Australia's Kylie Minogue has breast cancer

Reuters ^ | Tue May 17, 8:59 AM ET | Michael Perry

[Pharmboy]

Australian singer Kylie Minogue arrives for the
National Academy of Recording Arts and
Sciences annual Musicares 2004 Person of the
Year dinner at Sony Studios in Los Angeles in
this February 6, 2004 file photo. Minogue's
management said on May 17, 2005 that the
singer and actress had been diagnosed with
early breast cancer, will seek immediate
treatment and cancel her forthcoming Australian
Showgirl Tour. Picture taken February 6, 2004.
(Fred Prouser/Reuters)
____________________________________________________

Pop diva Kylie Minogue, whose hit album "Fever" went platinum in the United States, has been diagnosed with breast cancer and has postponed her Australian and Asian tour, her management said Tuesday.

Minogue, 36, is Australia's biggest music star, rising from humble beginnings as an Australian teenage soap-opera actress to international stardom as one of the world's top pop singers and, most recently, as a flamboyant gay icon revered in Britain.

The Frontier Touring Co. said the singer often known just as "Kylie" was diagnosed with early breast cancer while visiting family in Melbourne this week.

"She will undergo immediate treatment and consequently her Australian tour will not be able to proceed as planned," the company said in a statement.

Minogue is the second pop star to be diagnosed with the disease in as many years. American singer Anastacia underwent treatment for breast cancer in 2003 after the illness was detected when she was 29 years old.

Minogue's "Showgirl Tour" was to open Thursday in Australia before performances in Asia and a headlining act at Glastonbury, Europe's biggest music festival, at the end of June.

She said was sorry to disappoint her fans.

"Nevertheless, hopefully all will work out fine and I'll be back with you all again soon," Minogue said in a statement.

Her record label Parlaphone, owned by music company EMI, confirmed she had pulled out of Glastonbury, host to most of greatest names in pop and rock since it started in a field in western England in 1970.

Minogue, who is signed to EMI, was worth about A$60 million (US$46 million), according to a 2004 list of rich young Australians compiled by BRW magazine.

In 2002, one of Minogue's bras sold for $6,880 in London at an auction to raise money for breast cancer awareness. Minogue has also worked to raise awareness of prostate cancer, after her father was diagnosed with it.

"It is unusual because breast cancer is predominately a disease of older women," Professor John Toy, the medical director of the charity Cancer Research UK, told Reuters.

"To be diagnosed at 36 is unusually bad luck for her."

But Toy said the disease was diagnosed early, which speaks well for Minogue's prognosis.

KYLIE A FIGHTER

Australian concert promoter and long-time friend Michael Gudinski said Minogue was fit and strong.

"It was diagnosed this morning," he told reporters. "I'm hoping and praying because the doctor found it so early that everything will be okay. She's got a few tough weeks ahead of her. The one thing I know about Kylie is, she's a fighter."

Minogue is understood to be staying with her family at their home in the Melbourne suburb of Canterbury, local media reported.

Her sister Dannii, also a successful singer, was expected to return from London, Australian media reported. It was unclear whether Minogue's French boyfriend, actor Olivier Martinez, was with her in Australia.

Fans bombarded Kylie Minogue Web sites with messages of support. "I have always admired you for being a strong and successful woman," wrote fan Helen Fornber. "I have no doubt you will get through this."

Minogue, who stands 154.9 cm (five ft, one inch) and is usually seen in stilettos, has become a global music icon through an ability to continually re-invent herself -- from the girl next door in the 1980s to today's sexy, but innocent, pop princess.

Her acting career took off in 1986 as the teenage character "Charlene" in the Australian soap opera "Neighbors" which led to her singing career.

The Kylie phenomenon reached fever pitch in 2001 with the release of her hit "Can't Get You Out of My Head" from the multi-platinum selling album "Fever."

Over the years her career has hit rocky patches but each time Minogue, renowned for her hard work and drive, bounced back.

She has had a series of high-profile relationships, dating in 1989 the leader of Australian rock band INXS, Michael Hutchence, who was found hanged in a Sydney hotel in 1997.

Minogue is revered by some almost as much for her signing as for her bottom since wearing gold hotpants in one raunchy music video. The hotpants have been deemed culturally significant and are now on display in Australia. (Additional reporting by Patricia Reaney in London)

[Pharmboy]

"Can't Get You Outta My Head" is a great song. So sorry she's got suffering ahead. Good luck, Kylie.

[sushiman]

Very nice pair , too . Not a fan , but wish her well .

[Casaubon]

sad to hear about anyone coming down with cancer, but nobody gives a rats backside about a everyday woman that gets it.

Sorry my celeb sympathy well is dried up.

as a human I hope she gets better.

[MikefromOhio]

that sucks...

hope she gets better soon....

[cyborg]

Look on the bright side. People only pay attention when celebrities have problems. She'll encourage women to get themselves checked out.

[Pharmboy]

Everyone that knows or is related to an "everyday woman" that comes down with the Big C cares about her. Minogue is just known to more people: she's a person like everyone else.

[muir_redwoods]

Good luck lady, you've got too much energy for something like this to keep you down for long.

[speedy]

Not a fan either, but I have some vague recollection of her getting some flack for a pro-war stance against Islamofascists, so she gets credit for that.

[justshutupandtakeit]

My Beloved was diagnosed with it at age 40 and was gone by 43. I can't say I ever heard any of this girl's music but hope for the best for her.

[Pharmboy]

I am so sorry that you lost your beloved so early in your life together. What a tragedy for your family. No one deserves that...especially good people like you.

[squidly]

I thought it was her bum that she was famous for.

[Tailback]

My mother died from breast cancer that metastasized. My father is dying from lymphoma. I wouldn't wish cancer on my worst enemy. Cancer is the worst way to die that I can think of. May God bless and heal Ms. Minogue and every person everywhere afflicted with cancer.

[Pharmboy]

The good news on the horizon is that likely within ten or so years the bio-braniacs will figure out precisely which molecular switches need to be thrown to stop this dreaded disease.

I am so sorry for your losses. I too lost both parents to this disease.

[justshutupandtakeit]

Thanks. God gave her to me for 20 and she gave me two great sons so I had it better than many who have lives filled with nothing but misery. Any claim to being a good man in large part comes from my life with her making me a better man.

I miss her but God had other plans.