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Australia's Kylie Minogue has breast cancer
Tue May 17, 2005 8:59 AM ET

By Michael Perry

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Pop diva Kylie Minogue, whose hit album "Fever" went platinum in the United States, has been diagnosed with breast cancer and has postponed her Australian and Asian tour, her management said Tuesday.

Minogue, 36, is Australia's biggest music star, rising from humble beginnings as an Australian teenage soap-opera actress to international stardom as one of the world's top pop singers and, most recently, as a flamboyant gay icon revered in Britain.

The Frontier Touring Co. said the singer often known just as "Kylie" was diagnosed with early breast cancer while visiting family in Melbourne this week.

"She will undergo immediate treatment and consequently her Australian tour will not be able to proceed as planned," the company said in a statement.

Minogue is the second pop star to be diagnosed with the disease in as many years. American singer Anastacia underwent treatment for breast cancer in 2003 after the illness was detected when she was 29 years old.

Minogue's "Showgirl Tour" was to open Thursday in Australia before performances in Asia and a headlining act at Glastonbury, Europe's biggest music festival, at the end of June.

She said was sorry to disappoint her fans.

"Nevertheless, hopefully all will work out fine and I'll be back with you all again soon," Minogue said in a statement.

Her record label Parlaphone, owned by music company EMI, confirmed she had pulled out of Glastonbury, host to most of greatest names in pop and rock since it started in a field in western England in 1970.

Minogue, who is signed to EMI, was worth about A$60 million (US$46 million), according to a 2004 list of rich young Australians compiled by BRW magazine.

In 2002, one of Minogue's bras sold for $6,880 in London at an auction to raise money for breast cancer awareness. Minogue has also worked to raise awareness of prostate cancer, after her father was diagnosed with it.