'' was to be a journey through the early electronic period in the 80's. Kylie's early recollections of Grace Jones, Synthesiser fuelled disco.The tour was a great arena for her to showcase a new song ''Can't Get You Out Of My Head''. The reception was great but who knew that this song would launch kylie into the biggest stage of her career to date? I thought it sounded great and her vocals delivered perfectly but America, the country which rarely listen to anything foreign. a country where theres 17 lookalikes and soundalikes Britneys launched every day. Well itis about time that they got the opportunity to hear Kylie and I have a feling that in 2002 The whole world will be taken over by Miss Minogue. The strangeness to it all though does not make me happy for this. In a business sense it is wonderful, but in a selfish way aving Kylie for so long in a smaller world was quite superb. Kylie may now just become a prescence on my television screen, and after seeing her live many times it is a sad loss.
So as Kylie moved into 2001 with a successful tour and an album due for release in September there was just enough time to film her part in the third feature film by Australia's Baz Luhrman. His follow up to the smash hit Romeo+Juliet was the bohemian love story encased within the Moulin Rouge. Starring Nicole Kidman and Ewan Mcgregor, Kylie was cast as the green fairy. At first Luhrmann had used an animation but once it was deemed not good enough he thought that only Kylie could be the fairy. They organised time off and she rushed to Australia to film her section, including the operatic version of ''The Sound Of Music''. The absinthe fairy is actually a real logo and there is a history behind the fairy which delves deeper into the Moulin Rouge. The film has already received Golden Globesland Nicole Kidman an oscar nomination. A successful return to the big screen for Kylie...Maybe there a future Baz script that will fall Kylie's way...we can but hope.
Adam Garcia(Coyote Ugly,Saturday Night Fever) was a special guest in this Saturday night extravanganza.Kylie had been given her own hour long show to entertain and present songs from the new album ''Fever''. ''Can't Get You Out Of My Head'' was dominating every chart in the world, and spending it's 12th week on top of the Worldpop global chart, it was more of a celebration.Very few artists get given there own primetime show and the press were reporting that Madonn'a had said her kids were in love with the new song.It seems in 2001 no-one could get Kylie out of their heads. A performance at the MTV Europe Music Awards left crowds in Berlin breathless and subsequent awards were won at the Top Of The Pop awards in Manchester and4 nominations for 2002 Brit Awards. The song has topped charts all over the world and ''Fever'' has already sold in excess of 3 million copies worldwide after just 3 months of sales.The Kylie star has never shone so brightly. On a more personal level Kylie has suffered from emotional exhaustion this year due to the punishing workloads and promotional schedules and her dad was also diagnosed with Cancer, which it seems he has beaten as I write this. So as 2001 comes to a close and the news that ''Can't Get You Out Of My Head'' is No.1on the USA dance charts with a full American release of ''Fever '' due in February, it's is time that the world took note of the first lady of pop music in the 21st century...step forward Miss Kylie Minogue...May your reign continue.... |
|
|
| | | |
