She is a chameleon  a master of disguise, playing different characters from a hooker to a girl-next-door in her music videos. Most people view her as a pop star and a fairly accomplished actress, and sometimes she can be both at the same time. And while the number of candles on her birthday cakes aren’t as easy to look at anymore, it shows most of all that she is a person who is warm, giddy, contradicting, and generous  hopefully like the rest of us.
It took her 15 years of hard work and frequent disappointments, but Kylie Minogue has finally reached worldwide success and at the very least, earned the right to bow down before the throne of the Material Girl. This is not to say that Ms. Minogue’s past efforts weren’t hits (many of them sold well in Australia, Asia and Europe), but to be able to crack the demanding entrance of the American music industry is indeed quite an achievement  even for a girl who has lived in the limelight most of her life.
Kylie’s latest album "Fever" was a chartbuster the world over and its single Can’t Get You Out Of My Head shot to number one in at least 23 countries. Significantly, the US market took notice and the said song entered the Billboard Hot 100 at number three. She is currently on tour and Evian recently plastered her gorgeous face on a million water bottles. Not bad for a petite lass whom critics thought wouldn’t last.
The first of three children, Kylie Ann Minogue was born on May 28, 1968. At the age of 12, she got her first acting job as a regular of the Australian TV show The Sullivans. She then went on and did several other daytime soaps including Neighbors in 1986  a show that catapulted her to national fame. At a benefit show, Ms. Minogue did a cover version of the classic tune Locomotion. The audience reportedly loved the performance so much that it was suggested that she record the song and release it as a single. If Ms. Minogue had any reservations on how well the general public would accept the record, it didn’t last long. Locomotion became (and remains today) Australia’s biggest selling single of the decade.
Encouraged by the surprise success of the song, Ms. Minogue recorded I Should Be So Lucky  the song that formally established her as a music artist. It went straight to the top of the charts in her homeland and in Britain, as well as becoming a huge hit in Germany, Finland, Hong Kong, Israel, and other countries which had never even heard of Neighbors. Ms. Minogue’s belief in her singing abilities proved to be founded with the UK Smash Hits Poll voting her the Best Female Artist of 1988 and The Sun, Daily Express and Sunday People national newspapers voting her Top Female Singer and Newcomer of 1988.
With the release of her duet with Jason Donovan Especially For You in November 1988, Ms. Minogue became the first female artist ever to have her first five singles all go silver. This brought Ms. Minogue’s single sales in the UK to well over two million and got her second UK No 1 hit. Before long, more albums and more hits were churned out and she could have gladly called herself a princess in the mainstream of bubblegum-pop music.
Fast-forward to 2002 and you can see that I would have left out many gaps and more highlights in Ms. Minogue’s illustrious career in the article. But this is to, ahem, entice Kylie fans to read the exclusive interview (well, again, almost exclusive) next Friday along with other colorful stories on the pop queen herself. And while I never leave you hanging in most articles I write, I’m sure you’ll be glad that I did this time.
It was one of the most awkward situations I’ve been in, for I was five feet away from one of the most beautiful people I’ve ever seen (physically, that is). And while most of my buddies are still drooling over the fact that I actually met and shook hands with Ms. Minogue, I feel that it’s just right  I should be so lucky indeed.