It’s not just us notching up a milestone today; Australian pop royalty Kylie Minogue is celebrating her 50th birthday.
For most of us, the Aussie classic ‘The Henderson Kids’ was when we first got to know the artist who would go on to become a local pop icon.
But it was the long-running institution ‘Neighbours’ that would ultimately catapult her into superstar status.
Via the success of her role as Charlene on Ramsay Street, she hot-footed it to the UK and into the grasp of producers Stock Aitken Waterman, alongside whom she would ultimately dominate the pop charts.
She became the soundtrack to a generation, plastering our playlists with such pop classics as ‘I Should Be So Lucky’, ‘Hand On Your Heart’, ‘Better The Devil You Know’, ‘What Do I Have To Do’ and ‘Shocked’, before dancing down a different road for her two albums with Deconstruction.
Staggeringly, ‘Confide In Me’ would become Kylie’s first No.1 single in Australia in six long years. But it was through the ‘Impossible Princess’ era and the subsequent ‘Intimate And Live’ tour that she endeared herself to Australian audiences.
The new millennium kicked off with history’s most famous 50p pair of gold hotpants, a duet with Robbie Williams and an appearance at the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games, before Cathy Dennis and co provided her with her biggest ever hit, 2001’s ‘Can’t Get You Out Of My Head’.
It beggars belief that that massive global No.1 is now 17 years old itself.
More success followed from the ‘Fever’ campaign, along with hits from successive albums ‘Body Language’, ‘X’, ‘Aphrodite’ and ‘Kiss Me Once’.
Last month, however, Kylie released her aptly-titled 14th studio album ‘Golden’, a collection of country-tinged pop songs that took her musically in a slightly different direction. It became her fifth No.1 album in Australia.
Five Aussie No.1 albums, 11 other top ten albums, ten No.1 singles and 13 more top 10 singles across a music career spanning more than three decades and an entertainment industry career stretching back almost 40.
She’s a survivor, she’s an icon; a one boy girl who’s provided the glimmering soundtrack to countless lives across the planet, including ours.
She’s our Kylie, the Kylie. And today, she’s golden.
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