80s Star- Kylie Minogue

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The 80s Forum Star for this week is Kylie Minogue

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Kylie Ann Minogue, OBE (born 28 May 1968) is an Australian-British singer and actress. She achieved recognition starring in the Australian soap opera Neighbours, where she played tomboy mechanic Charlene Robinson. Appearing in the series for two years, Minogue's character married Scott Robinson (Jason Donovan) in an episode viewed by nearly 20 million people in the United Kingdom making it one of the most watched Australian TV episodes ever.

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Since then, Minogue has been a recording artist and has achieved commercial success and critical acclaim in the entertainment industry. Minogue has been recognised with several honorific nicknames including "Princess of Pop" and "Goddess of Pop". She is recognised as the highest-selling Australian artist of all time by the Australian Recording Industry Association.

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Born and raised in Melbourne, Australia, Minogue has worked and lived in the United Kingdom since the 1990s. She signed to record label PWL in 1987 and released her first studio album Kylie the next year. In 1992, she left PWL and signed with Deconstruction Records where she released her self-titled studio album and Impossible Princess, both of which received positive reviews from critics. Returning to more mainstream dance-oriented music, Minogue signed to Parlophone and released Light Years. The follow up, Fever, was a hit in many countries, including the United States. The lead single "Can't Get You Out of My Head" became one of the most successful singles of the 2000s, selling over ten million units. It is recognised as her "signature song" and was named "the catchiest song ever" by Yahoo! Music. Other successful singles by Minogue include "I Should Be So Lucky", "The Loco-Motion", "Especially for You", "Hand on Your Heart", "Better the Devil You Know", "Confide in Me", "Spinning Around", "Love At First Sight", "Slow", "2 Hearts" and "All The Lovers".

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During a Fitzroy Football Club benefit concert with other Neighbours cast members, Minogue performed "I Got You Babe" as a duet with actor John Waters, and "The Loco-Motion" as an encore. She was subsequently signed to a recording contract with Mushroom Records in 1987. Her first single, "The Locomotion", spent seven weeks at number one on the Australian singles charts and became the country's highest-selling single in the 1980s. She received the ARIA Award for the year's highest-selling single. Its success resulted in Minogue travelling to England with Mushroom Records executive Gary Ashley to work with producers Stock, Aitken & Waterman.

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During a Fitzroy Football Club benefit concert with other Neighbours cast members, Minogue performed "I Got You Babe" as a duet with actor John Waters, and "The Loco-Motion" as an encore. She was subsequently signed to a recording contract with Mushroom Records in 1987. Her first single, "The Locomotion", spent seven weeks at number one on the Australian singles charts and became the country's highest-selling single in the 1980s. She received the ARIA Award for the year's highest-selling single. Its success resulted in Minogue travelling to England with Mushroom Records executive Gary Ashley to work with producers Stock, Aitken & Waterman.

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Minogue's second album Enjoy Yourself was released in October 1989. The album was a success in the United Kingdom, Europe, New Zealand, Asia and Australia and spawned number one singles "Hand on Your Heart" and "Tears on My Pillow". However, it failed to sell well throughout North America and Minogue was dropped by her American record label Geffen Records. She then embarked on her first concert tour, the Enjoy Yourself Tour, in the United Kingdom, Europe, Asia and Australia in February 1990. She was also one of the featured vocalists on the remake of "Do They Know It's Christmas?". Minogue's debut film, The Delinquents was released in December 1989. The movie received mixed reviews by critics but proved popular with audiences. In the UK it grossed more than £200,000 and in Australia, it was the fourth-highest grossing local film of 1989 and the highest grossing local film of 1990.

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In musical terms, Minogue has worked with many genres in pop and dance music. However, her signature music has been contemporary disco music. Her first studio albums with Stock, Aitken, and Waterman present a more bubblegum pop influence, with many critics comparing her to American recording artist Madonna. Chris True from Allmusic, reviewed her debut Kylie and found her music "standard late-'80s Stock-Aitken-Waterman bubblegum", however he stated that she presented the most personality of any 1980s recording artist. He said of her third album Rhythm of Love, from the early 1990s, "The songwriting is stronger, the production dynamic, and Kylie seems more confident vocally." At the time of her third studio album, "She began to trade in her cutesy, bubblegum pop image for a more mature one, and in turn, a more sexual one." Chris True stated that during her relationship with Michael Hutchence, "her shedding of the near-virginal façade that dominated her first two albums, began to have an effect, not only on how the press and her fans treated her, but in the evolution of her music.

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Minogue's efforts to be taken seriously as a recording artist were initially hindered by the perception that she had not "paid her dues" and was no more than a manufactured pop star exploiting the image she had created during her stint on Neighbours. Minogue acknowledged this viewpoint, 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."

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Minogue was diagnosed with breast cancer at age 36 on 17 May 2005, leading to the postponement of the remainder of her Showgirl – The Greatest Hits Tour and her withdrawal from the Glastonbury Festival. Her hospitalisation and treatment in Melbourne resulted in a brief but intense period of media coverage, particularly in Australia, where Prime Minister John Howard issued a statement of support. As media and fans began to congregate outside the Minogue residence in Melbourne, Victorian Premier Steve Bracks warned the international media that any disruption of the Minogue family's rights under Australian privacy laws would not be tolerated. His comments became part of a wider criticism of the media's overall reaction, with particular criticism directed towards paparazzi

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From the late 1980's until early 1990's, Minogue dated INXS frontman Michael Hutchence. She also briefly dated rock superstar Lenny Kravitz in 1991

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Minogue began a relationship with French actor Olivier Martinez after meeting him at the 2003 Grammy Awards ceremony. They ended their relationship in February 2007, but remained on friendly terms. Minogue was reported to have been "saddened by false [media] accusations of [Martinez's] disloyalty". She defended Martinez, and acknowledged the support he had given during her treatment for breast cancer. Minogue was in a relationship with model Andrés Velencoso from 2008 to 2013. In November 2015, Minogue confirmed she was dating British actor Joshua Sasse. On 20 February 2016, their engagement was announced in the "Forthcoming Marriages" section of The Daily Telegraph. In February 2017, Minogue confirmed the couple had ended their relationship.