BORN: May 28, 1968, Melbourne, AustraliaFormer Australian soap star Kylie Minogue began a pop music career in 1988, just before she turned 20 years old. Following the dance-pop blueprint of Madonna, Minogue's early singles were produced by the hit-making team of Stock, Aitken & Waterman. Her first single, "I Should Be So Lucky," reached number one in the U.K., beginning a long streak of hit singles in Britain. In America, she was never able to improve on her second single, a cover of Little Eva's "The Loco-Motion," which peaked at number three. Nevertheless, the hits continued in both Britain and Australia, even when she ditched her wholesome image in 1991 to become a sexier dance diva.
Kylie Minogue ended up leaving Stock Aitken and Waterman and recorded two albums, Kylie Minogue and Impossible Princess, with London dance label Deconstruction. A romantic relationship with INXS singer Michael Hutchence had encouraged her to experiment musically. While the backbone of both albums was the Brothers in Rhythm team Minogue was keen to work with a variety of people. One unlikely collaboration saw a duet with Nick Cave, especially written by Cave for his Murder Ballads album. "Where the Wild Flowers Grow" featured a nude Minogue floating dead in the water for its video.
While Impossible Princess represented another major career turning point in Australia Minogue's transition to a concert performer in Europe the album was not considered a success. In 2000, she was encouraged by the Pet Shop Boys to switch to their label, Parlophone, and she re-emerged as the pop princess of old with the critical hit Light Years. The single "Spinning Around," went number one in both England and Australia. Her reign in music continued in 2001. Minogue issued Fever in October on the heels of the successful single "Can't Get You Out of My Head." Such hype around the song allowed it to become an global smash, earning Minogue two Brit Awards in February 2002 for "Best International Female" and "Best International Album" for Fever. Shortly thereafter, Fever was released in the U.S. on Capitol, landing Minogue her biggest U.S. hit with "Can't Get You Out of My Head" in nearly fifteen years. Spots on MTV's TRL and Saturday Night Live proved her power.
Without anything approaching Madonna's musical strength, like Madonna, Minogue has ensured her survival with imaginative videos and by keeping fans guessing and intrigued with consistent changes of personal image. She has also appeared in a number of movies over the years. 1999's Cut with Molly Ringwald was her eighth film appearance. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide