Have you ever turned up for a magazine shoot and insisted on playing an imaginary piano? Or turned up four hours late for a dinner with Nelson Mandela with the excuse that you're tired? If the answer is no, then you are probably not Whitney Houston. With a voice that could shatter glass at ten paces and the kind of tantrums that would cause the most demanding of divas to comment, "Bit picky isn't she?" Whitney Houston rose to become the biggest selling soul and pop star of the 80's, at one point, even outselling Madonna in album sales. Recently in the news more for her drug problems (she checked into a drugs rehabilitation centre in March 2004) and her turbulent on-off marriage to R&B singer Bobby Brown, (he has recently served a prison sentence for violating the terms of his parole), Houston has still managed to maintain her eminence as a soul diva. Born on 9 August, 1963 in Newark, New Jersey, Whitney was destined for stardom almost as soon as she could walk. As the daughter of gospel singer Cissy Houston and a cousin of soul star Dionne Warwick, Whitney grew up surrounded by music. She grew up singing in the church choir but her natural talent and beauty stood out from the start. As a teenager she sang backing vocals for Chaka Khan and Lou Rawls and she dabbled successfully as a model, featuring on the covers of Seventeen and Glamour. She also appeared in TV commercials and sitcoms but these were just diversions and a warm-up for the main event, a singing career. At the age of 18 she signed a management contract with Gene Harvey who spent the next two years grooming her and working on her looks, acting and dance classes. In 1985 a 22-year-old Whitney signed with Arista Records and spent another two years honing her eponymously titled debut album under the guidance of Arista Records boss Clive Davis. The album was finally released in February, 1985 and spawned the massive hit singles Saving All My Love For You, a UK No.1, How Will I Know and The Greatest Love Of All. The album eventually sold more than 13m copies to become the best-selling debut of all time by a female solo artist. 1987's follow up album, Whitney, became the first album by a female artist to enter the US charts at No. 1 and with the singles including So Emotional and Where Do Broken Hearts Go, she became the first artist in history to score seven consecutive US No. 1 hits. Houston's acting and dancing lessons paid off in her dynamic MTV videos and in 1990 she became permanently enshrined in the hearts of the American public when she sang The Star Spangled Banner at the US Super Bowl in Miami. She also performed the song as she welcomed back US troops returning from the Gulf War. Whitney's massive success meant she would spend the following years touring. In her personal life, after being romantically linked with Eddie Murphy and Jermaine Jackson, Whitney surprised her family and friends by marrying the bad-boy of R&B Bobby Brown. Brown already had three out-of-wedlock children by two different women and his womanising and boozy ways were seen as inappropriate for the Prom Queen of soul. But despite Brown's apparent failure as hubby 'material', Houston continued to profess her love for him through numerous fights and disagreements. (Most recently, the police were called to the couple's house in New Jersey in January 2004 after Brown had allegedly hit Houston in a domestic row). Whitney spent the the best part of the 90's concentrating on her movie career. She also gave birth to a daughter, Bobbi Kristina. In 1992 Whitney made her movie debut in The Bodyguard with Kevin Costner. The film was a worldwide hit, earning £300m and spawning the most successful soundtrack album ever released with sales of 33m copies due largely to Houston's soaring interpretation of the Dolly Parton classic I Will Always Love You. The song was a UK No.1, spending 23 weeks on the chart. (Although it seemed longer!) In 1995 Whitney starred in Waiting For Exhale with Angela Bassett, a film about successful black women looking for good men. Again, the film and the soundtrack album was a massive hit. The soundtrack was co-produced by Houston and featured three new tracks from her: Exhale (Shoop Shoop), Count On Me and Why Does It Hurt So Bad. The album was a US No.1 and has sold more than 10 million copies worldwide to date. 1996 flick The Preacher's Wife didn't fare as spectacularly at the box office but the soundtrack gave Whitney a chance to get back in touch with her gospel roots. Performing on the album with her mother Cissy and Dionne Warwick, the album became the biggest selling gospel LP in Billboard's US chart history.

Whitney made a return to the studio for 1998's My Love Is Your Love album. With the songwriting help of Missy Elliott and Wyclef Jean on slick tracks such as It's Not Right (But It's OK) and the title track, the album was a confident attempt by Houston to update her R&B sound and to reclaim ground lost to the new diva superstars Mariah Carey and Jennifer Lopez. That same year news of a potentially catastrophic duet with Mariah Carey was announced. The strong-lunged, octave-jumping singers recorded When You Believe, the theme song from the animated flick The Prince of Egypt. Despite images of the divas out-doing eachother with outraeous requests - 14 puppies, 16 oiled midgets, etc, the recording process was comparatively smooth-running and the song was a transatlantic hit. Houston returned to the headlines in early 2000 with a series of incidents that indicated her personal life was under strain. She was arrested at Hawaii airport after a large quantity of cannabis was found in her bag and there were more "domestics" with hubby Bobby Brown. There were also rumours, after Whitney's late arrivals and no-shows at various industry awards bashes and concerts that she was perhaps 'refuelling' with something stronger than orange juice and a vitamin tablet. Nevertheless the rumours didn't deter Arista records from re-signing Whitney to a lucrative £70m contract in 2000. But two lukewarm albums, Love, Whitney (2001) and Just Whitney (2002) have done little to repay the label's faith in their superstar. And with the news that Whitney has just admitted herself to a drugs rehabilitation clinic, there may be some wait for the next repayament installment...

KYLIE MINOGUE BIOGRAPHY
Although she's only managed one hit in the U.S. since her arrival as a singer in 1987, Kylie Minogue is both Australia and Europe's biggest selling female pop singer over that period and a pop culture icon in those areas. Her image on the cover of magazines is guaranteed to produce extra sales. But a singing career was never what Minogue had in mind for herself. b. 28 May 1968, Melbourne, Australia. Coming from a stage family, Minogue passed an audition for the Australian soap opera, Neighbours, which eventually led to her recording debut with Little Eva's hit, "The Loco-Motion". When the television series was successfully screened in Britain, prolific hit producers Stock, Aitken And Waterman intervened to mould Minogue's attractive, wholesome, anodyne image to their distinctive brand of radio-centred pop. The first UK single, "I Should Be So Lucky", reached number 1 in early 1988, presaging an impressive chart run of instantly hummable UK hits, including "Got To Be Certain" (number 2), "Je Ne Sais Pas Pourquoi" (number 2), "Hand On Your Heart" (number 1), "Wouldn't Change A Thing" (number 2), "Never Too Late" (number 4), "Tears On My Pillow" (number 1), "Better The Devil You Know" (number 2), "Step Back In Time" (number 4), "What Do I Have To Do" (number 6) and "Shocked" (number 6). If she was ever just along for the ride, Minogue took her first step towards control over her career with her 1990 single "Better the Devil You Know," not letting Stock Aitken and Waterman see the video she was making for the song until it was completed. SAW insisted on casting her in a girl-next-door mode, while Minogue opted for a saucier Madonna-like image. It ensured her continued success and reputation as a celebrity beyond the pop charts. With her fourth album, Let's Go to It (1991), the singer also insisted on lyrical input. With solo success enhanced by duets with co-star Jason Donovan, including the UK number 1 "Especially For You", Minogue emerged as one of the most successfully marketed acts of the late 80s and early 90s, with books and movies, including The Delinquents. 1991 was also the year that she became romantically involved with INXS lead singer, Michael Hutchence. This romance allowed her to explore her sexuality further and was the beginning of Minogue's new image. Further hit singles included a duet with Keith Washington on "If You Were With Me Now", and "Give Me Just A Little More Time" (number 2).

Surprisingly, she even won some acclaim in the music press and found herself championed as an unlikely "pop goddess", signing to dance music label Deconstruction Records in 1994. She enjoyed another UK hit single the same year with the mature "Confide In Me". In 1996 she recorded a single, "Where The Wild Roses Grow", with Nick Cave and the following year was working in the recording studio with the Manic Street Preachers. The original title for Impossible Princess had to be changed, as it was felt that it clashed with the death of Princess Diana. Not to be confused with her 1994 self-titled release, Kylie Minogue was a much grungier album than expected, but marked a downturn in Minogue's commercial fortunes that resulted in her being dropped by Deconstruction. The following year she was working in the recording studio with the Manic Street Preachers, further enhancing her new found credibility. She signed a new deal with Parlophone Records in 1999, and returned to the top of the UK charts the following July with the infectious dance single, "Spinning Around". Light Years saw Minogue firmly back in the disco pop bracket, an area to which she is clearly best suited. She returned to the top of the UK singles chart in September 2001 with the highly catchy "Can't Get You Out Of My Head". A sparkling new album followed to delight her fans. Minogue's renaissance continued in America, with "Can't Get You Out Of My Head" breaking into the Top 10 and Fever rapidly ascending the charts.2003's Brit Awards saw the much discussed Kylie posterior hit the headlines again, as it was pawed by Justin Timberlake in a steamy duet. 'Body Language', Ms Minogues 2003 album effort, spawned the recent number 1 'Slow'. Now she is set to release the second single from that album, entitled 'Red Blooded Woman'.

GEORGE MICHAEL BIOGRAPHY

"Excuse me Mr. Michael. Is that a microphone in your pocket or are you just pleased to see me?" Sadly, for such a talented and successful artist, George Michael's arrest for lewd behaviour in a Beverly Hills toilet in 1998 still overshadows his career. It's a heavy burden for a man who spent most of the 80's carrying the even heavier burden of his Wham! partner Andrew Ridgeley, always first to deflect journalists' favourite question. "So what exactly does Andrew do?" With the exception of Justin Timberlake and to a lesser extent Robbie Williams, George Michael is the only artist to successfully negotiate the transition from teen pop idol to international solo superstar. He's sold 75m albums worldwide and has come to be regarded as an excellent songwriter and performer. His most recent album Patience, released in March 2004, sold over 200,000 copies in its first week of release signalling a rebirth in the singer's fortunes after a stormy decade in the 90's. "Now if you'll just zip up Mr. Michael and accompany me to the station...." George Michael was born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou (nicknamed Yog by his family) on June 25, 1963 in Edgware North London. He grew up in the 'burbs, the son of a Greek father and an English mother. After studying various instruments in school, George experimented with various bands and after a few false starts (including funk outfit Executive), George teamed up with fellow Bushey Meads Secondary School pupil Andrew Ridgeley to form Wham! in 1982. As a party going, Formula 3 race car crashin' hedonist, Ridgeley represented the whole ethos of the band, while George provided all the essential bits, great songs, good voice and an ability to play a musical instrument. Whether they were signing on the dole (Wham Rap) or dodging the responsiblities of wives, kids and mortgages (Young Guns), or just shoving shuttlecocks down their shorts, Wham were two fun lovin', devil-may-care, suburban geezers out for a good time and until their split in 1986 with sign-off single Edge Of Heaven, they had become the most successful UK pop act of the 80's.

As a solo star George had the difficulty of trying to change his image from hedonistic playboy to serious artist. He had already dipped his toe in the water with 1984's solo hit Careless Whisper (guilty feet have got no rhythm) and 1986's ballad A Different Corner, a UK No.1, which showed the more introspective, thoughtful side of pop's hairiest Greek crooner. In a further bid to change his image from Club Tropicana regular to serious artist George teamed up with soul legend Aretha Franklin in 1987 for the duet I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me). The song topped the charts in the US and the UK. But George's real emergence as a solo star came later that year with his debut solo album Faith. Out went the tennis shorts and shuttlecocks and in came leather, shades and his now trademark designer stubble. His solo proper debut single, 1987's skeletal, Prince-like funker, I Want Your Sex, courted controversy with a saucy video involving honey, high heels, stockings and other essentials for a really filthy weekend in Hastings. The song earned itself a BBC ban and the righteous indignation of the lesser guitar strummin' idol, DJ Mike Read. The boot tappin' strum 'n' roll of his next single Faith was more wholeheartedly received and the resulting album, Faith, topped the charts in the UK and US spawning four US No 1 singles (Faith, Father Figure, One More Try, Monkey) and earned Michael a 1987 Grammy for Best Album. Faith established Michael as a global superstar and demonstrated his consummate songwriting ability, equally adept at ballads and blue eyed funk workouts. But Michael recoiled from his massive success and tired of the spotlight, took three years to return with the 1990 album, Listen Without Prejudice, a more introspective, soul-baring affair compared to the fake-funk perviness and raunch rock of Faith. Michael refused to feature a picture of himself on the album's cover and refused to publicise the record with interviews, feeling the music should speak for itself. The album, a UK No.1, spawned just two major hits, the ballad Praying For Time and the more upbeat Freedom 90, subsequently covered by Robbie Williams as his debut single. A duet with Elton John on Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me revived his UK chart fortunes, reaching No. 1 in December 1991 and also topping the US charts. In 1992, the Sunday Times announced his arrival as one of the richest men in the UK. Although Michael, with some help from Queen and Lisa Stansfield, topped the UK charts with the Five Live EP in summer 1993, a court clash with his record label Sony dominated his activities in the following two years

Listen Without Prejudice had sold less well than the all-conquering Faith leading Michael to complain that his label, Sony, had done little to promote his new direction, still wanting to present him as a leather lovin', shades wearin' sex symbol against his wishes. Michael slapped a restraint of trade action against Sony but the case was eventually thrown out of court in 1994 when the judge sided with Sony. Michael vowed never to record for Sony again, effectively gagging himself as an artist. The debacle was resolved in 1995 when Sony released Michael from his contract in a buyout from David Geffen's newly formed Dreamworks label and Virgin Records. The buyout was rumoured to cost the two companies over £20m with George bagging a £30m advance for two albums. The first, 1996's Older was another broody, angst laden affair, informed by the death of his Brazilian lover from Aids. The album's first single, the tender ballad Jesus To A Child topped the UK charts, as did follow up single, Fastlove. In 1997 Michael announced the formation of his own label, Aegean Records but the label would close a few years later with no major successes. On April 7 1998, Michael was arrested for "lewd behaviour" in a toilet cubicle at the Will Rogers Memorial Park in Beverly Hills, California. Michael later confirmed his long-rumoured homosexuality and was sentenced to perform community service. It was an extraordinary way for such a private individual to announce his homosexuality to the world. Ridiculed in subsequent tabloid headlines ("Zip me up before you go-go,") Michael bounced back with an excellent single, Outside, with an accompanying video depicting mock scenes from the arrest with George dressed as an LA cop. The police officer who arrested George, Marcello Rodriguez, wasn't happy and sued Michael for distress, unsuccessfully. Meanwhile a greatest hits package, 1998's Ladies And Gentlemen was a worldwide success although fans were baffled by 1999's millennial covers album, Songs From The Last Century featuring a jazzy, wine bar interpretation of The Police's Roxanne, among others. Michael returned to the charts in March 2002 with the one-off single "Freeek!", which was accompanied by a risqué, trussed up, latex 'n' rubber lovin' £1m video. He courted controversy again a few months later, baiting US President George W. Bush and PM Tony Blair with Shoot The Dog. The single's poor chart showing (only reaching number 12) and the reaction to the single in the US where critics branded him a "past-his-prime pop pervert", indicated Michael's commercial star was on the wane. But 2004 album Patience signalled a reversal in his fortunes. Full of the attention to songwriting and tender ballads that had marked his greatest solo successes, the album spawned hit single Amazing and went on to sell over 200,000 copies in its first week. But Michael also announced that from now on, he won't be needing the money thanks very much and that he will cease to release commercial material. "My music will be available to download from a website and I'd like fans to contribute money to charity instead via the site," said Michael. "I'm a rich man and as a pop star I'm paid too much money for what I do."