Kylie Queen of the World

  Contents

  Title Page

  Dedication

  1 A Star Is Born

  2 The Only Way Is Up

  3 Scott and Charlene

  4 She Should Be So Lucky

  5 Corrupting Kylie Minogue

  6 The Lord Byron Of Rock

  7 After He’d Gone

  8 Indie Princess

  9 The Wilderness Years

  10 The Divine Miss M

  11 Spinning Around

  12 We Are Family

  13 Is Kylie An Alien?

  14 Kylie plc

  15 Comeback Kylie

  16 Tragedy and Triumph

  17 Comeback Kylie – Again

  18 Showgirl

  About the Author

  Copyright

  Very many thanks to Jane Clinton, Jane Sherwood and, above all, to Chris Williams.

  1

  A Star Is Born

  The year was 1968. It was to be an auspicious year by anyone’s standards: students were rioting in Paris, President Lyndon B. Johnson was in the White House and Billie Jean King was hard at work winning the Women’s Singles Tournament at Wimbledon. And on the other side of the world in Australia, a housewife called Carol Minogue – a Welsh-born ex-ballerina now married to a chartered accountant called Ron – was giving birth to her first child. That child, a girl, was born on 28 May in the Bethlehem Hospital in Melbourne. Her name was Kylie Ann Minogue.

  Kylie was the fulfilment of a dream for Carol, in more ways than one. For a start, she was a much-longed-for child; her parents had been wishing for a baby of their own for some time. On top of that, however, she was also to become the vessel through which her mother’s ambitions would flow. Carol, who had emigrated from Maesteg, Wales, with her parents – the Joneses – when she was just a child, had never entirely given up her dreams of stardom. And although since marrying Ron when she was 20 there had been no chance of her ever becoming the prima ballerina she had dreamed of being as a child, she felt that there was still a very good chance her daughter would become a star. A big star, at that. Other members of the family were in the entertainment business: Uncle Noel was a TV cameraman and Aunt Suzette was an actress. So why shouldn’t little Kylie go on to become someone big in show business too?

  As it happens, Carol had dreams for all her children. Two and a half years after Kylie was born, Danielle, later known as Dannii, came along on 20 October 1971. Brother Brendan had arrived a year earlier, and he was to end up as a cameraman, like Uncle Noel. But it was the girls’ future that Carol concentrated on. With her encouragement the two girls learned to dance and play the piano.

  It was Dannii who first caught the showbiz bug. She was the one desperate to succeed and force her way into the nation’s consciousness (at the time, the nation in question was just Australia; it was a while before anyone was to realise that global domination was a distinct possibility for at least one of the Minogue sisters) while Kylie sat around in the background sewing. Sewing was, and still is, Kylie’s favourite hobby; she might have the pick of the world’s designers these days, but she’s still a dab hand with needle and thread. And back then it was pretty much all she was interested in. ‘I was pretty shy at school and I suppose I still am,’ Kylie revealed in an interview shortly after becoming famous in Neighbours. ‘I was a loner – I’d rather sit and sew than run about playing games.’ Like most other children, however, she did have daydreams about an illustrious future: ‘I dreamed of being a pop star one day,’ she says, ‘but I never thought it would happen. I was just another kid who liked to think it might.’

  Right from the start, though, even despite this lack of ambition and a preference for sitting around in corners sewing, it was obvious that Kylie had something that other children didn’t – something that can best be summed up as charm. These days Kylie is a seasoned professional, someone who has been a star since her mid-teens, but even now she retains an innocence and a fresh-faced charm that wins over just about everyone, even the most hard-bitten show business professionals. And that charm was evident right from the start. ‘My mother tells this story about me competing in the under-eights piano competition at the Dandenong Eisteddfod,’ she says. ‘Apparently I walked on stage, turned and gave a really big smile to the judges, proceeded to play “Run Rabbit Run”, gave them another really big smile and promptly walked off – with the prize. I just charmed it out of them!

  ‘I do remember being little and dreaming about the television or singing in to a hairbrush, just desperate to be Olivia Newton-John in those tight, tight pants,’ she continues. ‘I’d also sing along to The Beatles and the Stones, to one Bonnie Tyler song I absolutely loved and, of course, to Grease and Saturday Night Fever. I was obsessed with the movie Grease. I loved the bit where Olivia transforms herself in to a high-heeled leather-clad rock chick. But I never really had any aspiration to be on TV and it wasn’t like anything you hear from some American artists: “When I was three years old I just knew I wanted to be a performer so I started taking lessons.” A lot of my career has just been a happy accident. Something my dad said to me sticks … it’s the story of my life: I skip steps one to eight and just do nine and ten, but miraculously I get away with it.’

  There was, in fact, a little more preparation to it than she admitted to. Kylie learned her trade from an early age, courtesy, of course, of her mother. Carol was not a particularly pushy showbiz mum compared to the parents of other child stars, but if a chance arose for her daughters, she was determined that they would be ready to take it. From a very early age both girls were learning the skills that would stand them in such good stead in the years to come – and they were also learning the professional attitude to work that both maintain to this day. ‘When I was four my mum took me to music classes with a bunch of other raucous four- and five-year-olds,’ Kylie recalls. ‘I remember making noises with sticks and glockenspiels. My mum wanted to introduce us to different artistic and creative influences, specifically music. I played piano, flute and violin till I was 13, by which time I became a slave to pop music.’ And she hasn’t really looked back since.

  That said, it was Dannii who was by far the more exuberant and lively of the two and it was Dannii who first attracted the attention of a talent scout. The younger of the Minogue girls was in a Melbourne supermarket, aged eight, when she was spotted by an acquaintance of Carol’s, who was also a talent scout. On the look-out for a new child star, the friend asked Dannii to audition for the part of Dutch girl Carla in the television soap The Sullivans.

  Carol was delighted for her daughter. However, in order to avoid Kylie feeling left out, she decided to take her along too. She did so to avoid competition between the girls; in fact, it had totally the opposite effect – at the ages of just ten and eight, the Minogue sisters found themselves competing with one another for the first time. ‘Mum thought I’d be jealous and insisted I go along to the audition as well,’ recalled Kylie. ‘All I remember is that I had to speak in a Dutch accent and I wasn’t very good at it.’ Fortunately or unfortunately, depending on your point of view, the producers of The Sullivans decided that it was Kylie, not Dannii, who was most suitable for the role. And so it was the elder of the two budding stars who ended up getting the part.

  As it happens, Kylie’s good fortune also turned out to be Dannii’s, as well. Carla didn’t last long in the series, as she was soon killed off. She made a comeback, though, when she returned as a ‘vision’ – by which time Kylie was too old to play the part and so Dannii, who bore a strong resemblance to her older sister at the time, was drafted in. She, too, began a successful television career – one which was, throughout their childhood, to eclipse Kylie’s.

  By this time, Kylie was attending Camberwe
ll High School in Melbourne. Years later, she recalled wearing a bottle green uniform, which she absolutely hated, and also recalled a campaign by the girls to be allowed to wear green cords instead of skirts in the winter. She also secured a little television work: when she was 11 she took part in a television series called Skyways, in which she met one Jason Donovan, who was playing her brother. ‘Jason was really chubby, with a bowl haircut, and I was really small, with straight blonde hair and big buck teeth,’ Kylie recalled some time later.

  There was then a gap in her work, however, until at 16 she got her big break: a part in a children’s serial called The Henderson Kids, in which she played the part of Charlotte Kernow. At the time Kylie was seen throughout Australia as ‘Dannii Minogue’s big sister’ – in some ways it’s a miracle that the two are still on speaking terms – but it was a start and the older Minogue sister very slowly began making a name for herself. Kylie often describes herself, and is described by others, as a bit hippyish, but she has a very determined streak that has always been there, and this was evident from the fact that she used her earnings from the series not to go out and buy lots of clothes as most teenagers would, but to record a demo tape. It was not a great success. ‘All I can remember is crying because I was so nervous,’ she says today. But she was doing it to broaden her appeal to casting directors: ‘The more things you can do, the better,’ she says. ‘Can you paraglide? Me? Sure. Rollerskate? No problem. Sing? Here’s my tape.’ It was a talent she was to put to very good use in later years. For now, however, acting was to be her mainstay: The Henderson Kids was followed by two further series: Fame and Misfortune and Zoo Family. And round about the same time, Kylie also hired her first agent. She was on her way.

  2

  The Only Way is Up

  During that break in Kylie’s career, it was Dannii who had become the star of the family and it was Dannii who had her own television show, Young Talent Time. ‘She (Kylie) hadn’t done much after The Sullivans and Skyways,’ recalls Alan Hardy, who had worked on both programmes and went on to be the producer of The Henderson Kids. ‘She had gone back to school and got on with her life. The great irony is that her sister was very well known at the time. Kylie was very conscious of that. She told me it was quite difficult having a famous sister.’ It was a problem both girls were to become very familiar with in the years to come.

  Kylie was also beginning to grow up as far as boys were concerned and when she was 13, she met her very first boyfriend, David Wood, who is now a hairdresser. ‘It was one summer when a whole lot of us used to hang around at the local swimming pool every day,’ recalled David, who was four years Kylie’s senior. ‘All the guys would spend their time jumping off the high dive boards to impress the girls. Kylie used to go there with her best friend Georgina Adamson, but it was Kylie who got all the attention. She was stunning looking, though very shy. All the guys thought she was great. One day we got chatting and soon became friends.’

  Nothing happened immediately. But David established the fact that he and Kylie were at the same school and gave chase, with the result that within a year, he and Kylie were in a relationship. ‘She always wanted to be famous, always saying “I want to be a star”,’ remembered David. ‘Not in acting, in pop. Or else with her own line in fashion clothes. She was always ace with a sewing machine – she can knock out an outfit in two hours. She wasn’t really much of a partygoer. She hated nightclubs – if we went at all it was because I pestered her to go. But she was great fun to be with.’

  David also saw the more tempestuous side of Kylie’s nature. ‘I have seen her cry and get extremely angry,’ he revealed. ‘She doesn’t like to expose her emotions – but yes, she can get mad. We had a few rows over the years. We split up four or five times. Sometimes it would be her that wanted it and sometimes it would be me but we always got back together again. I never had eyes for anyone else while I was with Kylie. I suppose I was like any Jack the Lad young guy at that age – a bit too casual, sometimes. She hated it if I wasn’t there to pick her up when I said I would and she would have a go at me. I also stood her up a few times and there were scenes then. But at that age I could get away with that sort of behaviour, just ring her in the morning, apologise and everything would be fine again.’

  And even way back then, Kylie was a clean-living girl. ‘She didn’t like my drinking and smoking at all,’ David admitted. ‘I wasn’t going out and getting drunk all the time but at parties I liked a few. She hardly touched a drop. She is a very light drinker and normally sticks to soft drinks. But she would nag me. And she can’t stand smoking, which I like.’

  In recent years, Kylie has emphasised how important her career is to her – to the extent that she has often put it before her personal life – and that trait was evident right from the start. When The Henderson Kids came along, Kylie put her all in to getting the part, despite feeling very nervous about going for the role. ‘She was very shy and insecure,’ said Alan Hardy. ‘To be honest, I think she probably still is. But she was very sweet. She found acting very hard and it took a long while to win her confidence so that she would trust us and give more of herself. She learned that we weren’t there to get her, that we were all on the same side and she could be herself on camera, rather than try too hard or let her shyness get on top of her.’ She also revealed another side to her character, however, one that would stand her in good stead for the demanding lifestyle that lay ahead. ‘In her audition, she showed that she had this toughness – yet she was so tiny and looked so vulnerable,’ recalled Alan. ‘She gave a great performance and she had a delightful personality.’

  It was Chris Langman who cast her for the part. ‘We were looking for someone to play the lead female’s best mate,’ he said. ‘I cast Kylie as Charlotte but the other girl we picked for the lead also happened to be a blonde and we didn’t want two blondes in the first and second roles. So we decided to dye Kylie’s hair red to make her look a bit different. Kylie was shy and the other actress, Nadine Garner, definitely wasn’t, so Kylie took a back seat for a while. She would sit on set between filming and draw pictures of us all, and they were really very good. But I don’t think she ever believed how good they were, which was quite typical of her.’

  Kylie and Nadine became friendly, to the extent that they used to sing harmonies and duets together, even hoping that one day they might join forces and sing professionally. ‘Kylie always had a fantastic voice,’ reflected Alan. ‘I used to get annoyed when I heard people criticising her voice after she became a singer. There’s no doubt that Kylie can sing. There was a song at the time called “I Am The Warrior” and she changed the words for me to make it “I Am The Worrier”, because I was always fretting about getting everything done properly. I still have a card somewhere that she sent me. She’d written in it, “Don’t worry Al baby.”’

  Alan also had an early insight in to the way the Minogue family worked together. ‘It was a very strong family unit,’ he recalled. ‘At The Henderson Kids, we encouraged the parents to give their children over to us and let us work. It can be quite restrictive having parents on set when kids are trying to act. They need freedom to grow themselves. The Minogues were trusting of Kylie and us to let us get on with things. They were very supportive.’

  Kylie wanted to continue with the show for a second season, but her part was written out. She was devastated – but, as so often happens in showbiz, it turned out to be for the best because something much bigger was waiting around the corner. After obtaining her Higher School Certificate, Kylie landed the part that made her an international success: Charlene in Neighbours. Initially contracted for just 12 weeks, Kylie was so popular that she stayed with the show for two and a half years. And, almost overnight, Kylie Minogue became a real star.

  ‘I like to think that I made Kylie famous by not casting her in The Henderson Kids II,’ Alan said. ‘It was to be about the lead kids moving from the country to the city to start a new life. Kylie’s character didn’t move with them, so she didn�
�t feature. I think she was a bit disappointed, but it turned out to be the best thing for her, because she went straight on to land the role of Charlene in Neighbours. If she’d been in the second Henderson Kids she wouldn’t have been able to go for it.’

  Truth be told, while Neighbours made Kylie, Kylie should be able to claim at least a certain amount of credit for reviving Neighbours. The show had actually premiered in 1985 as the brainchild of Reg Watson, who had also been responsible for such gems as The Young Doctors, Sons and Daughters and Prisoner (Cell Block H) when he was head of Drama for the television production company Grundy Organisation I. The idea was a simple one: take three families – the Ramsays, the Robinsons and the Clarkes – put them on the same street – Ramsay Street – and watch them interact. Reg was determined to get it exactly right: according to the Neighbours official website, he wrote 20 drafts of the first script before he was satisfied with what he had done.

  Now came the search for a location. After a considerable search, a location scout found a cul-de-sac called Pin-Oak Court in the Vermont district of Melbourne. According to the website, the houses were more upmarket than the show’s producers had originally wished for, but the location was ideal: it was a quiet, out-of-the-way street near the studios (where indoor scenes would be filmed), which was also accessible via the rear, where large vehicles could be parked out of camera range. The scout checked with the real-life neighbours who lived on the street – the Bauers, the Aldingers and the Pierces – and everyone, thinking the programme would be a short-lived phenomenon, agreed to allow the street to be used for the new show.

  So, location and script agreed upon, it was time to cast the new series. The producers decided a mix of established actors and newcomers would suit the feel of the programme, and so they picked Alan Dale and Anne Haddy, both well-known faces on Australian television, and Elaine Smith, a newcomer. The first episode was broadcast on 18 March 1985 and was greeted with a waft of indifference from the rest of the world. Neighbours was born – and no one cared.