Singers Kylie Minogue and Gladys Knight are celebrating their birthdays today.
Kylie Minogue, 46
Australian singer-songwriter and actress Kylie Minogue turns 46 today. Minogue started her career as a child actress on Australian television, gaining recognition with her role in the television soap opera Neighbours. She started her career as a recording artist in 1987. Her first single, "The Loco-Motion", spent seven weeks at number one on the Australian singles chart and became the highest-selling single of the decade in Australia. Her debut album, Kylie (1988), and the single "I Should Be So Lucky", both performed well on international charts. After four albums, her sales started to decline, so she left her record label and changed her look, adding more sexuality, in 1992.
Minogue returned to fame in 2000 with her single "Spinning Around" and her dance-oriented album Light Years. She performed during the closing ceremonies of the 2000 Sydney Olympics. Her single, "Can't Get You Out of My Head," reached number one in more than 40 countries, and her album Fever was also a hit in many countries, including the US. With her new international fame, Minogue went on to release numerous hits including "In Your Eyes", "Love at First Sight" and "Come into My World."
Minogue also continued acting throughout her singing career, appearing in the films The delinquents, Street Fighter, Moulin Rouge! and Jack & Diane. Minogue served as a judge on the BBC One network singing competition series, The Voice UK. She has signed up for The Voice Australia, and will start her Kiss Me Once Tour in Nov 2014.
Gladys Knight, 70
Singer-songwriter, humanitarian, actress and author Gladys Knight turns 70 today. Knight started her career with the group Gladys Knight & the Pips in 1966. The Motown group released several successful hits including "I Heard It Through the Grapevine," "Friendship Train," "If I Were Your Woman," "I Don't Want To Do Wrong," "Neither One of Us (Wants to Be the First to Say Goodbye)" and "Midnight Train to Georgia."
Knight made her film debut in pipe Dreams and earned a Golden Globe Best New Actress nomination. She also appeared in Hollywood Homicide and Tyler Perry's I Can Do Bad All By Myself. Knight made appearances in a few television shows including A Different World, Living Single, New York Undercover, 30 Rock, and was a contestant on Dancing with the Stars.
Knight released 10 solo studio albums, and is a seven-time Grammy award winner. She has 3 children from previous relationships. She and her current husband, William McDowell, have sixteen grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.