From a singing budgie to the golden lady: Kylie Minogue at 50

"I'm just a natural flirt, but I don't see it in a sexual way. A lot of the time I'm like an overexcited puppy," once said the pop singer. At barely five feet (1.5 meters) tall and with a slim size 34 figure, Kylie Minogue has seemingly eternal beauty, even at 50. As sexy as ever, she appears to defy the notion that women of a certain age can't be sex symbols.

She was just 17 when Kylie landed her first television role in 1985 on the Australian soap The Henderson Kids (seen here with co-star Mark Hennessy). Not yet blonde, she wore her hair in a typically 80s hairstyle: permed. She played her supporting role as Charlotte "Char" Kernow so well that she was directly committed to another series a year later.

Her breakthrough came with the next soap opera, Neighbours. The suburban soap starred her future partner, Jason Donovan and launched Kylie to teen idol status in her native Australia. In the series, she played Donovan's love interest so it was only a matter of time before they partnered up in real life to sing a love song.

Cotton candy pop and sugary sweet love songs were not uncommon in the 1980s. But the way that Kylie and her then-lover Jason Donovan breathed their sweetness into the microphone, is enough to give anyone with contemporary listening habits a toothache. Their big hair and broad shoulder pads scream 80s. Still, "Especially for You" was an international top 10 hit.

Even before Kylie Minogue's duet with Donovan, her talents had her in the sights of music producers Stock, Aitken & Waterman, who were dominating the music scene at the time. The Australian would become famous so quickly that she was honored with her own wax figure at Madame Tussaud's (she has had four likenesses). Her nickname? The singing budgie.

In 1995, a completely different pop duo arose when two singers came together who would never imagine dueting: Nick Cave, from the wave / gothic / punk corner with his Bad Seeds and Kylie Minogue, the petite young pop goddess. In "Where the Wild Roses Grow" is not trilled. The dark song is about a man who kills his lover.

Kylie's career has had its ups and downs. In the early 1990s, her record sales declined as she reoriented herself musically. And in her private life, things weren't running smoothly, either. An image shift may have been responsible as she transformed from a happy-go-lucky soul to a sex symbol. In 2000 she was back with the album Light Years.

Kylie came out of her slump swinging. The 2001 album Fever sold in the millions and both the song and the music video for "Can't Get You Out of My Head" went strong. It didn't matter that the diva was in her mid-30s: She was as sexy as ever in miniskirts and barely-there dresses. In Germany, people started referring to her as "Geilie Minogue" as a compliment about her sex appeal.

Since 2001, Kylie has had her own fashion and cosmetics line. Under the brand "Love Kylie," she even sells lingerie. In 2006, she cooperated with cosmetics firm Coty to create six perfumes and in 2008, she released "Kylie at home," a collection of bed linens and curtains made from organza and silk.

Shortly before her 50th birthday, Kylie Minogue has released her 14th studio album, Golden. The result of a trip to Nashville, the singer picked up the American country-western sound and in so doing, she said, she was able to work through her frustration about her unhappy love affairs. She's doing so much better now that she'll be celebrating her 50th birthday big-time.