Early Collaboration with Kylie Minogue
Music producer Pete Waterman has revealed that he was unaware of Kylie Minogue's identity when he agreed to produce her first three albums. Waterman, originally from Coventry, appears in the Netflix documentary series Kylie, which chronicles the Australian singer's journey from her role in the soap opera Neighbours to international fame.
Waterman explained that the collaboration began when the Australian distributor of Stock, Aitken and Waterman records requested assistance in producing Minogue's initial music projects in the late 1980s, prior to her breakthrough as Charlene Mitchell on Neighbours, which propelled her to stardom in the United Kingdom.
"She turns up at the studio, we knocked together I Should Be So Lucky, and she was at the airport by 4 o'clock, to fly back to Australia for Neighbours."
I Should Be So Lucky was the second hit produced by Stock, Aitken & Waterman for Kylie Minogue. The first was a remixed version of The Loco-Motion, which had already reached number one in Australia.
Waterman described his initial impressions of Minogue as being very quiet but determined.
"I remember Matt [Aitken] telling me 'this kid's got an amazing voice and is a great learner of a song'. We taught her the song once, she'd remembered it straight away. Because she's an actress, of course,"he said.
Despite Minogue's rising fame from Neighbours, Waterman admitted he did not anticipate how the show's success would influence her record sales.
"This sounds ridiculous [but] we had no concept of how big Kylie was."
Negotiating Success and Documentary Participation
Waterman reflected on the rapid growth of Minogue's career, noting the shift from her being a television actress to a major music star with significant commercial success.
"So here we are, Kylie's selling 2.5 million albums every time we put an album out and suddenly we're negotiating for a third album. And you're dealing with lawyers who are basically Madonna's lawyers. So you've gone from a little girl in Neighbours to the hottest lawyer on the planet who's looking for millions of pounds in his pocket."
Between 1988 and 1991, Stock, Aitken and Waterman produced four albums for Minogue.
When Minogue invited Waterman to participate in the documentary about her life and career, he said it was an easy decision.
"It wasn't a thought, it was - yeah, where do you want me to be?
"This is Kylie from the four men in her life. What an amazing honour that is, from [being a boy from] Stoke Heath to world domination! My God, what a place to be!"
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