The best magazine
- Australian singer Kylie Minogue, whose brave battle with cancer has inspired millions, was honored in London in the Queen's 2008 New Year Honors List (published on December 29, 2007) with an Order of the British Empire (OBE). The award was in recognition of her services to music.
The singer was officially presented with her OBE at Buckingham Palace on July 3, 2008. Prince Charles, Prince of Wales, conferred the award in the absence of Queen Elizabeth II who was in Scotland at the time of the London ceremony.
- In May 2008, she received the Chevalier Dans L'Ordre Des Arts Et Des Lettres decoration, France's highest cultural honor. Past recipients of the French award include singers Bob Dylan and David Bowie and Hollywood stars George Clooney, Leonardo Di Caprio, Clint Eastwood, Robert Redford, Meryl Streep and Bruce Willis.
From girl next door on Australian television to international princess of pop, Australian singer Kylie Minogue has crammed a scintillating career, although not without its ups and downs, in the worlds of acting and music.
In 2005, as she was poised to start her sold-out Showgirl tour in Australia, she learned she had breast cancer. Already she had completed the United Kingdom part of her international tour, and from Australia she was to have headed into the Asia leg of her Showgirl tour.
Shows postponed
In the evening of May 17 came word of her just-diagnosed affliction. All her Australian concert shows, taking in Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Brisbane and Perth were "postponed" in the hope they could be held at a later time.
In a statement issued on May 17, the singer said: "I was so looking forward to bringing the Showgirl tour to Australian audiences, and am sorry to have to disappoint my fans. Nevertheless, hopefully all will work out fine and I'll be back with you all again soon."
- After Kylie Minogue was diagnosed with breast cancer, the news from Melbourne on May 19, 2005, was that the cancer had not spread to other parts of her body and that surgery would be performed by one of Australia's leading surgeons.
- Three days later, on May 22, Australian eastern standard time, Kylie Minogue was reported as recuperating at Melbourne's St Frances Xavier Cabrini Hospital after surgery late Friday afternoon to remove a cancerous lump from her breast. "I feel confident that we caught the cancer in time and that she's now on the road to a complete recovery," hospital surgeon Dr Jenny Senior was quoted as saying.
- Sydney's Daily Telegraph reported on July 19, 2005, that Kylie Minogue had flown to Paris for chemotherapy at the Institute Gustave-Roussy.
- After extensive cancer treatment in Paris, the singer was reported to be back home in Melbourne in mid-January 2006. Her chemotherapy treatment was said to have been completed in December and she had now been given the "all clear" by her doctors; there was no confirmation of this.
- There were reports in April 2006 that Kyie Minogue was well enough and had begun planning to perform her aborted Australian Showgirl tour.
- In November 2006, Kylie Minogue returned to Australia and resumed her Australian Showgirl tour which she completed in December.
From Skyways to Neighbours
From her first appearing in 1980 in the Australian TV series Skyways, Kylie Minogue then joined the cast of The Sullivans the following year, later leaving this series to appear as Charlene in the longest-running TV series, Neighbours.
- Neighbours first went to air in March 1985 on Australia's Channel 7, later transfering to Channel 10. A Neighbours highlight was the wedding in 1987 of Charlene and Scott (played by Jason Donovan). New episodes of Neighbours continue to be shown on Australian television and in a number of countries overseas.
Striking a responsive chord with television viewers, Kylie Minogue won a Silver Logie for Most Popular Actress in 1987. The Logies are Australia's two-tiered annual TV awards based on either audience votes or selection by one's peers.
No 1 hits
In the interim she recorded the song Locomotion which made No 1 in Australia for seven weeks. Her debut album, Kylie, was released in 1988 featuring the song I Should Be So Lucky which hit No 1 in the United Kingdom and stayed there for several weeks.
She left Neighbours in 1988 to concentrate on her music career. She won the ARIA (Australian Record Industry Association) Award for Outstanding Achievement in 1990.
Round-the-world popularity
In 2001 Kylie Minogue's Can't Get You out of My Head topped the charts around the world. Her recording of Come into My World won a Grammy Award for best dance recording in 2004.
There was a perception in Australia that Kylie Minogue was more popular overseas than in Australia. Her booked-out Show Girl Australian concert proved that perception wrong.
Movie roles
Not forgetting her start in the entertainment world as an actress, she appeared in the movies The Delinquents (1989) with Charlie Schlatter, Street Fighter (1994) with Jean Claude Van Damme, and the Australian film Sample People (1998) with Ben Mendelsohn. The films did little to ernhance her reputation.
In the 2001 Baz Luhrmann film, Moulin Rouge, Kylie Minogue appeared briefly as the Green Fairy.
Melbourne girl
Kylie Minogue was born in Melbourne in 1968.
Source: ...