Music News: Kylie Minogue and The Wiggles Inducted Into Hall Of Fame

Aria Awards 2011

The Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) today announced further details of what will be a massive celebration of Australian music at the 2011 ARIA Awards to be staged at Allphones Arena, Sydney Olympic Park, on Sunday, 27 November, 2011.

The ARIA Hall of Fame is a wonderful club that is growing bigger each year. This year, another two worthy recipients will join the ranks of those illustrious artists already inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame, a list that includes bona fide music legends such as AC/DC, Dame Joan Sutherland, Olivia Newton John, Johnny O'Keefe, Paul Kelly, John Farnham, INXS, Slim Dusty, Jimmy Little and many more.

For 2011, ARIA is proud to announce the impending induction of two true icons of the Australian music industry – Kylie Minogue and The Wiggles.

You can count on the fingers of one hand the number of “pop” artists who‟ve lasted more than a decade, let alone more than two: Kylie Minogue will be celebrating her twenty fifth year in music next year!

It was back in July 1987 that Kylie released her first single, a remake of the 1962 Little Eva hit Locomotion, which went on to win Kylie her very first ARIA Award in 1988. Since then, Kylie has been nominated thirty five times and gone on to win nine ARIA Awards and three Outstanding Achievement Awards.

Kylie Minogue truly is an extraordinarily versatile performer. Since 1987, she has released eleven studio albums, two live CDs and eight live concert DVD‟s (plus her Greatest Hits and the Ultimate Kylie double album and multiple video packages), starred in movies and on our television screens and put on some of the most spectacular concert tours the world has seen.

As well as undertaking one of the most extensive tours of her career, 2011 also saw Kylie release her ninth perfume „Dazzling Darling‟ and release another best selling range of linens, candles, diffusers and towels from her "Kylie Minogue at Home" brand of homewares.

Is there anything Dr Kylie Minogue, OBE can't do?

The second ARIA Hall of Fame inductee for 2011 are arguably the world's most popular children's entertainers and it is fitting that in the year they are celebrating their 20 th year together, the Arias welcome The Wiggles into the ARIA  Hall of Fame.

Founding members of The Wiggles, Anthony Field (blue), Murray Cook (red) and Greg Page (yellow), met while studying Early Childhood Education at Sydney's Macquarie University. Anthony had an idea to record an album of children's music, as he thought it might help him get a job as a teacher.

He enlisted the assistance of Murray and Greg, as well as Jeff Fatt, who played with Anthony in the popular 1980s band The Cockroaches, and The Wiggles were born. The Wiggles took the finished tape to ABC Music, who released a self-titled album in 1991 and things wiggled from there!

On their impending induction, “Murray Cook (Red Wiggle) said, "It’s quite amazing to us that we’ve been together 20 years! We thought in the beginning we’d record a one off album. 

We had no thoughts of it being a career and here we are still going strong and still really enjoying it. It’s an amazing milestone for us because we didn’t think there would be one year, let alone 20! 

When I heard that we were to be inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame I looked up past recipients and read a virtual roll call of all the bands and artists that I grew up watching and listening to. It is quite overwhelming to think that we will be given the enormous honour of joining that company”.

Fans of Australian music will get to watch all the action of the 2011 ARIA Awards with the announcement that the Awards will screen on the No. 1 digital channel, GO!, from 7.30pm on Sunday, 27 November.