research group declared the Australian singer the “most powerful celebrity in Britain.” Accolades flew her way Hollywood called ( Street Fighter, Moulin Rouge) and superlatives piled up (she’s the rare artist to earn first-name-only status worldwide, as well as spots on several “ Hottest Women of All-Time” lists). After a label switch, she found a home at Parlophone, which helped guide her to the most popular eras of her career with 2000’s Light Years and 2001’s Fever. A debut album ( Kylie) came next, followed by a decade of albums and chart success. On the heels of soap success, Minogue signed a record deal (fellow artists on her then-label included Bananarama and Rick Astley) her first single, a joyful cover of “The Loco-Motion,” topped the Australian charts and shot her to No. Her character’s wedding episode brought nearly 20 million viewers-on par with the royal wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton 30 years later.
Her breakout role arrived in 1986 with the hit soap Neighbours, an Australian series that was simulcast in the U.K., where audiences embraced Minogue with the sort of overwhelming love ordinarily reserved for glamorous royalty or Paddington Bear. Mingoue’s songs are agreeable, multigenerational gifts loved equally by straight dads, gay sons, and hip grandparents.īorn Kylie Ann Minogue in Australia in 1968, the international treasure says that although she spent the early years of her career building a name for herself as an actor, singing always came first in her mind. Her stickiest lyrics tend toward the hummable and uncomplicated (“I just can’t get you out of my head” “Get out of my way”) their outer simplicity is the strongest, smartest suit she plays. Her music is sumptuous, but utterly free of frills or fuss.
As an artist, Kylie has not so much reinvented the musical wheel as she has bedazzled it and kept it spinning.