Kylie minogue

17 min read

OVER THE PAST 35 YEARS, THE AUSTRALIAN SUPERSTAR HAS DELIGHTED FANS, CONFOUNDED CRITICS AND CONSISTENTLY CHALLENGED HERSELF, EMERGING AS ONE OF POP’S ALL-TIME GREATS

MARK LINDORES

Back in 1987, soap stars weren’t exactly renowned purveyors of quality music. Anita Dobson, Nick Berry and, erm, Benny from Crossroads had all scored UK hits but were forever consigned to the novelty single category. So it’s no surprise that expectations were low for the debut single from Kylie Minogue, an Australian actress in a daytime soap opera.

Back home, the Neighbours star was the toast of Oz TV and on the verge of crossover success after her cover of Little Eva’s The Locomotion unexpectedly became the biggest-selling single of the year off the back of a charity benefit gig. But with no follow-up prepared, her Australian label Mushroom Records promptly dispatched Kylie to London to record a single with producers du jour Stock Aitken Waterman (SAW) during a break from filming.

Kylie’s relationship with SAW got off to a famously rocky start when the pop powerhouses deemed her such a low priority that the trio forgot they were working with her, keeping Minogue waiting for a week before cobbling together a song in an hour as she was preparing to board her flight home.

When that song, I Should Be So Lucky – released on Pete Waterman’s own PWL label due to disinterest from all other record companies – spent five weeks at No.1 in the UK, Mike Stock was forced to make a grovelling emergency dash Down Under with three potential follow-ups for Kylie to record during her breaks from Neighbours – Got To Be Certain, Turn It Into Love and It’s No Secret. Minogue recorded the remainder of her debut album during subsequent trips back to SAW’s Hit Factory studios when her filming schedule allowed.

Released in July 1988, Kylie was an instant sensation, going on to shift five million copies and becoming the biggest-selling album of 1988. Got To Be Certain and the re-recorded and retitled The Loco-Motion both hit No.2 in the UK. Fans couldn’t get enough of their heroine’s pop confections – however formulaic they may have sounded.

Je Ne Sais Pas Pourquoi is beautifully melancholic while Love At First Sight captures the giddiness of a new relationship. I’ll Still Be Loving You is a mature ballad and It’s No Secret offers a change of pace to portray first-time heartbreak. The standout is undoubtedly Turn It Into Love, the most faithful to SAW’s earlier hi-NRG successes. Proud of what they called their production-line pop, SAW compared their business model to Motown. If that was the case, in Kylie they’d found their Diana Ross.