 56.jpg)
.JPG)
.jpg)
.jpg)
Brightonin Preston Park by Southern FM
Cardiffin Bute Park by Red Dragon FM
Kentin The Hop Farm Country Park by Invicta FM
Southamptonon Southampton Common by Power FM, called Power in the Park
Stoke-on-Trent in Britannia Stadium by Signal 1
Swansea in Singleton Park by The Wave 96.4 FM
Category:Benefit concerts Category:Music festivals in England Category:Music festivals in Wales
This text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.
| Name | Natalie Imbruglia |
|---|---|
| Background | solo_singer |
| Birth name | Natalie Jane Imbruglia |
| Born | February 04, 1975 |
| Origin | Central Coast, New South Wales, Australia |
| Instruments | Singing |
| Genre | Pop, Alternative rock |
| Years active | 1991–present (actress) 1997–present (singer) |
| Label | RCA / BMG (1997–2004)Brightside / Sony BMG (2004–2008) Malabar / Island (2009–2010) |
| Notable albums | Left Of The Middle |
| Notable songs | Torn, Wrong Impression, Shiver |
| Url |
Natalie Jane Imbruglia () (born February 4, 1975) is an Australian singer-songwriter, model and actress.
In the early 1990s, Imbruglia was known to audiences as Beth Brennan in the popular Australian soap Neighbours. Three years after leaving the programme, Imbruglia launched a singing career with the international hit, "Torn". The subsequent debut album Left of the Middle (1997) sold over 6 million copies worldwide. While following releases, White Lilies Island (2001) and Counting Down the Days (2005), have been unable to match the commercial success of her debut, the latter became her first UK #1.
Her fourth studio album, Come to Life, was released on October 2, 2009 to little effect. The physical UK release has been delayed so that Imbruglia can commit to her duties as mentor and judge on the Australian version of The X Factor'' franchise.
She co-starred in the 2003 film Johnny English and made her leading actress debut in the 2009 film Closed for Winter.
By the end of her second year, she left the show to move to London, immersing herself in the city's club scene. Her effort paid off and she was signed to BMG Publishing, after coming up with a demo of the song "Torn" which greatly impressed RCA Records.
It was also released as a radio single in the U.S., but not in buyable CD-format. The single quickly hit #1 on the Billboard's Hot 100 Airplay chart, where it stayed for 14 weeks. At the time, singles not released commercially were unable to chart to the overall Hot 100 chart (combined sales and airplay), so "Torn" made no appearance on it for a while. By the time the policy was changed in late 1998 to allow airplay-only songs, "Torn" was already heading down the charts, so its peak on the Hot 100 only ended up being at #42. The single also topped the Top 40 Mainstream/CHR Pop and Adult Top 40 charts.
In October 1997, it broke the all-time airplay record in the U.K. for being the most played (more than 2000 plays) for six consecutive weeks. It was finally No. 1 for 14 weeks in the U.K. radio chart, a record that is being tied by only Simply Red's Fairground. It was the No. 1 radio single in the U.S. from March to July 1998. It was knocked down to No. 2 by The Goo Goo Dolls' Iris.
Rick Dees, in his Top 40 Chart show also declared "Torn" as the 'number one radio single of 1990s' in their 2000 Millennium Countdown show, broadcast from KIIS-FM on New Year's Eve.
Imbruglia made a surprise appearance alongside David Armand midway through a performance of his supposed 'interpretative dance' routine to sing her hit song Torn at Amnesty International's The Secret Policeman's Ball (2006).
Imbruglia's debut album Left of the Middle was released on 8 December 1997. It sold 350,000 copies in the UK 3 weeks after its initial release and was certified platinum. It has sold over 6 million copies to date. It broke the record of the highest selling debut album by a pop/rock/alternative female artist, more than Alanis Morissette, Fiona Apple, and Meredith Brooks combined in its first week according to Billboard. The second single released in the UK, after "Torn" was "Big Mistake", which debuted at number-two. "Wishing I Was There" followed and it was less successful than her first two singles, reaching number 19. However, "Wishing I Was There" was a smash hit on the UK radio, peaked at No. 2 in summer 1998, and was a summer smash hit in the USA radio, peaked at No. 14 on the Top 40 Show. The final single from Left of the Middle was "Smoke", and the reception was much more divided compared to the other singles. It was a hit in the UK and made the top 5, while in Australia it just missed the top 40. Eventually, the album became a million-seller after charting well in many countries and entering the Top 10 in the US and UK. In 1999, she recorded a cover of the song Never Tear Us Apart by INXS with Tom Jones which appeared on his album Reload.
Left of the Middle was certified platinum by RIAA within 4 weeks of release (3 April 1998) and was certified 2X platinum in November 1998.
, Italy, in 2005]] Imbruglia's third album was ready in November 2003. Imbruglia's record label refused to release it due to it being too rock and not radio-friendly. She was later given songs to record with Swedish pop producers, Bloodshy & Avant, which she refused to do. Imbruglia and her record label parted ways at the beginning of 2004. Four months later she signed with a new label Brightside Recordings, which was formed by a former Innocent Records executive, Hugh Goldsmith.
It was decided that 'Sanctuary' would be second single from the album. The promo singles were sent to radio stations. The decision was later changed to the title track "Counting Down the Days", with radio stations being asked to play the album version, because the radio mix was not finished. The single was released on July 25 but it did not have as much success in the singles chart as "Shiver." Though it managed to reignite interest in its parent album, and also received a lot of airplay in the UK. Due to the single, the album managed to re-enter the top 40 in the official UK charts.
Imbruglia had a choice to either release 'Perfectly' as her third single, or use the GBP200,000 funding from BMG to do a tour. She decided to do a small European tour (as she had not done a proper tour since Left of the Middle) in late October and November to promote the album. Though the album never entered UK Top 40 again, she proved once again that she had maintained a dedicated fan base; several concerts, especially those in London, sold out.
The album is the 100th best-selling album in 2005, selling 204,877 copies in the UK alone.
Imbruglia started working on her fourth album in late 2005. In mid 2007 the plans changed and Imbruglia's record company decided to release the single collection instead. The compilation is a celebration of Imbruglia's 10 years in the music industry. The only single lifted from the album - "Glorious" premiered in BBC Radio 1 on the Chris Moyles Show. The promotion included a special acoustic gig. It can be found on iTunes. The Singles Collection debuted at #5 in the UK Music charts, and boasted 5 new songs, including the single "Glorious", as well as a bonus DVD featuring all Imbruglia's Music Videos. The album has sold around 600,000 copies worldwide to date.
According to The Sun, Imbruglia and Chris Martin of Coldplay collaborated on "a string of tracks, which are likely to feature on her forthcoming album". Martin later confirmed the information. In an interview he said he had asked Imbruglia to record one of the band's songs which, he thinks, turned out great adding "we've given her the best Coldplay song of all time [. . .] she sounds [. . .] brilliant on it. I think she has a very unique talent and an incredibly unique voice." She later stressed that she recorded two songs written by him saying "if Chris Martin calls with two songs, you don't think, you say, 'Yes'." It was confirmed that the songs were mixed by Michael Brauer. He also informed that there are actually three songs written by Chris, which were recorded by Imbruglia and that the album is finished and awaits mastering.
Two songs — "My God" and "Apologise" — leaked to the Internet in early February. It was confirmed that the latter was co-written with Jamie Hartman of Ben's Brother and will not be included on her fourth album. A version of "Apologise" performed by Ben's Brother was released instead in 2009 as the first single from their second album, Battling Giants.
Tracks confirmed to be part of the album include "Fun", "Lukas", and "Want", which were mixed by Michael Brauer. The music video for a pre-single track, "Wild About It", was filmed in London on July 25, 2009.
In July 2009, it was announced that the album will be released via Island Records outside of Australia and New Zealand. A record deal for distribution in Australia and New Zealand is expected to be announced soon. Universal Music is set to release the album locally in Australia on October 9, 2009, and New Zealand on October 5, 2009.
According to Imbruglia's website, the first official single taken from Come to Life is "Want", which was written by Imbruglia, Daniel Johns (credited Kat Kourtney), Gary Clark, and Chris Martin. The single was released on September 28, 2009, to critical acclaim, but poor worldwide chart performances.
On August 3, 2009 the music video of "Wild About It" was released.
Come to Life was released on October 12, 2009 in Europe, and in the UK on 3 May 2010, with a new lead single "Scars". The video for "Scars" was filmed on 26 February 2010 according to her Twitter. "Scars" was sent to radio in the UK on 22 March 2010; however, due to no support from radio networks, the single release was cancelled. There was further news that the single would be released with a 5 July date, however the video and single cannot be found on the internet anywhere. The release of her album was also cancelled in the UK.
Imbruglia is the elder sister of singer-songwriter Laura Imbruglia.
She has been seen sporting tattoos of Sanskrit/Hindi inscription "Shreya" on her neck, Chinese word for courage on her left foot and Sanskrit Aum on her lower back, and has her left nipple pierced.
Imbruglia stated that she has never had any plastic surgery but added "I wouldn't rule it out because I don't know how I'll feel in the future." She also stated she'd like to "grow old gracefully, wrinkles and all".
Besides modelling for L'Oréal, Imbruglia also modelled Sass and Bide's "The Mad Ones" dress to raise money for cancer.
Category:1975 births Category:1990s singers Category:2000s singers Category:2010s singers Category:Living people Category:Australian people of Italian descent Category:Sicilian Australians Category:Australian television actors Category:Australian pop singers Category:English-language singers Category:Australian female singers Category:Australian singers of Italian descent Category:Australian singer-songwriters Category:ARIA Award winners Category:Australian expatriates in the United Kingdom Category:RCA Records artists Category:Island Records artists Category:The X Factor judges Category:The X Factor (UK)
This text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.
| Name | Lee Ryan |
|---|---|
| Background | solo_singer |
| Birth name | Lee Ryan |
| Born | June 17, 1983 |
| Origin | Chatham, Kent |
| Instruments | Singing |
| Genre | Pop, soul, acoustic |
| Occupation | Singer, songwriter, actor |
| Years active | 2001–present |
| Label | Sony BMG (2005-2006) Tale Tale (2007-2008) Geffen (2010) |
| Associated acts | Blue |
| Url |
Lee Ryan (born 17 June 1983, Chatham, Kent, England) is an English singer-songwriter, actor and member of the British boy band Blue.
Category:1983 births Category:Living people Category:English male singers Category:English songwriters Category:British people of Irish descent Category:People from Chatham Category:Blue (boy band) members Category:Sylvia Young Theatre School pupils
This text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.
| Name | Kylie Minogue |
|---|---|
| Background | solo_singer |
| Birth name | Kylie Ann Minogue |
| Birth date | May 28, 1968 |
| Birth place | Melbourne, Australia |
| Genre | Pop, synthpoprock, dance, electronic |
| Occupation | Singer, songwriter, actress, record producer, fashion designer, author, entrepreneur, philanthropist |
| Years active | 1979–present |
| Label | PWL (1987-1993) Deconstruction (1993-1998) Parlophone (1999-present) Mushroom (Australia) |
| Url |
Initially presented as a "girl next door", Minogue attempted to convey a more mature style in her music and public image. Her singles were well received, but after four albums her record sales were declining, and she left Stock, Aitken & Waterman in 1992 to establish herself as an independent performer. Her next single, "Confide in Me", reached number one in Australia and was a hit in several European countries in 1994, and a duet with Nick Cave, "Where the Wild Roses Grow", brought Minogue a greater degree of artistic credibility. Drawing inspiration from a range of musical styles and artists, Minogue took creative control over the songwriting for her next album, Impossible Princess (1997). It failed to attract strong reviews or sales in the UK, but was successful in Australia and Israel where it reached the number 1 position.
Minogue returned to prominence in 2000 with the single "Spinning Around" and the dance-oriented album Light Years, and she performed during the closing ceremonies of the 2000 Sydney Olympics. Her music videos showed a more sexually provocative and flirtatious personality and several hit singles followed. "Can't Get You Out of My Head" reached number one in more than 40 countries, and the album Fever (2001) was a hit throughout the world, including the United States, a market in which Minogue had previously received little recognition. Minogue embarked on a concert tour but cancelled it when she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2005. After surgery and chemotherapy treatment, she resumed her career in 2006 with . Her tenth studio album X was released in 2007 and was followed by the KylieX2008 tour. In 2009, she embarked upon her For You, For Me Tour, her first concert tour of the US and Canada.
Minogue has achieved worldwide record sales of more than 60 million, and has received notable music awards, including multiple ARIA and Brit Awards and a Grammy Award. She has mounted several successful concert tours and received a Mo Award for "Australian Entertainer of the Year" for her live performances. She was awarded the Order of the British Empire "for services to music", and an Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 2008.
The Minogue sisters began their careers as children on Australian television. Interested in following a career in music, she made a demo tape for the producers of the weekly music programme Young Talent Time, which featured Dannii as a regular performer. Kylie gave her first television singing performance on the show in 1985 but was not invited to join the cast. Dannii's success overshadowed Kylie's acting achievements,
Her popularity in Australia was demonstrated when she became the first person to win four Logie Awards in one event, and the youngest recipient of the "Gold Logie" as the country's "Most Popular Television Performer", with the result determined by public vote.
Her follow-up album Enjoy Yourself (1989) was a success in the United Kingdom, Europe, New Zealand, Asia and Australia, and contained several successful singles, including the British number one "Hand on Your Heart", In December 1989, Minogue was one of the featured vocalists on the remake of "Do They Know It's Christmas", and her debut film, The Delinquents, premiered in London. It was poorly received by critics, but it 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.
Rhythm of Love (1990) presented a more sophisticated and adult style of dance music and also marked the first signs of Minogue's rebellion against her production team and the "girl-next-door" image. Determined to be accepted by a more mature audience, Minogue took control of her music videos, starting with "Better the Devil You Know", and presented herself as a sexually aware adult. Her relationship with Michael Hutchence was also seen as part of Minogue's departure from her earlier persona; Hutchence was quoted as saying that his hobby was "corrupting Kylie", and that the INXS song "Suicide Blonde" had been inspired by her. The singles from Rhythm of Love sold well in Europe and Australia and were popular in British nightclubs. Pete Waterman later reflected that "Better the Devil You Know" was a milestone in her career and said that it made her "the hottest, hippest dance act on the scene and nobody could knock it as it was the best dance record around at the time". Her fourth album, Let's Get to It (1991), reached number 15 on the British album charts and was the first of her albums to fail to reach the Top 10;
A Greatest Hits album was released in 1992. It reached number one in the UK and the singles "What Kind of Fool (Heard All That Before)" and her cover version of Kool & The Gang's "Celebration" each reached the UK Top 20. She performed a striptease in the video for her next single, "Put Yourself in My Place", inspired by Jane Fonda in the film Barbarella. This single and her next, "Where Is the Feeling?" each reached the British top 20, During this period she made a guest appearance as herself, in an episode of the comedy The Vicar of Dibley. The director Steven E. de Souza was intrigued by Minogue's cover photo in Australia's Who Magazine as one of "The 30 Most Beautiful People in the World", and offered her a role opposite Jean-Claude Van Damme in Street Fighter (1994). The film was a moderate success, earning USD$70 million in the U.S., She co-starred with Pauly Shore and Stephen Baldwin in Bio-Dome (1996), but it was a failure, dismissed by Movie Magazine International as the "biggest waste of celluloid space".
Australian artist Nick Cave had been interested in working with Minogue since hearing "Better the Devil You Know", saying it contained "one of pop music's most violent and distressing lyrics" and "when Kylie Minogue sings these words, there is an innocence to her that makes the horror of this chilling lyric all the more compelling". They collaborated on "Where the Wild Roses Grow" (1995), a brooding ballad whose lyrics narrated a murder from the points of view of both the murderer (Cave), and his victim (Minogue). The video was inspired by John Everett Millais's painting Ophelia (1851–1852), and showed Minogue as the murdered woman, floating in a pond as a serpent swam over her body. The single received widespread attention in Europe, where it reached the top 10 in several countries, and acclaim in Australia where it reached number two on the singles chart, and won ARIA Awards for "Song of the Year" and "Best Pop Release". Following concert appearances with Cave, Minogue recited the lyrics to "I Should Be So Lucky" as poetry in London's Royal Albert Hall "Poetry Jam", at the suggestion of Cave, and later described it as a "most cathartic moment". She credited Cave with giving her the confidence to express herself artistically, saying: "He taught me to never veer too far from who I am, but to go further, try different things, and never lose sight of myself at the core. For me, the hard part was unleashing the core of myself and being totally truthful in my music." By 1997, Minogue was in a relationship with the French photographer Stéphane Sednaoui, who encouraged her to develop her creativity. Inspired by a mutual appreciation of Japanese culture, they created a visual combination of "geisha and manga superheroine" for the photographs taken for the album Impossible Princess and the video for "German Bold Italic", Minogue's collaboration with Towa Tei. Minogue drew inspiration from the music of artists such as Shirley Manson and Garbage, Björk, Tricky and U2, and Japanese pop musicians such as Pizzicato Five and Towa Tei.
Impossible Princess featured collaborations with musicians such as James Dean Bradfield and Sean Moore of the Manic Street Preachers. Mostly a dance album, its style was not represented by its first single "Some Kind of Bliss", and Minogue countered suggestions that she was trying to become an indie artist. She told Music Week, "I have to keep telling people that this isn't an indie-guitar album. I'm not about to pick up a guitar and rock." Acknowledging that she had attempted to escape the perceptions of her that had developed during her early career, Minogue commented that she was ready to "forget the painful criticism" and "accept the past, embrace it, use it". Billboard described the album as "stunning" and concluded that "it's a golden commercial opportunity for a major [record company] with vision and energy [to release it in the United States]. A sharp ear will detect a kinship between Impossible Princess and Madonna's hugely successful album, Ray of Light". Retitled Kylie Minogue in the UK following the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, it became the lowest-selling album of her career. At the end of the year a campaign by Virgin Radio stated, "We've done something to improve Kylie's records: we've banned them." to become her most successful album since Kylie in 1988, and her Intimate and Live tour was extended due to demand. The Victorian Premier, Jeff Kennett, hosted a civic reception for Minogue in Melbourne, and she maintained her high profile in Australia with live performances, including the 1998 Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras, and Sydney's Fox Studios in 1999, where she performed Marilyn Monroe's "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend", and a Christmas concert in Dili, East Timor in association with the United Nations Peace-Keeping Forces. Returning to Australia, she appeared in the film Sample People and recorded a cover version of Russell Morris's "The Real Thing" for the soundtrack. Her album Light Years (2000) was a collection of dance songs, influenced by disco music. Minogue said that her intention was to present dance-pop music in a "more exaggerated form" and to make it "fun". The single "Spinning Around" became her first British number one in ten years, and its accompanying video featured Minogue in revealing gold hot pants, which came to be regarded as a "trademark". The single was described by a 2009 The Times article as heralding a new era in synthpop that was continuing. and number two in the UK. She then embarked upon a concert tour, On A Night like This Tour, which played to sell-out crowds in Australia and the United Kingdom. Minogue was inspired by Madonna's 1993 world tour The Girlie Show which incorporated Burlesque and theatre, William Baker also cited the style of Broadway shows such as 42nd Street, films such as Anchors Aweigh, South Pacific, the Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers musicals of the 1930s and the live performances of Bette Midler. Minogue was praised for her new material and her reinterpretations of some of her greatest successes, turning "I Should Be So Lucky" into a torch song and "Better the Devil You Know" into a 1940s big band number. She won a "Mo Award" for Australian live entertainment as "Performer of the Year". Following the tour she was asked by a Seattle Post-Intelligencer journalist what she thought was her greatest strength, and replied, "[That] I am an all-rounder. If I was to choose any one element of what I do, I don't know if I would excel at any one of them. But put all of them together, and I know what I'm doing."
She appeared as "The Green Fairy" in Moulin Rouge! (2001), shortly before the release of Fever, an album containing disco elements combined with 1980s electropop and synthpop. Fever reached number one in Australia, the UK, and throughout Europe, eventually achieving worldwide sales in excess of eight million. Its lead single "Can't Get You Out of My Head" became the biggest success of her career, reaching number one in more than 40 countries. She won four ARIA Awards including a "Most Outstanding Achievement" award, and two Brit Awards, for "Best international female solo artist" and "Best international album". Rolling Stone states that "Can't Get You out of My Head" "was easily the best and most omnipresent dance track of the new century", and following extensive airplay by American radio, Capitol Records released it and the album Fever in the U.S. in 2002. Fever debuted on the Billboard 200 albums chart at number three, and "Can't Get You out of My Head" reached number seven on the Hot 100. and the following year won the same award for "Come into My World".
Minogue's stylist and creative director William Baker explained that the music videos for the Fever album were inspired by science fiction films—specifically those by Stanley Kubrick—and accentuated the electropop elements of the music by using dancers in the style of Kraftwerk. Alan MacDonald, the designer of the 2002 KylieFever tour, brought those elements into the stage show which drew inspiration from Minogue's past incarnations. The show opened with Minogue as a space age vamp, which she described as "Queen of Metropolis with her drones", through to scenes inspired by Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange, followed by the various personas of Minogue's career. and 2006 in the U.S.; she voiced one of the principal characters, Florence.
Minogue began a relationship with the French actor, Olivier Martinez, after meeting him at the 2002 Grammy Awards ceremony. Her next album, Body Language (2003), was released following an invitation-only concert, titled Money Can't Buy, at the Hammersmith Apollo in London. The event marked the presentation of a new visual style, designed by Minogue and Baker, inspired in part by Brigitte Bardot, about whom Minogue commented: "I just tended to think of BB [Bardot] as, well, she's a sexpot, isn't she? She's one of the greatest pinups. But she was fairly radical in her own way at that time. And we chose to reference the period, which was ... a perfect blend of coquette and rock and roll." The album downplayed the disco style and Minogue said she was inspired by 1980s artists such as Scritti Politti, The Human League, Adam and the Ants and Prince, blending their styles with elements of hip hop. It received positive reviews with Billboard Magazine writing of "Minogue's knack for picking great songs and producers". Allmusic described it as "a near perfect pop record... Body Language is what happens when a dance-pop diva takes the high road and focuses on what's important instead of trying to shock herself into continued relevance". Sales of Body Language were lower than anticipated after the success of Fever, After reaching number one on the US club chart, "Slow" received a Grammy Award nomination in the Best Dance Recording category. The Wall Street Journal described Minogue as "an international superstar who seems perpetually unable to conquer the U.S. market".
Minogue played a guest role in the season finale of the comedy series Kath & Kim, in which she referenced her earlier role as Charlene in Neighbours, during a wedding sequence. The episode achieved the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's highest ratings of the year.
She released her second official greatest hits album in November 2004, entitled Ultimate Kylie, along with her music videos on a DVD compilation of the same title. The album introduced her singles "I Believe in You", co-written with Jake Shears and Babydaddy from the Scissor Sisters, and "Giving You Up". "I Believe in You" reached the U.S. Hot Dance Club Play top three, and was exhibited at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London in February 2007. Minogue commenced her , and after performing in Europe, travelled to Melbourne, where she was diagnosed with breast cancer.
In February 2007, Minogue and Olivier Martinez announced that they had ended their relationship, but remained on friendly terms. Minogue was reported to have been "saddened by false [media] accusations of [Martinez's] disloyalty". in November 2007. The electro-styled album included contributions from Guy Chambers, Cathy Dennis, Bloodshy & Avant and Calvin Harris. The album received some criticism for the triviality of its subject matter in light of Minogue's experiences with breast cancer; she responded by explaining the personal nature of some of the album's songs, and said "My conclusion is that if I'd done an album of personal songs it'd be seen as 'Impossible Princess 2' and be equally critiqued." and said of her breast cancer, "thankfully, the experience hasn't made her music discernibly deeper". X and "2 Hearts" entered at number one on the Australian albums and singles charts respectively. In the UK, X initially attracted lukewarm sales, and Minogue won a Brit Award for "International solo female". X was released in the U.S. in April 2008, and debuted outside the top 100 on the albums chart despite some promotion. X was nominated for the 2009 Grammy Award for Best Electronic/Dance Album, Minogue's fifth Grammy Award nomination.
In December 2007, Minogue participated in the Nobel Peace Prize Concert in Oslo, Norway, and later performed in the final of the UK talent show The X Factor with the eventual winner, Leon Jackson, whose mentor was Dannii Minogue. From May 2008, Minogue promoted X with a European tour, KylieX2008, which is her most expensive tour to date with production costs of £10 million. Although she described the rehearsals as "grim" and the set list went through several overhauls, She appeared in The Kylie Show, which featured highly stylised set-piece song performances from Minogue as well as comedy sketches with Mathew Horne, Dannii Minogue, Jason Donovan and Simon Cowell. She co-starred in the 2007 Doctor Who Christmas special episode, "Voyage of the Damned", as Astrid Peth, a waitress on a spaceship Titanic. The episode aired on 25 December 2007, with 13.31 million viewers, the show's highest viewing figures since 1979.
It was announced in late December 2007 that Minogue was to be among those honoured in Queen Elizabeth II's 2008 New Years Honours list, with an OBE for services to music. Minogue commented "I am almost as surprised as I am honoured. I feel deeply touched to be acknowledged by the UK, my adopted home, in this way." She received the OBE officially from The Prince of Wales in July 2008. In May, 2008 Minogue was awarded the French Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, France's highest cultural honour. Culture Minister Christine Albanel described Minogue as a "midas of the international music scene who turns everything she touches into gold", and saluted her for publicly discussing her breast cancer. and won the "Best International Female Solo Artist" award at the 2008 BRIT Awards.
In late September 2008, Minogue made her Middle East debut as the headline act at the opening of Atlantis, The Palm, an exclusive hotel resort in Dubai, and from November, she continued with her KylieX2008 tour, taking the show to cities across South America, Asia and Australia. The tour visited 21 countries, and was considered a success, with ticket sales estimated at $70,000,000. She hosted the 2009 BRIT Awards on 18 February 2009 with James Corden and Mathew Horne.
In September and October 2009, Minogue embarked on the For You, For Me Tour, her first North American concert tour, which included shows in the U.S. and Canada. On 14 December 2009, Minogue released a download-only concert album entitled . The album was recorded at New York's Hammerstein Ballroom and contains 25 live version songs.
In July 2010, Minogue filmed a cameo performance as a rock star in the American independent film Jack and Diane. The movie stars Juno Temple, Riley Keough and Jena Malone. She also recorded a duet titled "Devotion" with British synthpop duo Hurts for their debut album Happiness, released on 6 September 2010. The second single from Aphrodite, titled "Get Outta My Way" was released on 27 September 2010. In October 2010, Minogue performed in front of the Sphinx and the Pyramids at Giza, Eygpt to celebrate the anniversary of "Enigma" magazine, with profits going to the We Owe It To Egypt Foundation. A third single, Better Than Today, was released on 6 December 2010. It peaked at number thirty-two in the UK and became her lowest charting single to have a proper physical release.
On 1 December 2010, Minogue and Parlophone records released A Kylie Christmas (EP) on iTunes, which included a cover of the 1945 song Let It Snow as well as Santa Baby which was previously available as a b-side to her 2000 single Please Stay.
By 2000, when Minogue returned to prominence, she was considered to be have achieved a degree of musical credibility for having maintained her career longer than her critics had expected. That same year, Birmingham Post noted "[o]nce upon a time, long before anybody had even heard of Britney, Christina, Jessica or Mandy, Australian singer Kylie Minogue ruled the charts as princess of pop. Back in 1988 her first single, I Should Be So Lucky, spent five weeks at number one, making her the most successful female artist in the UK charts with 13 successive Top 10 entries." Her progression from the wholesome "girl next door" to a more sophisticated performer with a flirtatious and playful persona attracted new fans to her. After 20 years as a performer, Minogue was described as a fashion "trend-setter" and a "style icon who constantly reinvents herself". She has been acknowledged for mounting successful tours, and for worldwide record sales of more than 60 million.
Minogue is regarded as a gay icon, which she encourages with comments such as "I am not a traditional gay icon. There's been no tragedy in my life, only tragic outfits..." and "My gay audience has been with me from the beginning ... they kind of adopted me." Minogue has been inspired by and compared to Madonna throughout her career. Kathy McCabe for The Telegraph notes that Minogue and Madonna follow similar styles in music and fashion, and concludes, "Where they truly diverge on the pop-culture scale is in shock value. Minogue's clips might draw a gasp from some but Madonna's ignite religious and political debate unlike any other artist on the planet... Simply, Madonna is the dark force; Kylie is the light force." During the same week a bronze cast of her hands was added to Wembley Arena's "Square of Fame".
In March 2010, Minogue was declared by researchers as the "most powerful celebrity in Britain". The study examined how marketers identify celebrity and brand partnerships. Mark Husak, head of Millward Brown's UK media practice, said: "Kylie is widely accepted as an adopted Brit. People know her, like her and she is surrounded by positive buzz". In June 2010, after a performance at Glastonbury with the Scissor Sisters on their track "Any Which Way", Minogue started filming a cameo role in the film Jack and Diane, in New York.
Minogue was acknowledged for the impact she had made by publicly discussing her cancer diagnosis and treatment; in May 2008, the French Cultural Minister Christine Albanel said, "Doctors now even go as far as saying there is a 'Kylie effect' that encourages young women to have regular checks."
Category:1968 births Category:Living people Category:1980s singers Category:1990s singers Category:2000s singers Category:2010s singers Category:Actors from Melbourne Category:ARIA Award winners Category:Australian child actors Category:Australian dance musicians Category:Australian expatriates in the United Kingdom Category:Australian female singers Category:Australian film actors Category:Australian pop singers Category:Australian television actors Category:Australian people of Irish descent Category:Australian people of Welsh descent Category:Breast cancer survivors Category:BRIT Award winners Category:Capitol Records artists Category:Disco musicians Category:Freestyle musicians Category:Gold Logie winners Category:Grammy Award winners Category:LGBT rights activists from Australia Category:Officers of the Order of the British Empire Category:Parlophone artists Category:Recipients of the Centenary Medal Category:Singers from Melbourne Category:The X Factor judges Category:The X Factor (UK)
This text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.
