Australia's most famous pop export turns 50 — just after releasing her 14th studio album, Golden. The celebration of both her life and her work is a thumb in the eye of the fates, who've dealt her a tough hand of late.
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From a singing budgie to the golden lady: Kylie Minogue at 50
For over 30 years, the Australian singer has been considered one of pop's top divas. And at 50, she looks none the worse for the wear.
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The pin-up poster child
"I'm just a natural flirt, but I don't see it in a sexual way. A lot of the time I'm like an overexcited puppy," once said the pop singer. At barely five feet (1.5 meters) tall and with a slim size 34 figure, Kylie Minogue has seemingly eternal beauty, even at 50. As sexy as ever, she appears to defy the notion that women of a certain age can't be sex symbols.
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A soap star start
She was just 17 when Kylie landed her first television role in 1985 on the Australian soap The Henderson Kids (seen here with co-star Mark Hennessy). Not yet blonde, she wore her hair in a typically 80s hairstyle: permed. She played her supporting role as Charlotte "Char" Kernow so well that she was directly committed to another series a year later.
Her breakthrough came with the next soap opera, Neighbours. The suburban soap starred her future partner, Jason Donovan and launched Kylie to teen idol status in her native Australia. In the series, she played Donovan's love interest so it was only a matter of time before they partnered up in real life to sing a love song.
Cotton candy pop and sugary sweet love songs were not uncommon in the 1980s. But the way that Kylie and her then-lover Jason Donovan breathed their sweetness into the microphone, is enough to give anyone with contemporary listening habits a toothache. Their big hair and broad shoulder pads scream 80s. Still, "Especially for You" was an international top 10 hit.
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Waxing fantastic
Even before Kylie Minogue's duet with Donovan, her talents had her in the sights of music producers Stock, Aitken & Waterman, who were dominating the music scene at the time. The Australian would become famous so quickly that she was honored with her own wax figure at Madame Tussaud's (she has had four likenesses). Her nickname? The singing budgie.
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The exquisite corpse
In 1995, a completely different pop duo arose when two singers came together who would never imagine dueting: Nick Cave, from the wave / gothic / punk corner with his Bad Seeds and Kylie Minogue, the petite young pop goddess. In "Where the Wild Roses Grow" is not trilled. The dark song is about a man who kills his lover.
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A comeback (over and over)
Kylie's career has had its ups and downs. In the early 1990s, her record sales declined as she reoriented herself musically. And in her private life, things weren't running smoothly, either. An image shift may have been responsible as she transformed from a happy-go-lucky soul to a sex symbol. In 2000 she was back with the album Light Years.
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Her clothes!
Kylie came out of her slump swinging. The 2001 album Fever sold in the millions and both the song and the music video for "Can't Get You Out of My Head" went strong. It didn't matter that the diva was in her mid-30s: She was as sexy as ever in miniskirts and barely-there dresses. In Germany, people started referring to her as "Geilie Minogue" as a compliment about her sex appeal.
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Kylie, the brand
Since 2001, Kylie has had her own fashion and cosmetics line. Under the brand "Love Kylie," she even sells lingerie. In 2006, she cooperated with cosmetics firm Coty to create six perfumes and in 2008, she released "Kylie at home," a collection of bed linens and curtains made from organza and silk.
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We don't grow old, we grow golden
Shortly before her 50th birthday, Kylie Minogue has released her 14th studio album, Golden. The result of a trip to Nashville, the singer picked up the American country-western sound and in so doing, she said, she was able to work through her frustration about her unhappy love affairs. She's doing so much better now that she'll be celebrating her 50th birthday big-time.
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Filming the Australian soap opera The Henderson Kids was the time of her life. At least that's what Kylie Minogue told German press agency DPA. It's not hard to believe, seeing as the television show was her first, in 1985. With the fame, she however lost the last bit of privacy she had left.
She went on to act in another soap opera, this time alongside future love Jason Donovan. Together with Donovan, she made up a pop duet that quickly became one of the biggest hit machines of the 1980s.
An INXS affair
After Minogue's relationship with Donovan went down the tubes, she tried to change herself musically.
Her new boyfriend, Michael Hutchence of the Australian rock band INXS, inspired her to do so. But along with a big love like that came a lot of pain, she told gossip magazine Gala. Two years into their dream couple status, Hutchence left her for Danish supermodel Helena Christensen, ending the affair via telephone.
While they remained friends until Hutchence's death in 1997, Minogue changed her style: appearing harder, both artistically and in her dress. She acted alongside action hero Jean-Claude Van Damme in the blockbuster film Street Fighters.
The shift increased her sex appeal while decreasing her record sales; her music was no longer teeny-bopper fantasy, as she wanted to be respected for her musical talents. Critics were amused, saying that her skirt length waned as much as her chart success.
A Nick Cave collaboration
In the 90s, Minogue's efforts to remake herself musically and be taken seriously were successful. She collaborated with fellow Australian Nick Cave on the ballad "Where the Wild Roses Grow." A song about a man who murders his lover was considered one of the top 100 hits of the 90s by numerous critics.
She hit the global charts again in 2001 with the dance floor hit, "Can't Get You Out of My Head," a song for which she earned a reputation as a sex vamp.
An icon of the gay movement and country girl
As time went on, Kylie gained a spot in the hearts of many in the gay movement. She once said that she'd only marry once Australia allowed same sex marriage. In the meantime, that's happened but Kylie's not yet tied the knot.
In spring 2005, Minogue received a breast cancer diagnosis for an aggressive tumor. She withdrew from the public eye during that time, while her then-boyfriend French actor Olivier Martinez stayed at her side. Shortly after her treatment ended, she appeared once again in public, this time with short hair. Her relationship ended soon afterward.
After her cancer diagnosis, Minogue retreated from the public eye; her first appearance afterward was at a children's cancer wardImage: picture-alliance/dpa/M. Philbey
Until last year, Minogue was also engaged to the youthful British actor Joshua Sasse, 20 years her junior, but that ended. She grew depressed afterward, a depression she said that was made better by a trip to Nashville, where she learned the musical stylings of American country-western. She recorded Golden, her 14th studio album which was released just ahead of her 50th birthday.
Kylie's throwing a big party to celebrate her 50th — a birthday very much worth celebrating. As she sings in the title song to her latest album, "We're not young. We're not old. But golden."
