Kylie has come a long way since gracing our TV screens as tomboy Charlene in Neighbours. In honour of our beloved pop-princess’ life, iconic talent and unstoppable musical career, we take a look back in pictures at Kylie Minogue through the ages.

Kylie was launched into the media spotlight in the late 1980s through her role on popular soap opera Neighbours as the fresh-faced, girl-next-door, Charlene.

Pictured with Neighbours co-star Jason Donovan, the couple spurred huge media interest over their on and off-screen love affair, which continued well into the ’90s.

Kylie and Jason on the set of Neighbours. The Australian soap opera, which celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2005, has launched a number of careers throughout its running, including Guy Pearce (Mike Young), Natalie Imbruglia (Beth Willis) and Delta Goodrem (Nina Tucker).

Minogue performing Locomotion in 1988. The song spent seven weeks at number one on the Australian music charts and was the highest selling single in Australia in the 1980s.

A wistful looking Kylie on set for her video Je ne sais pas pourquoi. The song was released as the fourth single from her debut album Kylie in 1988 and was a top five hit in the UK. Kylie subsequently became the first artist in the history of the British charts to have four top three singles from one album.

With such growing popularity, Kylie’s girl-next-door image was swiftly cast aside for a more glamourous and sexy one — for which Kylie is still famous for today.

Kylie Minogue performs during the MTV Europe Music Awards at the Festhalle in Frankfurt, Germany in 1999. The awards were beamed to millions of adoring music fans around the world.

Light Years (2000) was influenced by 1970s disco and lent itself to the type of music that Kylie does best. It generated rave reviews with hit singles such as Spinning Around and Fever, and contributed to one of the biggest career come-backs the music industry has ever seen.

Kylie has always been a picture of grace and beauty while remaining one of the world’s biggest sex icons. However, she is adored by women and gay men alike, and acknowledges the gay community by performing at various gay venues and events throughout the world.

Kylie’s evolving image and often overt sexuality has led to some comparisons to the queen of pop, Madonna.

Kylie looking a picture of health and radiance in New York in 2002.

Dashing Frenchman, Oliver Martinez was a rock for Kylie when she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2005, barely leaving the singer’s side throughout her battle with the disease. However, the pair separated in 2007.

Kylie gave a very candid interview about her cancer ordeal in London in 2007 with British TV presenter and good friend, Cat Deeley. She later appeared on The Ellen Degeneres Show in the United States and spoke on the common problem of cancer misdiagnosis.

Showgirl – The Homecoming Tour was the comeback tour for the brave and devoted Kylie Minogue following her cancellation of the Australian and Asian legs of the original tour. She’d been forced to cancel as a result of her illness.

After waging war on breast cancer, splitting with Oliver Martinez and performing her sell-out Showgirl – Homecoming tour, Kylie deserved to party. Pictured here at a celebration thrown in honour of the 20th anniversary of her first number one single Locomotion.

Proving she’s still got what it takes, Kylie poses with her International Female Solo Artist award during the Brit Awards 2008 in London this February.

In May this year, our Aussie starlet received the much revered Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in France, which recognises significant contributions to the arts.

Performing on stage on the opening night of her world tour KYLIE X 2008 Tour at Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy in Paris this May.

Continuing the KYLIE X 2008 Tour, Kylie performs in the southern German city of Stuttgart on May 9 and proves to the world that even at 40 years old, she’s still going strong.

View our slideshow of some of the world’s most successful and beautiful women over 40.

Kylie Minogue performs on stage during The Brit Awards 2009.

Not just an entertainer, Kylie Minogue poses during the official launch of her new fragrance ‘Sexy Darling’ in Sydney 2008.

Yet another accomplishment, Kylie Minogue receives her Order of the British Empire (OBE) from the Prince of Wales for services to music, at Buckingham Palace in 2008.

Kylie Minogue and Mathew Horne entertain fans during The Brit Awards 2009.

Kylie shines as she arrives at the 2009 Brit Awards.

In 2009 Kylie launched her own bed linen range ‘Kylie at Home’.

Kylie and Dannii Minogue pose with Jason Donovan and members of the cast of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert.

Jacqueline Bouvier leading her pony, ‘Buddy,’ at the Southampton Riding and Hunt Club for the annual horse show, Long Island, New York in 1934.

Jacqueline Bouvier with her dog, Tammy, at the dog show at East Hampton Fair, Long Island, New York in 1939. It was her tenth birthday.

Jacqueline Bouvier, age 10, daughter of Mr and Mrs John V Bouvier III, in her prize-winning American Indian costume at a horse show at the East Hampton Riding Club, Long Island, New York. Young Jacqueline, who is seen here riding her piebald pony, ‘Dance Step,’ spent the 1939 summer season at the home of her parents.

American future first lady Jacqueline Bouvier jumps a fence on her horse Danseuse during the East Hampton Horse Show at the Riding Club of East Hampton, East Hampton, New York, August 23, 1941.

Jackie standing on a lawn with her father, John V Bouvier III in East Hampton, Long Island, New York in 1947.

12th September 1953: John Kennedy and Jacqueline Bouvier pose with their ushers and maids of honor on their wedding day, Newport, Rhode Island.

Jacqueline Bouvier on the day of her wedding to John F. Kennedy in Newport, Rhode Island, 12 September 1953.

U.S. senator John F. Kennedy and Jackie on the grass in front of their home, Hyannis, Massachusetts, 1953.

John F Kennedy and Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy enjoy a day of the water at Hyannis Port, Massachusetts in 1955.

Baby Caroline Kennedy kissing her father JFK at the Kennedy’s residence in Washington DC.

Already becoming a style icon, Jackie Kennedy relaxes at a picnic.

Jackie by the seaside in the early 60s.

First Lady Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy attends dinner with the Prime Minister of Japan at the Japanese Embassy June 21, 1961 in Washington.

John F Kennedy and Jacqueline Kennedy had good looks and charismatic personalities which made them popular newspaper and magazine subjects.

American First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy in a red dress, stands in before a dining room table in the White House during the filming of a CBS News Special program called ‘A Tour of the White House with Mrs. John F. Kennedy,’ Washington DC, January 15, 1962.

John F. Kennedy, Jr. playing with his mother’s necklace at the White House in 1962. The simulated Pearl Necklace worn by Jacqueline Kennedy while in residence at the White House sold for USD 190,000 during the Sotheby’s auction of the estate of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis 25 April 1996 in New York.

John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the 35th President of the United States, with his wife Jacqueline and their children Caroline and John Jnr on Easter Sunday at Palm Beach, Miami, Florida, 14th April 1963.

Jacqueline Kennedy attends the inauguration of a memorial to her husband John F. Kennedy in Runnymede, Surrey, nearly eighteen months after his assassination. Holding her hand is her young son, John F. Kennedy Jr in 15th May 1965.

Jackie Onassis with sister Lee Radziwill departing for Aristotle Onassis’ private island, Scorpios.

Jackie Onassis and her husband Aristotle Onassis leave an Athens nightclub at 7am after celebrating Jackie’s 40th birthday in 1969.

Jackie Onassis, always epitomized laid back yet flawless style, shopping in Soho in September 1970.

Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis walks through a busy street with the Gaines girls in Capri, Italy, one of her favourite places, in the early 1970s.

Jackie Onassis at the Metropolitan Opera House, May 13, 1975, in New York City just months after her second husband Aristotle Onassis passed away.

Jackie Onassis and her son John Kennedy Jr. land in the US on April 3, 1976.

Jackie looks on at the 5th Annual RFK Pro-Celebrity Tennis Tournament in August 1976.

A look many have channeled, Jackie O leaving an exhibit with Carl Katz in October 1977.

Still turning heads at 50, Jackie Onassis at the Costume Institute Gala Presents “Fashions of The Hapsburg Era” 3 Dec 1979.

Jackie Onassis and Caroline Kennedy at the wedding of Courtney Kennedy and Jeff Ruhe, 14 June 1980.

Jackie Onassis at the Hollywood Twin Cinema after seeing Death In Venice , 21 July 1981.