HER vocal range is limited, while her acting skills have never threatened the Hollywood A-list — but sex, style and a sharp eye for collaborators have reserved Kylie Minogue a special place in the British cultural psyche.

Written off as an actress, then a manufactured pop star, on each occasion Kylie has confounded the critics with a look, a sound or even an inappropriate boyfriend to keep her one step ahead of the chasing pack. Today Kylie is a £30 million brand, brandishing her own lingerie collection and in chart achievements second only to that other female icon known universally by her first name, Madonna.

But her success has come through creative alliances with the hottest songwriters, producers, fashion designers and video directors. A child actress in Australia, she became a teatime favourite for British children as the frizzy-haired, dungaree-clad mechanic, Charlene Mitchell, in Neighbours, first appearing in 1983.

Her relationship with co-star Jason Donovan mirrored their on-screen romance. Brad and Charlene’s subsequent marriage in a 1987 episode was watched by a record audience.

Kylie’s first No 1 song was a cover of Locomotion, which topped the charts in Australia in 1987. The British hitmakers Stock, Aitken and Waterman found her waiting in their studio reception with no idea who she was. They knocked up a chirpy single, I Should Be So Lucky, and gave her the cab fare to Heathrow. The song reached No 1 and was one of six hits on her debut album, which sold five million copies. A string of similar-sounding hits ended in 1991 when Kylie became the only artist in British music history to have her first 13 singles reach the Top Ten.

After a fervent relationship with Michael Hutchence, the INXS singer, who committed suicide in 1997, Kylie broke with the hit producers in an attempt to create a more mature sound. The bold move nearly finished her. A ballad with Nick Cave, the Australian singer, pleased critics but not her record company. She collaborated with the Pet Shop Boys and the Manic Street Preachers but her 1994 self-titled album, and its 1998 follow-up, Impossible Princess, failed to make any real impact in the charts.

Salvation arrived in 2000 with Spinning Around, which returned a pop-focused Kylie to the disco dancefloor and the top of the charts. William Baker, her creative director, helped her to stage a series of spectacular arena shows. Cathy Dennis, the award-winning songwriter, created Can’t Get You Out of My Head for her, a thumping dancefloor hit. She created a lingerie range in 2003.

She had proved unlucky in love, ending a relationship with Stéphane Sedanoui, a French photographer. Another boyfriend, James Gooding, sold his story to a newspaper.

By the beginning of this year, she had sold 40 million singles, 25 million albums and had discussed settling down with her actor-boyfriend Olivier Martínez. And Madonna was taking notes in the front row of her sell-out Earls Court shows.

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