0:00:02 > 0:00:09Here come the girls. Six stars who span the three decades from post punk to the X Factor.
0:00:09 > 0:00:13Through these variously hot, mad, driven and genius women,
0:00:13 > 0:00:15this is a celebration of female artists,
0:00:15 > 0:00:22who from the '80s to now, went from the token one on Top Of The Pops, to world domination.
0:00:22 > 0:00:26Meet the next generation of queens of British pop.
0:00:28 > 0:00:35# Who's that girl running around with you?
0:00:35 > 0:00:39# Tell me Who's that girl?
0:00:39 > 0:00:43# Running around with you
0:00:43 > 0:00:48# Tell me Who's that girl? #
0:00:50 > 0:00:56"Is it a boy or a girl?" Parents shouted in the beginning watching Top Of The Pops.
0:00:57 > 0:00:59But soon, everyone knew who it was.
0:00:59 > 0:01:04Annie Lennox. The lady-boy tiger with the voice of an angel.
0:01:04 > 0:01:11She's very chameleon-like in her musical styles, but the voice is constantly soulful.
0:01:11 > 0:01:12# Thorn in my side
0:01:12 > 0:01:17# You know that's all you ever were... #
0:01:17 > 0:01:20She just seems like an incredibly powerful woman.
0:01:20 > 0:01:22Quite scary.
0:01:22 > 0:01:28Previously, looking like a boy was an insult, but Annie Lennox pioneered glam-drogyny.
0:01:28 > 0:01:32Annie I think was really the first woman to blur the gender roles.
0:01:34 > 0:01:36# I shoulda known better... #
0:01:36 > 0:01:39The person I know is like multi-faceted.
0:01:41 > 0:01:47Incredibly sensitive, massive bouts of loneliness, she's a whole roller-coaster.
0:01:47 > 0:01:53But before Annie started going up and down, she had to get out of her home town, Aberdeen.
0:01:53 > 0:01:58My passport out of Scotland was, you know, my place at the Royal Academy Of Music
0:01:58 > 0:02:04to study flute as a performer, and piano as a second instrument.
0:02:04 > 0:02:07And when I looked around at the academy at that time,
0:02:07 > 0:02:09it felt very stultifying,
0:02:09 > 0:02:14it felt very institutionalised, and the people there were OK,
0:02:14 > 0:02:17but I never felt like I met any soul-mates there.
0:02:17 > 0:02:21Her future was not with the flute, but a man called Dave.
0:02:21 > 0:02:27There are people in your life that come in and they're kind of like, a bomb goes off, phew, you know.
0:02:27 > 0:02:29And he was one of the bombs.
0:02:29 > 0:02:31A bomb had already gone off
0:02:31 > 0:02:37in Sunderland hippy Dave Stewart's life, thanks to his regular intake of LSD.
0:02:37 > 0:02:39He was crashing into the wall when I met him.
0:02:39 > 0:02:43- Literally.- Sort of holding him up by the scruff of his neck,
0:02:43 > 0:02:46slapped him around the face a few times and said, "Stop it!"
0:02:46 > 0:02:49We became a couple and we were together we were like,
0:02:49 > 0:02:52"That's it, we're together, we're doing this thing"
0:02:52 > 0:02:56There was only us in the bubble, and we were just obsessed with us and what we were doing.
0:02:56 > 0:03:00And nothing else really existed.
0:03:00 > 0:03:06High on punk and love, in 1978, Annie and Dave joined a new-wave band, The Tourists.
0:03:06 > 0:03:11# Blind among the flowers I'm unable to see... #
0:03:11 > 0:03:16There has to be a kind of time in your life, you can do that, you're young enough,
0:03:16 > 0:03:20you're game enough, you're crazy enough, or you're innocent enough
0:03:20 > 0:03:23to go for that, just super-driven to make music.
0:03:24 > 0:03:30In 1980, both The Tourists and Dave and Annie's personal relationship ended.
0:03:30 > 0:03:34What was left was a desire for a new name and a new kind of music.
0:03:34 > 0:03:36And that was Eurhythmics.
0:03:39 > 0:03:44We came to find a sound. I think it was really, finally encapsulated in Sweet Dreams.
0:03:44 > 0:03:51# Sweet dreams are made of these Who am I to disagree?
0:03:51 > 0:03:55# I've travelled the world and the seven seas
0:03:55 > 0:03:59# Everybody's looking for something. #
0:03:59 > 0:04:04What I was always interested in is kind of creating two opposites.
0:04:04 > 0:04:08Like a juxtaposition within a song or a piece of music.
0:04:08 > 0:04:16Eurhythmics sound was a blend of a kind of R'n'B, with this modern,
0:04:16 > 0:04:20cold, icy, European synthesized sound.
0:04:20 > 0:04:23But the sound of the Eurhythmics was only half of it.
0:04:23 > 0:04:28At least as contradictory as the music was the way Annie Lennox looked.
0:04:28 > 0:04:31She opened up a whole new wing in the mansion of pop,
0:04:31 > 0:04:35and turned it into a playground for sexual identity.
0:04:35 > 0:04:41I wanted to be like an equal with Dave as well like "Oh look, we're like these twins."
0:04:41 > 0:04:44And what he does is what I do and we're this partnership.
0:04:44 > 0:04:47We were suffering from folie a deux,
0:04:47 > 0:04:50- have you heard of that? - I'm about to. No, carry on.
0:04:50 > 0:04:52It's the madness of two people who become so close
0:04:52 > 0:04:56that they can't speak outside their own situation, you know,
0:04:56 > 0:04:57we'll demonstrate some.
0:04:57 > 0:05:01THEY SPEAK GIBBERISH
0:05:05 > 0:05:09# And I want you And I want you
0:05:09 > 0:05:10# And I want you
0:05:10 > 0:05:14# And I want you so it's an obsession... #
0:05:14 > 0:05:18Annie in all her videos takes on the traditional,
0:05:18 > 0:05:22stereotypical role of a woman and completely flips it.
0:05:22 > 0:05:30The bit that always sticks in my mind is her pulling off the wig to reveal this short, close cropped,
0:05:30 > 0:05:34I think the hair was red at the time, and she just looked amazing.
0:05:34 > 0:05:38She teases you with these different images and different things
0:05:38 > 0:05:40and parts that she plays within songs,
0:05:40 > 0:05:42you kind of try to find the real Annie.
0:05:42 > 0:05:46Sometimes she's wearing wigs, sometimes she's masculine, sometimes she's feminine.
0:05:46 > 0:05:54# Who's that girl running around with you? #
0:05:54 > 0:05:59I like to make a statement. I like to make a powerful statement.
0:05:59 > 0:06:05And to utilise the music and the performance to provoke thinking.
0:06:05 > 0:06:10To play in performance with gender, I thought that was really interesting.
0:06:10 > 0:06:13I sort of used those characterisations
0:06:13 > 0:06:16to deflect this sense of image, you know?
0:06:17 > 0:06:21To sort of avoid being categorised as such.
0:06:22 > 0:06:27Of course the ultimate challenge is to alarm and arouse everyone simultaneously,
0:06:27 > 0:06:32which was the plan of the Eurhythmics Grammy performance in 1984.
0:06:32 > 0:06:39As you can imagine, the Grammys is a very, very serious moment in performance,
0:06:39 > 0:06:44because it's live, it's broadcast live to millions of people, it's in front of a live audience,
0:06:44 > 0:06:49they've been working on this thing for a year. It's right down to the nub, everybody's like sweating blood.
0:06:49 > 0:06:53Nominated for best new artist, ladies and gentlemen, the Eurhythmics!
0:06:53 > 0:06:57People had been speculating about my sexuality so much, I just thought,
0:06:57 > 0:07:00"You want me to be a man? You think I'm a man, you speculating.
0:07:00 > 0:07:03"Aye, OK, I'll give you man. Here's a man. I'll be a man."
0:07:03 > 0:07:10# Sweet dreams are made of these Who am I to disagree?
0:07:10 > 0:07:14# I've travelled the world and the seven seas
0:07:14 > 0:07:18# Everybody's lookin' for something
0:07:18 > 0:07:21# Some of them want to use you
0:07:21 > 0:07:26# Some of them want to get used by you... #
0:07:26 > 0:07:31I just wanted to utilise the male aspect and to show something of power
0:07:31 > 0:07:37because women are so historically always kind of in this role of being submissive to men
0:07:37 > 0:07:40and very sexy for men, that didn't feel right to me.
0:07:40 > 0:07:44- # I love to - Listen to Beethoven
0:07:44 > 0:07:47# I love to... #
0:07:49 > 0:07:53She just did not play to the perceived rules
0:07:53 > 0:07:56of the way a female artist should look,
0:07:56 > 0:08:01the way a female artist should, you know, behave, and all of those things.
0:08:01 > 0:08:03She kind of just threw all of that out the window.
0:08:03 > 0:08:10In 1990, after 14 years together, she and Dave Stewart parted.
0:08:10 > 0:08:14Dave wanted to do one thing, and I wanted to do another thing, and that's OK.
0:08:14 > 0:08:20But it did take me a long time to kind of get my confidence and my strength
0:08:20 > 0:08:26and to realise that I needed to do something artistically and musically alone, as it were.
0:08:26 > 0:08:31I never thought I'd have any particular success with it, I had no expectations whatsoever.
0:08:31 > 0:08:35# Why... #
0:08:35 > 0:08:40Her first solo album, Diva, was all about Annie. Out there, on her own.
0:08:40 > 0:08:45There was still a lot of raiding the dressing-up box, but not as a man any more.
0:08:45 > 0:08:48When Annie went solo it very much felt as though
0:08:48 > 0:08:52this is a woman striding into independence. REAL independence.
0:08:53 > 0:09:00# Sing, my sisters, sing Let your voice be heard... #
0:09:00 > 0:09:03Annie stopped messing with her on-screen personas,
0:09:03 > 0:09:07and started to use her fame to promote causes she cared about.
0:09:07 > 0:09:12But even now, we shouldn't think the real Annie has finally been revealed.
0:09:12 > 0:09:17I don't think anybody in the public have a clue who Annie is, really.
0:09:17 > 0:09:23Most people, when they look back at themselves ten years before, it's not the same person any more.
0:09:23 > 0:09:26So who is the person? When are you really "the person"?
0:09:26 > 0:09:30It's all smoke and mirrors.
0:09:34 > 0:09:37Alison Moyet is our most reluctant queen.
0:09:37 > 0:09:41Unlike Annie Lennox, she was almost crushed by the music industry.
0:09:41 > 0:09:45# I came into the city Walked into the door
0:09:45 > 0:09:46# I turned around when I heard
0:09:46 > 0:09:49# The sound of footsteps on the floor... #
0:09:49 > 0:09:54Alison's voice always stood out, but being fashioned into a pop star nearly destroyed her.
0:09:54 > 0:09:58She wasn't prepared for how bullish
0:09:58 > 0:10:00the industry was going to be, how they would treat her
0:10:00 > 0:10:02like a product rather than a person.
0:10:02 > 0:10:06I know she gets a bit insecure sometimes with her singing,
0:10:06 > 0:10:10but to me she's no need to because she's really a natural born singer.
0:10:10 > 0:10:13# Baby, make your mind up Give me what you've got... #
0:10:13 > 0:10:18The natural born singer may have struggled with her career, but the public didn't know.
0:10:18 > 0:10:20We just heard a voice like no other.
0:10:20 > 0:10:24I can't believe that, A, she isn't queen of our country,
0:10:24 > 0:10:26and B that she isn't hailed as, well,
0:10:26 > 0:10:31I would say the greatest female voice that's come out of this country, ever.
0:10:31 > 0:10:38Alison started her singing career in a punk band called The Vandals in her home town of Basildon.
0:10:39 > 0:10:43As I hit teens was when punk came in and when we were all a little bit disaffected.
0:10:43 > 0:10:47I was a misfit and I was a loner. We had rooms and we could form bands
0:10:47 > 0:10:50and it was very incestuous and we all did that.
0:10:50 > 0:10:55Alison had a nickname. We all had nicknames, actually,
0:10:55 > 0:10:57in the band, but her nickname was Alf.
0:10:58 > 0:11:03I didn't have girly attributes, I was built, I always had practical haircuts
0:11:03 > 0:11:07and was just a bit rough.
0:11:07 > 0:11:09I thought Alison was like a butch dyke.
0:11:09 > 0:11:12I was the kind of girl that my friends' parents, in the most,
0:11:12 > 0:11:15didn't want their daughters to associate with.
0:11:15 > 0:11:20Another band from her presumably shocked Basildon school was Depeche Mode,
0:11:20 > 0:11:23featuring Vince Clarke on keyboards.
0:11:23 > 0:11:25# When I'm with you, baby I go out of my head... #
0:11:25 > 0:11:32When Vince stormed out of the Mode, he got in touch with Alison because he loved her voice.
0:11:32 > 0:11:37Gutsy, incredibly soulful, emotional, powerful.
0:11:37 > 0:11:42He had this demo that he'd like me to sing on and would I go round to his flat.
0:11:42 > 0:11:46And I got on my motorbike at the time and went round there and he played me Only You.
0:11:48 > 0:11:52From bedroom demo to number two in the charts in under a month.
0:11:52 > 0:11:56Only You put a 20-year-old girl called Alf on Top Of The Pops.
0:11:56 > 0:12:01That's Vince and Alf and Only You. Here are Yazoo and it's a great hit record too.
0:12:01 > 0:12:06# Looking from a window above It's like a story of love
0:12:06 > 0:12:09# Can you hear me?
0:12:09 > 0:12:15# Came back only yesterday I'm moving further away
0:12:15 > 0:12:19# Want you near me
0:12:19 > 0:12:23# All I needed was the love you gave
0:12:23 > 0:12:27# All I needed for another day
0:12:27 > 0:12:31# And all I ever knew
0:12:31 > 0:12:33# Only you... #
0:12:33 > 0:12:39And then we had this kinda soul diva, and this kind of techno whizz-kid.
0:12:39 > 0:12:45# When it's only a game And I need you... #
0:12:45 > 0:12:48There was just something about her that was a bit mysterious.
0:12:48 > 0:12:53And there's something very seductive about that.
0:12:53 > 0:13:00# All that time we had I don't want to be a page in your diary... #
0:13:00 > 0:13:04But Yazoo wasn't so much an institution, more temporary accommodation.
0:13:04 > 0:13:07It was just like these two strangers who had met on a train
0:13:07 > 0:13:10who were kind of looking at each other a bit bemused.
0:13:10 > 0:13:13You know, it's like, "You and I are eternally linked. Who are you?"
0:13:14 > 0:13:18Two albums, three singles, and that was it.
0:13:18 > 0:13:20Yazoo split in 1983.
0:13:20 > 0:13:24Yazoo split up because in 18 months we recorded two albums,
0:13:24 > 0:13:28did one tour, and never took the time to get to know each other.
0:13:28 > 0:13:32But even though Vince Clarke had been a mere acquaintance,
0:13:32 > 0:13:33he had been a very useful one.
0:13:33 > 0:13:38The problem that had happened with Yazoo is that when I started working with Vincent,
0:13:38 > 0:13:40the record company was his, the contacts were already his,
0:13:40 > 0:13:43so when we split up, I was completely on my own.
0:13:45 > 0:13:50Alison may have been on her own, but she was also definitely in demand.
0:13:50 > 0:13:55There were four or five major record companies, they all wanted to get me to sign.
0:13:55 > 0:13:59I got my accountant and we went round the different record labels
0:13:59 > 0:14:01and saw what different people had to offer.
0:14:01 > 0:14:04And what was the outcome of that?
0:14:04 > 0:14:05I ended up signing to CBS.
0:14:05 > 0:14:11When you get a £1 million record deal, it comes with certain things -
0:14:11 > 0:14:16pressure, expectation and the producers behind Spandau Ballet and Bananarama -
0:14:16 > 0:14:19Tony Swain and Steve Jolley.
0:14:19 > 0:14:23And they in turn came with something else - doubt.
0:14:24 > 0:14:28She was very punky looking, you know, in her appearance.
0:14:28 > 0:14:34So actually her appearance didn't cross over that neatly to what we were doing with her.
0:14:34 > 0:14:36What we were doing with her was very slick,
0:14:36 > 0:14:39very produced, very polished.
0:14:39 > 0:14:44# What can I do to make light of this dull, dull day? #
0:14:44 > 0:14:51And when she was working with Swain and Jolley, they tried to make her into a pop princess, really.
0:14:51 > 0:14:58Her videos got more expensive in that fashionably '80s way, with exotic locations and added camels.
0:14:58 > 0:15:03Now she was on a big record label, Alison's image became an issue.
0:15:03 > 0:15:06And a Bedouin get-up wasn't the answer.
0:15:06 > 0:15:12The press made some adverse comments about her appearance, and I don't think that was justified at all.
0:15:12 > 0:15:15I know there is this kind of perception
0:15:15 > 0:15:20that she is outside of the norm for women in her industry,
0:15:20 > 0:15:24but the fact is, she's amazingly attractive.
0:15:24 > 0:15:28Personally, I think her size, if you like, adds to that.
0:15:28 > 0:15:33It becomes a word, it's just very descriptive to me, if someone says, "You're fat," it's like, "Yeah?"
0:15:38 > 0:15:43Only halfway through making Alf, her first album, the record company dropped a bombshell.
0:15:43 > 0:15:47They wanted it rushed out for Christmas in two weeks.
0:15:47 > 0:15:53We'd done nine tracks and the record company wouldn't wait for it any more so they took it away and put it out,
0:15:53 > 0:15:57it went triple platinum and I was the biggest selling female singer that year,
0:15:57 > 0:15:58it was massive.
0:15:58 > 0:16:02I'd like to say this makes me feel very chipper. Thank you very much.
0:16:02 > 0:16:04Alison didn't like that album, I don't think,
0:16:04 > 0:16:07because she was being pushed in a direction she didn't want to go,
0:16:07 > 0:16:11but you know at the end of the day, there are great songs on that record.
0:16:11 > 0:16:13# I'm all cried out
0:16:13 > 0:16:18# You took a whole lot of loving For a handful of nothing. #
0:16:18 > 0:16:22I think I ended up having problems with that record more to do with
0:16:22 > 0:16:25what it did to my life as opposed to the record itself.
0:16:32 > 0:16:40What I did notice about Alison was that she retreated more and more, into her home and into herself.
0:16:40 > 0:16:42# Invisible
0:16:43 > 0:16:46# I feel like I'm invisible... #
0:16:46 > 0:16:51I went from being a comfortable dark person into being an uncomfortable dark person
0:16:51 > 0:16:54and that kind of reverted into agoraphobia for a while.
0:16:54 > 0:16:58I finally moved out when the milkman started turning up at seven o'clock
0:16:58 > 0:17:03in the morning bringing kids with him saying, "Go on, tell them who you are."
0:17:04 > 0:17:07Early morning gawpers seemed the worst of it
0:17:07 > 0:17:09until she looked at her record contract.
0:17:09 > 0:17:17It was mental - the first period was for four albums, but they had another three periods they could take up,
0:17:17 > 0:17:22so they could end up having 13 albums in total, and I wasn't allowed to get out of that
0:17:22 > 0:17:25but they could drop me for 50 quid.
0:17:26 > 0:17:31We always talked about the problems she had with various parts of her industry,
0:17:31 > 0:17:34and because I didn't know anything about that industry,
0:17:34 > 0:17:37I was just gob-smacked at how she was abused, really.
0:17:37 > 0:17:40You're 21 and you're naive and you believe people when they say
0:17:40 > 0:17:42they love you and they're never gonna rip you off.
0:17:42 > 0:17:47With a number one pop album, Alison's record company certainly loved her
0:17:47 > 0:17:50and wanted another one, just like it, straight away.
0:17:50 > 0:17:55Alison, however, was a stroppy old punk and gave them a slow,
0:17:55 > 0:17:58sultry cover of a Billie Holiday single instead.
0:17:58 > 0:18:05# It's that ole devil called love again... #
0:18:06 > 0:18:09I was quite surprised when Ole Devil Called Love came out
0:18:09 > 0:18:12because this was a sudden sort of shift to Alison Moyet, jazz artist.
0:18:12 > 0:18:18It is a bit of a departure from the stuff you've been doing. Are you a blues evangelist now, Alison?
0:18:18 > 0:18:22It's a departure from the stuff I recorded, but my recording career has only been two years
0:18:22 > 0:18:27and I've been singing for about eight or nine. I like doing all sorts of things.
0:18:27 > 0:18:31The general populace weren't aware of Billie Holiday, it was a left-field thing to do.
0:18:31 > 0:18:34It just so happened that the record came out and it was massive.
0:18:34 > 0:18:38Ole Devil Called Love went in at number two.
0:18:38 > 0:18:41Love Letters, another cover, did the same.
0:18:41 > 0:18:48# Love letters straight from your heart... #
0:18:49 > 0:18:53Alison Moyet was starting to have an accidental career as a covers artist.
0:18:53 > 0:18:57I don't blame the record company for wanting me to carry on doing the same thing,
0:18:57 > 0:19:00it's just I didn't have it in me.
0:19:00 > 0:19:07# Should I feel that it's over? #
0:19:07 > 0:19:12The next decade was spent, first in struggle, then in litigation with her record company.
0:19:12 > 0:19:16Despite number one albums and Grammy nominations,
0:19:16 > 0:19:19Moyet was effectively fired from her own career.
0:19:22 > 0:19:26It was two years into the new century before she regained control,
0:19:26 > 0:19:29with Hometime in 2002
0:19:29 > 0:19:31and The Turn in 2007.
0:19:31 > 0:19:38They're the my two high points of my career. Unfortunately your high points always seem to be
0:19:38 > 0:19:42your money years, you know, and that's not the way I see it at all.
0:19:42 > 0:19:46If I'd have had to stop after my money years, I'd have been very sad.
0:19:48 > 0:19:51The money years came around twice for our next queen.
0:19:51 > 0:19:54Kylie Minogue - half showgirl, half titan.
0:19:54 > 0:20:01It doesn't matter what professional or personal tragedies you throw at her, she always bounces back.
0:20:01 > 0:20:05It's no coincidence that Kylie is an Aborigine word for boomerang.
0:20:05 > 0:20:08She might have been born in Australia,
0:20:08 > 0:20:13but it took the British pop machine to turn her into Kylie Minogue.
0:20:13 > 0:20:16She's an honorary Brit. She's more British than she is Australian.
0:20:16 > 0:20:21We've even given her a medal, just for being Kylie.
0:20:21 > 0:20:24'Miss Kylie Minogue, for Services to Music.'
0:20:24 > 0:20:31But it's not just services to music. Kylie's job is to be permanently six months ahead of the rest of pop
0:20:31 > 0:20:34with her hair, her harmonies and her hot pants.
0:20:34 > 0:20:40If you see the same Kylie two months in a row, you must be in Madame Tussauds.
0:20:40 > 0:20:44But whichever Kylie she is, she gets that rare public response.
0:20:44 > 0:20:46Love.
0:20:46 > 0:20:51Kylie's been around my whole life and, you know, I've always got a little spot for Kylie in my heart.
0:20:51 > 0:20:54She just looks gorgeous, you could eat her. That's what it is.
0:20:54 > 0:20:59It's been her job to be Kylie since she became a child actor at the age of 11.
0:21:01 > 0:21:04But we first met her as the tinder-haired Charlene in Neighbours.
0:21:04 > 0:21:06# Neighbours... #
0:21:06 > 0:21:08She was already a massive star in Australia,
0:21:08 > 0:21:12she was already on the front of magazines, she was on TV talk shows.
0:21:12 > 0:21:15People were following the storyline of Neighbours every day.
0:21:15 > 0:21:18- Something wrong?- Losing my voice.
0:21:18 > 0:21:20Enter three young producers.
0:21:20 > 0:21:24'Stock, Aitken and Waterman might sound like a firm of solicitors,
0:21:24 > 0:21:27'but together this unassuming trio are changing the face of pop.'
0:21:27 > 0:21:31We had this deal in Australia with this Australian record company.
0:21:31 > 0:21:33So I sort of, in a foolish moment,
0:21:33 > 0:21:37promised we would produce this girl called Kylie Minogue.
0:21:37 > 0:21:40I came for about a week or ten days,
0:21:40 > 0:21:44was completely ignored up until about the last day,
0:21:44 > 0:21:50and I recorded I Should Be So Lucky virtually on the way to the airport.
0:21:50 > 0:21:52Back home.
0:21:52 > 0:21:56They taught her the song, she picked it up straight away, she sang it and was gone, that was it!
0:21:56 > 0:22:00# I should be so lucky Lucky, lucky, lucky
0:22:00 > 0:22:02# I should be so lucky... #
0:22:02 > 0:22:07The video and the song were perfect enough to totally change her life in three minutes flat.
0:22:07 > 0:22:11We gave her one of those little songs that every now and again comes along
0:22:11 > 0:22:14and absolutely fits the picture perfectly.
0:22:14 > 0:22:18# Put your hand on your heart and tell me
0:22:18 > 0:22:22# It's all over I won't believe it... #
0:22:22 > 0:22:25It was the late '80s, but it was a pretty retro picture.
0:22:25 > 0:22:30Love was for kissing, videos were for pretty shoes. Kylie was safe for the kids.
0:22:30 > 0:22:33It was like rock'n'roll had never happened.
0:22:33 > 0:22:38It was almost like '50s love songs, but with like, '80s instrumentation.
0:22:38 > 0:22:43The girl is in a fantastic relationship and she doesn't want to believe it's over
0:22:43 > 0:22:48until this guy puts his hand on his heart and says that it's over, until he really means it.
0:22:48 > 0:22:52"Put your hand on your heart and tell me," that's such an old-school notion.
0:22:53 > 0:22:56- Mrs Mitchell.- Ah, Scott. - Can I have a word with Charlene?
0:22:56 > 0:23:02Kylie became more tantalising thanks to rumours of an on-set romance with her Neighbours co-star.
0:23:02 > 0:23:09Tea-time Britain was glued to the puppy-love affair of Charlene and Scott, played by Jason Donovan.
0:23:09 > 0:23:12Oh, who ever said there was anything special about me anyway?
0:23:12 > 0:23:14Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey! I reckon you are!
0:23:14 > 0:23:15Ha! Scott!
0:23:15 > 0:23:21Every generation, there's a TV romance that comes along that people put their hopes and dreams on,
0:23:21 > 0:23:24and that was, you know, Kylie and Jason.
0:23:26 > 0:23:29# Especially for you... #
0:23:29 > 0:23:34This was the start of us getting enthralled with who Kylie was kissing.
0:23:34 > 0:23:36Lindsay! What's your question?
0:23:36 > 0:23:39'Do you think you're going to get married in real life?'
0:23:39 > 0:23:41- Ha-ha!- Well...- Well are you?
0:23:41 > 0:23:47We've actually worked together for a long time and we've been really good friends.
0:23:47 > 0:23:55As we were saying before, the press tend to beat up stories that we're more than what we do on television.
0:23:55 > 0:23:58Well, Jason and Kylie were together, which I can confirm, everybody.
0:23:58 > 0:24:00Jason and Kylie were together from day one.
0:24:00 > 0:24:03But Jason's days were numbered.
0:24:03 > 0:24:06We get a call from Kylie, in her car, just saying,
0:24:06 > 0:24:11"Look, I've gotta warn you, you might have the press all turn up at your door in a minute."
0:24:11 > 0:24:19"Why?" "Well, I've just announced that I'm going out with Michael Hutchence."
0:24:19 > 0:24:23# So slide over here and give me a moment
0:24:23 > 0:24:27# Your moves are so raw I've got to let you know. #
0:24:27 > 0:24:34Hutchence, lead singer of Australian rock band INXS, was all leather trousers and long hair.
0:24:34 > 0:24:36Kylie had gone to the dark side.
0:24:36 > 0:24:39We could handle Jason because we knew him. We knew where he was going,
0:24:39 > 0:24:41we knew what the threats were.
0:24:41 > 0:24:46And I remember turning round to Mike Stock and saying "You know what? It's always better the devil you know."
0:24:46 > 0:24:50And he went, "That's the title! Off we go!"
0:24:50 > 0:24:54# Better the devil you know Better the devil you know... #
0:24:54 > 0:24:59When asked what his hobbies were, Michael Hutchence said, "Corrupting Kylie."
0:24:59 > 0:25:01From Michael Hutchence, Kylie grew up.
0:25:01 > 0:25:04She became very aware of her own sexuality.
0:25:04 > 0:25:08"How much clothes can I take off in this video?
0:25:08 > 0:25:11"How seductive can I be with this male dancer?"
0:25:11 > 0:25:16She became stronger in her opinions about her career, about her image.
0:25:16 > 0:25:19It was like a switch, it just went click.
0:25:22 > 0:25:24Her videos got steamier.
0:25:24 > 0:25:28She even played a pint-sized hooker in the video for Word Is Out.
0:25:28 > 0:25:32Stock, Aitken and Waterman couldn't believe it.
0:25:32 > 0:25:34Kylie was the girl next door.
0:25:34 > 0:25:38I Should Be So Lucky, Better The Devil You Know, obviously were believable for the public,
0:25:38 > 0:25:45Word Is Out and dancing in a dark corner dressed as...everybody went,
0:25:45 > 0:25:48"This is not the Kylie, this is not our Kylie."
0:25:48 > 0:25:51Kylie is not a prostitute.
0:25:51 > 0:25:53End of story.
0:25:53 > 0:25:58Although there were six singles after that, when the contract was up in 1994,
0:25:58 > 0:26:00Kylie left Stock, Aitken and Waterman.
0:26:00 > 0:26:05I look back at when I started, which was very controlled.
0:26:05 > 0:26:11But I don't think you're meant to leave that kind of hit factory,
0:26:11 > 0:26:16and I wanted to have more to do with the end result.
0:26:16 > 0:26:19It would have been very easy to stay there
0:26:19 > 0:26:23and be the oldest pop star in the history of old pop stars.
0:26:23 > 0:26:26But Kylie was growing up, she didn't want that.
0:26:26 > 0:26:33# Confide in me... #
0:26:33 > 0:26:39Kylie wanted credibility. She wanted the freedom to have black-and-white photo shoots and to wear glasses.
0:26:39 > 0:26:45Her first single, Confide In Me, was weird and swoony. It didn't sound like the Kylie we knew.
0:26:45 > 0:26:47And that was exactly the point.
0:26:47 > 0:26:51I didn't know that Confide In Me was a Kylie song.
0:26:51 > 0:26:54I'd heard this great song on the radio and for me,
0:26:54 > 0:26:59I liked the sparseness of it and the slightly eerie nature of the vocal.
0:26:59 > 0:27:00It's quite a spooky song.
0:27:00 > 0:27:02It said that she was here to stay
0:27:02 > 0:27:05and she was standing on her own two feet.
0:27:05 > 0:27:07As a singer, not just as a pop star.
0:27:07 > 0:27:13More confident than ever, Kylie Minogue says she's changed and so have her fans.
0:27:13 > 0:27:17No more hysterical teenagers. These days, the press makes more noise.
0:27:17 > 0:27:20And the new album means unveiling yet another new image.
0:27:20 > 0:27:25# They call me the Wild Rose
0:27:27 > 0:27:31# But my name was Eliza Day... #
0:27:31 > 0:27:34The teenagers had stopped screaming for her.
0:27:34 > 0:27:37Not that Kylie could hear anyway, she was covered in duckweed.
0:27:37 > 0:27:42Then just in time for the new millennium, Kylie remembered she wasn't an indie princess,
0:27:42 > 0:27:44but a pop queen.
0:27:44 > 0:27:48She lost herself then she found herself. Then suddenly she started singing pop songs again.
0:27:48 > 0:27:51Even though she'd already had this career,
0:27:51 > 0:27:53like, you know, as an actress and singer.
0:27:53 > 0:27:57And then she kind of like, evolved,
0:27:57 > 0:28:00and came out as this really sexy, gorgeous woman.
0:28:00 > 0:28:05# I'm spinnin' around Move out of my way... #
0:28:05 > 0:28:10In 2000, she saw the light. And so did half her arse cheeks.
0:28:10 > 0:28:13Spinning Around was a monumental hit.
0:28:13 > 0:28:16There was a prerequisite from the record company
0:28:16 > 0:28:19that it had to be smiley
0:28:19 > 0:28:22and she had to be blonde, because that was the Kylie
0:28:22 > 0:28:24that people had previously responded to the best.
0:28:24 > 0:28:26# Baby, baby, baby... #
0:28:26 > 0:28:32She tried them on and put on a pair of high-heels and it was like, "Oh, my God. Yeah, wear those."
0:28:32 > 0:28:34# Baby, baby, baby... #
0:28:34 > 0:28:38Those hot pants? I think they're in a museum.
0:28:38 > 0:28:42# I just can't get you out of my head
0:28:42 > 0:28:45# Boy, it's more than I dare to think about... #
0:28:45 > 0:28:49Can't Get You Out Of My Head was the biggest single of her career a year later in 2001.
0:28:49 > 0:28:55And it gave Kylie what she'd been chasing in the '90s - a hit with credibility.
0:28:55 > 0:29:00The kind of Can't Get You Out Of My Head period where she really leapt back into people's consciousness,
0:29:00 > 0:29:03you know, that was a genuinely influential record.
0:29:03 > 0:29:10I wanted her to be more aggressive, I wanted her to be a little bit dirtier than you'd seen Kylie before.
0:29:10 > 0:29:12It redefined the pop video, it redefined that very cold,
0:29:12 > 0:29:17sort of icy electro-pop sound and became something people are copying for the next five years.
0:29:22 > 0:29:24Here we are at Earls Court!
0:29:24 > 0:29:29On a roll once again with a world tour, the only thing that could stop the showgirl did -
0:29:29 > 0:29:30life.
0:29:30 > 0:29:34The pop singer Kylie Minogue has been diagnosed with the early stages
0:29:34 > 0:29:37of breast cancer. This morning, the 36-year-old star
0:29:37 > 0:29:39postponed the Australian leg of her world tour
0:29:39 > 0:29:42to begin immediate treatment at her home in Melbourne.
0:29:42 > 0:29:44But she said she hoped to be back at work soon.
0:29:44 > 0:29:50Back at work she was. Within 18 months, she was in remission, and back on stage.
0:29:50 > 0:29:53It was the biggest come-back of her life.
0:29:53 > 0:29:55London! Are you ready for this?!
0:29:55 > 0:29:57CHEERING
0:29:57 > 0:29:59MUSIC: "I Should Be So Lucky"
0:29:59 > 0:30:02CROWD ROARS
0:30:04 > 0:30:09She comes back from adversity, and she does it with absolute panache.
0:30:09 > 0:30:15There's something about Kylie, also, that she's so likeable. And you're rooting for her.
0:30:15 > 0:30:19We love Kylie, because she pulls off what our native British stars find so tricky.
0:30:19 > 0:30:22She can do sexy one minute, and cute the next.
0:30:22 > 0:30:26She ain't been around for so long by doing the same old thing the same old way every time.
0:30:26 > 0:30:30She does things that shock people, keeps people interested.
0:30:30 > 0:30:32# Lucky in love. #
0:30:32 > 0:30:36# Tell me what you want What you really, really want! #
0:30:36 > 0:30:38Compared to head-girl Kylie,
0:30:38 > 0:30:42our next '90s queen was more like the mouthy schoolgirl hanging round the bike sheds.
0:30:42 > 0:30:47Geri Halliwell democratised pop for women like no-one else.
0:30:47 > 0:30:50With her big shoes, cheery determination and loud voice,
0:30:50 > 0:30:54she was like the Mr Noisy of pop, but a girl!
0:30:54 > 0:30:57Geri was the one with all the spunk,
0:30:57 > 0:31:00she was the one who'd come out there and say what she feels.
0:31:00 > 0:31:03I love that she was the fiery one.
0:31:03 > 0:31:04She was ginger,
0:31:04 > 0:31:06she was the outspoken one.
0:31:06 > 0:31:09Geri was a grammar school girl from Watford.
0:31:09 > 0:31:12She was a wannabe with a mission - to be famous.
0:31:12 > 0:31:16From a teenager onwards, she used everything she had to break into showbiz.
0:31:16 > 0:31:20Geri worked so hard. She made it happen for her.
0:31:20 > 0:31:22She was never going to be discovered.
0:31:22 > 0:31:25She had to make sure she was discovered.
0:31:25 > 0:31:30But the closest she got was glamour modelling, and impersonating a policeman on cable TV.
0:31:30 > 0:31:32WHISTLE BLOWS
0:31:32 > 0:31:35This is the fashion police, and baby, you're busted.
0:31:35 > 0:31:42Then, at 22, she saw this advert for a new female pop act, and begged for an audition.
0:31:42 > 0:31:45She, kind of, came into that, absolutely as bold as brass,
0:31:45 > 0:31:49you know, bounced into the room and just sort of,
0:31:49 > 0:31:55gave us some cheeky line, and kind of won us over with personality alone.
0:31:55 > 0:31:58Tell you what, there's millions of kids out there who wanna be pop stars.
0:31:58 > 0:32:02And we're actually taking steps, getting closer and closer to a dream.
0:32:02 > 0:32:05You kind of thought, well, she's got confidence.
0:32:05 > 0:32:12The embryonic Spice Girls began some embryonic dance routines,
0:32:12 > 0:32:15finally gelling as a new kind of girl band.
0:32:15 > 0:32:17I get enough BLEEP off this lot...
0:32:17 > 0:32:21But even then, Geri's ability to hustle was becoming apparent.
0:32:21 > 0:32:24Behind the scenes, I think she had been convincing the other girls
0:32:24 > 0:32:27that they needed to take a faster route to get there.
0:32:27 > 0:32:33I'm so ambitious and I just wanna get there. That's the whole point of it, I just want my ego fed.
0:32:33 > 0:32:38The Spice Girls left their management, but walking in a funny way...
0:32:38 > 0:32:45I heard that she had taken one of the tapes and stuck it down her knickers,
0:32:45 > 0:32:51and used that as a means to smuggle it out. And that's Geri. That's what she would have done.
0:32:51 > 0:32:54MUSIC: "When Will I Be Famous?" by Bros
0:32:54 > 0:33:00Geri blagged her way in to a bigger manager, Simon Fuller.
0:33:00 > 0:33:01His vision for them
0:33:01 > 0:33:04was way beyond what anyone else had ever tried to do with a pop band.
0:33:04 > 0:33:07It wouldn't have happened without him.
0:33:07 > 0:33:10It would have happened, but not to the size it did without him.
0:33:10 > 0:33:13# It only takes a minute, girl... #
0:33:13 > 0:33:17At the time, the only games in town were boy bands...
0:33:17 > 0:33:19# All the people... #
0:33:19 > 0:33:23..and Britpop. No-one wanted girl bands, especially such a motley bunch.
0:33:23 > 0:33:28So, when they did arrive, it was with the shock of punk rock. Only louder.
0:33:28 > 0:33:30SCREAMING
0:33:30 > 0:33:35AND, AND, AND there's more. This is our single, which is out on Monday.
0:33:35 > 0:33:38'The girls just ran amok.'
0:33:38 > 0:33:40And they literally, if there was any man there,
0:33:40 > 0:33:42they'd be sitting on their knee,
0:33:42 > 0:33:45'they'd be undressing them, undoing their tie...'
0:33:45 > 0:33:47Go on, then! Ha-ha-ha!
0:33:47 > 0:33:50They came into the offices, they were all over me like a rash.
0:33:50 > 0:33:55Jumping on my desk, kissing me, putting lipstick on, doing the whole job.
0:33:55 > 0:33:58Geri was the one who would always come straight up to your face.
0:33:58 > 0:34:02She had this thing of literally being a few inches away from your nose.
0:34:02 > 0:34:05"Who are you? My name's Geri. What can you do for us?"
0:34:05 > 0:34:08Joining me now it's - behave! - it's Geri!
0:34:08 > 0:34:10- Geri!- Geri.- Geri!
0:34:10 > 0:34:12No-one forgot meeting Geri for the first time.
0:34:12 > 0:34:16'It was very obvious from the beginning that she was the director of the group.'
0:34:16 > 0:34:18She sat next to me and spelled out
0:34:18 > 0:34:21everything that was going to happen to them for the next two years.
0:34:21 > 0:34:25The next two years made them the biggest girl band in the world,
0:34:25 > 0:34:27starting with their first single, Wannabe.
0:34:27 > 0:34:29# I really, really, really Wanna zig-a-zig-aah! #
0:34:29 > 0:34:33Throughout the video, they're kind of coming at the camera.
0:34:33 > 0:34:38'They're coming towards the camera, not backing away from it or standing at a distance.'
0:34:38 > 0:34:39The confidence was incredible.
0:34:39 > 0:34:42# Get your act together We could be just fine. #
0:34:42 > 0:34:46I think the choice of Wannabe as the first single was so important,
0:34:46 > 0:34:49because of what it stood for as a record. You can go out with me,
0:34:49 > 0:34:53but you've got to like my mates as well, and if you don't you can clear off.
0:34:53 > 0:34:56# If you wanna be my lover. #
0:34:56 > 0:35:01I think if you asked most people on the street, what do they remember about the Spice Girls,
0:35:01 > 0:35:03after the music, they'd say, "Girl power!"
0:35:03 > 0:35:06ALL: Girl Power!
0:35:07 > 0:35:10Geri was the one that was all about the girl power.
0:35:10 > 0:35:15Asserting girl power is, basically, being yourself.
0:35:15 > 0:35:17Being strong... True to yourself.
0:35:17 > 0:35:23She recognised that that actually was a call to arms to millions of teenage girls.
0:35:23 > 0:35:27# I'm giving you everything
0:35:27 > 0:35:29# All that joy can bring
0:35:29 > 0:35:30# This I swear
0:35:30 > 0:35:32# I'll give you everything
0:35:32 > 0:35:36# And all that I want from you
0:35:36 > 0:35:39# Is a promise you will be there. #
0:35:39 > 0:35:44I remember being completely obsessed with the Spice Girls.
0:35:44 > 0:35:49And I literally had their wallpaper, picture frames, bed sheets...
0:35:49 > 0:35:52Are you joking me? I'm the biggest Spice Girls fan ever.
0:35:52 > 0:35:55Oh my God, they're my life. Yeah. Best band ever.
0:35:55 > 0:35:59Ginger, Sporty, Scary, Baby and Posh,
0:35:59 > 0:36:03the all-conquering Spice Girls!
0:36:03 > 0:36:09At the Brit Awards in 1997, Geri was the pin-up girl for Cool Britannia.
0:36:09 > 0:36:11Literally pinned-up.
0:36:11 > 0:36:15# The race is on to get out of the bottom. #
0:36:15 > 0:36:19You know, rule Britannia, everyone was very proud to be British.
0:36:19 > 0:36:24Here was a girl group that were selling 55 million albums across the world.
0:36:24 > 0:36:28Who would have thought that a girl wearing a black dress,
0:36:28 > 0:36:35with a Union Jack pinned to it by her sister, would make the front pages across the world?
0:36:39 > 0:36:43As she took to the world stage, it was clear that she'd never run short of something to say.
0:36:43 > 0:36:45And she would never be boring.
0:36:45 > 0:36:48She was very good at the publicity side of it.
0:36:48 > 0:36:52She was really good at getting the right picture, the right shot, the right quote.
0:36:52 > 0:36:56You're as young as the girl you feel and I'm 25!
0:36:56 > 0:36:57LAUGHTER
0:36:59 > 0:37:03If Geri could make world leaders giggle and royalty blush,
0:37:03 > 0:37:06then surely she could take control of her own girl band?
0:37:06 > 0:37:09She persuaded the other girls to ditch their manager.
0:37:09 > 0:37:14'Simon Fuller was told the news after the MTV Music Awards on Thursday.
0:37:14 > 0:37:17'Ginger Spice, Geri Halliwell, masterminded the split.
0:37:17 > 0:37:21'The group expects to turn over £300 million by the year 2000.'
0:37:21 > 0:37:23They haven't just fired Simon Fuller,
0:37:23 > 0:37:26they've fired the whole Spice Girl machine that surrounds them.
0:37:26 > 0:37:29I saw Geri Halliwell on the phone booking cars for the girls.
0:37:29 > 0:37:33"It's gonna be fine, it's gonna be fine. Don't worry about it, it's gonna be fine."
0:37:33 > 0:37:38But you know how annoying it can be going on hold to a mini-cab office.
0:37:38 > 0:37:43Geri Halliwell, otherwise known as Ginger Spice, has confirmed that she has left the Spice Girls.
0:37:43 > 0:37:46Aargh! I don't believe it, not Geri.
0:37:46 > 0:37:49Geri's my favourite. Geri's the one that keeps it all together.
0:37:49 > 0:37:53She's the one with the bounce, the go, girl power, not Geri. Why?
0:37:53 > 0:37:56She was my favourite. She broke my heart and left. Now, Mel B's my favourite.
0:37:56 > 0:38:01I was so angry. I was like, "What's she doing?! This is my group!"
0:38:01 > 0:38:04And I was upset for ages. That broke a lot of girls' hearts.
0:38:04 > 0:38:06Sorry, Geri, but it really did.
0:38:06 > 0:38:09- Something has changed, hasn't it?! - Something has.
0:38:09 > 0:38:11It's more relaxed.
0:38:11 > 0:38:14There's more room on the couch, where's Geri gone?
0:38:14 > 0:38:17THEY SING: # Where's Geri gone? Where's Geri gone? #
0:38:17 > 0:38:19Clearly not to the Jobcentre,
0:38:19 > 0:38:23but to the very-expensive-music-video-shop
0:38:23 > 0:38:24to launch her solo career.
0:38:24 > 0:38:31Everyone was, really, looking at her as the spirit of the Spice Girls.
0:38:31 > 0:38:33Except it was the Spice One.
0:38:33 > 0:38:35Geri was on a mission to show
0:38:35 > 0:38:38there was more to her than being a mouthy redhead.
0:38:38 > 0:38:40Look At Me was her first solo single.
0:38:40 > 0:38:42That video was amazing.
0:38:42 > 0:38:46Because, in it, Geri killed Ginger.
0:38:46 > 0:38:52'If I was a Spice fan, I wouldn't want to see a Spice Girl, like, buried in a coffin.
0:38:52 > 0:38:56'Like, saying, "I'm turning my back on all that life, it's the new me."'
0:38:59 > 0:39:02I didn't want to say goodbye to Ginger.
0:39:04 > 0:39:09The new Geri was thinner, blonder, quieter and more mature.
0:39:09 > 0:39:12She looked like a proper pop star, from a pop star catalogue.
0:39:12 > 0:39:15But that, of course, was never the point of her.
0:39:15 > 0:39:18She made such a difference, I think, in the '90s.
0:39:18 > 0:39:20People will always remember her.
0:39:20 > 0:39:23She drew from her predecessing queens before her,
0:39:23 > 0:39:29and as a result, took the crown from them, and owned that '90s pop era.
0:39:29 > 0:39:33Geri seemed to want the world stage, just to be able to wave hello.
0:39:33 > 0:39:36By the time our next queen took to the world stage,
0:39:36 > 0:39:39it looked like she was already waving goodbye.
0:39:39 > 0:39:44Amy Winehouse is the voice and the talent of her generation.
0:39:44 > 0:39:49But when you sing your hits of heartbreak and say no to rehab,
0:39:49 > 0:39:53you awake the appetite of mass media.
0:39:53 > 0:39:55But just imagine if you'd never read the papers
0:39:55 > 0:39:58and only heard her voice on the radio.
0:39:58 > 0:40:03# He left no time to regret
0:40:03 > 0:40:07# Kept his ... wet... #
0:40:07 > 0:40:10The first time I heard her sing, I thought she was this old black woman
0:40:10 > 0:40:13that'd lived through everything and seen everything.
0:40:13 > 0:40:16She's, like, a little white girl from London!
0:40:16 > 0:40:19She just projects this soul on to you.
0:40:19 > 0:40:21"I'm singing about it and I mean it."
0:40:21 > 0:40:26First and foremost, she's an incredibly talented, genius songwriter.
0:40:26 > 0:40:30Amy grew up in Southgate, a quiet suburb in North London.
0:40:30 > 0:40:34Unusually, for a '90s teenager, she was into 1950s jazz.
0:40:34 > 0:40:37When I was growing up and listening to jazz,
0:40:37 > 0:40:40it still wasn't a social thing for me, you know,
0:40:40 > 0:40:45something like hip hop, which I've always loved, that's what I'd listen to with my friends,
0:40:45 > 0:40:47that was our shared interest.
0:40:47 > 0:40:51But jazz was always my personal music.
0:40:51 > 0:40:54I'm a singer, and we were always singing at home.
0:40:54 > 0:40:58When Amy was little, I would sing a line and I'd leave a word out.
0:40:58 > 0:40:59# Are the stars out tonight?
0:40:59 > 0:41:01# I don't know if it's cloudy or bright
0:41:01 > 0:41:04# Cos I only have eyes for... # And she'd go, "You."
0:41:04 > 0:41:06The first singer I ever knew was Sinatra.
0:41:08 > 0:41:14# I've got you under my skin. #
0:41:14 > 0:41:18Amy's passion for music, and the way that she would impart a song,
0:41:18 > 0:41:20a lot of that was down to him.
0:41:20 > 0:41:25Because he was an actor. He wouldn't sing a song unless he felt the emotions,
0:41:25 > 0:41:27and the emotions were true for him.
0:41:27 > 0:41:29And, of course, the same applies for Amy now.
0:41:29 > 0:41:32# I've got you under my skin... #
0:41:32 > 0:41:36Amy Winehouse studied dancing and music at stage school,
0:41:36 > 0:41:40but was disruptive, and was asked to leave, aged 15.
0:41:40 > 0:41:44Her first encounter with the music industry was when she met record executive Nick Godwyn.
0:41:44 > 0:41:46We sat down in this little office,
0:41:46 > 0:41:48she got her guitar out and she started to play,
0:41:48 > 0:41:50broke a string and went,
0:41:50 > 0:41:52"Oh, that's it, I can't sing without the guitar."
0:41:52 > 0:41:57I said, "I really would like to hear you sing," and she said, "When the guitar's fixed, I'll come and sing."
0:41:57 > 0:42:03I'm not a polished thing. I was never going round record companies saying,
0:42:03 > 0:42:07"This is my package. As well as being able to do this, I can also do this.
0:42:07 > 0:42:09I never did that kind of thing.
0:42:09 > 0:42:14# There is no greater love. #
0:42:14 > 0:42:19Amy did go back and sing for Nick. He immediately understood what he had.
0:42:19 > 0:42:25The way she just sang, the way she slid the vocal, and the words together,
0:42:25 > 0:42:29sometimes two words almost into one, and then she'd come out...
0:42:32 > 0:42:37# No heart's so true. #
0:42:37 > 0:42:40I'm not sure if the word "beautiful" is the right word for it,
0:42:40 > 0:42:44but, the voice was like nothing I had ever heard before. That was the truth.
0:42:44 > 0:42:52# ..for you
0:42:52 > 0:42:55# Why I feel you. #
0:42:55 > 0:42:58# Used to be stronger than me... #
0:42:58 > 0:43:02Her first album, Frank, was named after her hero, Sinatra,
0:43:02 > 0:43:04but also her truthful song writing.
0:43:04 > 0:43:10She was only a teenager, but already her obsessions were obvious - men and heartbreak.
0:43:10 > 0:43:14I always said I never wanted to write about love, and then I went and did that anyway.
0:43:14 > 0:43:17I've got maybe seven or eight songs that are about this guy.
0:43:17 > 0:43:20- Is that your ex-boyfriend you're talking about?- Yep.
0:43:20 > 0:43:22I wouldn't wanna be an ex-boyfriend of yours!
0:43:22 > 0:43:26I'm sure it's a fun ride while it lasts, but then you get the album coming out...
0:43:26 > 0:43:31When you're emotionally tied in to someone, it's never that simple.
0:43:36 > 0:43:402005, and along came Blake Fielder-Civil.
0:43:40 > 0:43:42They started an intense relationship.
0:43:42 > 0:43:45I think she fell really in love with Blake.
0:43:45 > 0:43:47You know, she was obsessed with him
0:43:47 > 0:43:53and that meant that her mind was no longer just on music, or with her friends,
0:43:53 > 0:43:57there was something else now, in her life, which was very, very consuming.
0:43:57 > 0:44:02After six months, they split up. Amy took it hard.
0:44:02 > 0:44:05She was drinking more, and it started to show.
0:44:05 > 0:44:09One day, Nick found Amy in a mess.
0:44:09 > 0:44:12I went to the house and she was, just crying, yeah.
0:44:12 > 0:44:17Uncontrollably, inconsolable, just crying.
0:44:17 > 0:44:22# I told you I was trouble... #
0:44:22 > 0:44:27That's when I suggested, well, maybe talk to somebody about this.
0:44:27 > 0:44:33# They tried to make me go to rehab I said no, no, no... #
0:44:33 > 0:44:36She said, "I don't need to go to rehab. I've just had a few drinks.
0:44:36 > 0:44:38"If you don't want me to drink, I won't drink."
0:44:38 > 0:44:41She said to me, "I can cope with this. I can deal with this on my own."
0:44:41 > 0:44:47# I ain't got the time And if my daddy thinks I'm fine... #
0:44:47 > 0:44:52I said to Nick at the time, "Maybe this is more about her coming out of a relationship?"
0:44:52 > 0:44:58I didn't feel that she needed to go to rehab, at that point.
0:44:58 > 0:45:01In Rehab, Amy was printing off her calling card -
0:45:01 > 0:45:05heartbreak, addiction and resilience.
0:45:05 > 0:45:06She wrote her life up as art.
0:45:06 > 0:45:10I think you do have to suffer for your art, I know I have.
0:45:10 > 0:45:13Cos I had to, you know, have some peaks and troughs, definitely.
0:45:15 > 0:45:17Crashing, soaring, and crashing once more,
0:45:17 > 0:45:20it was all there in the new album, Back To Black.
0:45:20 > 0:45:23It's about when a relationship is over,
0:45:23 > 0:45:26and how you go back to what you were before, or what you know best.
0:45:32 > 0:45:38When I said I went back to black, I meant I went back to tunnels, and drinking too much,
0:45:38 > 0:45:43and, you know, just being a massive depressive,
0:45:43 > 0:45:46and all of that painkillers horribleness.
0:45:46 > 0:45:48'It's about her true-life experiences,
0:45:48 > 0:45:53'and she's drawing on her own raw emotions,'
0:45:53 > 0:45:57and I guess that's what other people really love about it.
0:45:57 > 0:46:02Me, I feel it's putting me through a mincer a little bit.
0:46:02 > 0:46:05You know, that's a father's perspective.
0:46:05 > 0:46:10# You go back to her And I go back to... #
0:46:10 > 0:46:13Well, there was one song in particular that kept coming up,
0:46:13 > 0:46:18and was a sort of cornerstone in making that sound
0:46:18 > 0:46:21and it was Can Never Go Home Anymore by the Shangri-Las.
0:46:21 > 0:46:28# You can never go home anymore. #
0:46:28 > 0:46:31She says, "I literally played it for a year,
0:46:31 > 0:46:36"and my friends would come round and know not to come in if I was playing that song."
0:46:36 > 0:46:39I said, "What, you mean..?" She says, "Yeah, a year."
0:46:39 > 0:46:45And then when you know her, you know that that's completely feasible, and she probably did.
0:46:45 > 0:46:49So much music nowadays is so, like, "You don't know me, I don't need you."
0:46:49 > 0:46:51And all the music then was kinda like,
0:46:51 > 0:46:54"I don't care if you don't love me, I will lie down in the road,
0:46:54 > 0:47:00"pull my heart out and show it to you." Do you know what I mean? I love all that kind of drama.
0:47:00 > 0:47:05# You made me miss the Slick Rick gig... #
0:47:05 > 0:47:10The hit album of the year was about lying in the road and tearing your heart out,
0:47:10 > 0:47:17and at the same time, the woman who wrote and sang it appeared to be doing just that in real life.
0:47:17 > 0:47:21Because she was in the mainstream, and expected to do mainstream things,
0:47:21 > 0:47:26I think that people then were surprised that she still kept that attitude.
0:47:26 > 0:47:31- Can I have a drink, please?- You can't have another drink, cos you're already a bit tipsy, Amy, come on.
0:47:31 > 0:47:34- All right. - 'She is for real.'
0:47:34 > 0:47:42There is no way that anything about the world of recording or being famous is gonna modify her.
0:47:42 > 0:47:44Appearances like these were entertaining for us,
0:47:44 > 0:47:49potentially hurtful for her, but always great for album sales.
0:47:50 > 0:47:52Did you just spit?!
0:47:52 > 0:47:53LAUGHTER
0:47:53 > 0:47:58'Everything that you wouldn't do, about launching a single and marketing it, she did.'
0:47:58 > 0:48:01So, in that way, she's sort of like the anti-Christ of pop.
0:48:07 > 0:48:10# For you, I was a flame... #
0:48:10 > 0:48:16Within six short months in 2007, Amy's life reached critical mass.
0:48:16 > 0:48:22She got back with Blake, married him, and then wept as he was carted off to jail.
0:48:22 > 0:48:23She overdosed, she recovered,
0:48:23 > 0:48:26she made the 9 O'Clock News
0:48:26 > 0:48:28just for still being alive.
0:48:28 > 0:48:32I feel like her persona has eclipsed all of the music.
0:48:32 > 0:48:33And that's really sad,
0:48:33 > 0:48:36because I think that's also a product
0:48:36 > 0:48:38of being a woman in music nowadays,
0:48:38 > 0:48:45is that people don't want to accept you for your musicianship, they wanna make you into something else.
0:48:45 > 0:48:51But no newspaper will leave Amy's story in the middle.
0:48:51 > 0:48:54We're all watching, and listening, and hoping.
0:48:54 > 0:48:59She's a trusting, open, friendly person. And I really wouldn't want her to change.
0:48:59 > 0:49:01I like her that way.
0:49:01 > 0:49:05# He walks away The sun goes down
0:49:05 > 0:49:08# He takes the day... #
0:49:08 > 0:49:14Amy's future is entirely in her hands. When she decides that she wants to make a record
0:49:14 > 0:49:17or she wants to sing, then she will. And we'll just have to wait.
0:49:20 > 0:49:27The next queen was born 11 miles away from Amy Winehouse, but it might as well have been worlds away.
0:49:27 > 0:49:31Leona Lewis could have been just a lucky girl from Hackney with a good voice,
0:49:31 > 0:49:35who triumphed in a TV talent show, and who we never heard from again.
0:49:35 > 0:49:38Instead, she won a whole new life.
0:49:38 > 0:49:44# What if I told you It was all meant to be? #
0:49:44 > 0:49:47I really get goose bumps when I think about her,
0:49:47 > 0:49:49how exciting that voice is. She's FABULOUS!
0:49:49 > 0:49:53In terms of the true vocalists out there, she conveys emotion better that all of them.
0:49:53 > 0:49:58She's got a really amazing, powerful, beautiful, very natural voice.
0:49:58 > 0:50:03# So tell me that you don't think I'm crazy... #
0:50:03 > 0:50:08The X Factor makes careers. We know that now,
0:50:08 > 0:50:12but only because of Leona winning the talent show in 2006.
0:50:12 > 0:50:16Previous to her, the winners' careers mostly ended up in the bargain bin,
0:50:16 > 0:50:17along with their debut CD.
0:50:17 > 0:50:20The very first time she walked into the audition room,
0:50:20 > 0:50:23started singing, I thought at that moment,
0:50:23 > 0:50:25"We may have found a star."
0:50:25 > 0:50:30Leona had a classical singing training at stage school from the age of five.
0:50:30 > 0:50:34As a teenager, she did the London talent showcase circuit for years.
0:50:36 > 0:50:39She was working as a receptionist when we first saw her on TV,
0:50:39 > 0:50:43pacing the shabby carpet of nerves on the X Factor.
0:50:43 > 0:50:44In your own time.
0:50:44 > 0:50:47I just remember being really, really hot,
0:50:47 > 0:50:50and just really, really nervous.
0:50:50 > 0:50:53And I walked in and thought, "I need to compose myself
0:50:53 > 0:50:56"because if I'm too nervous, I'm gonna sound really weird."
0:50:56 > 0:51:00So, I kinda composed myself, and just sang it.
0:51:00 > 0:51:08# You'll find me
0:51:08 > 0:51:11# Somewhere
0:51:11 > 0:51:18# Over the rainbow. #
0:51:20 > 0:51:22Thank you.
0:51:22 > 0:51:24And yeah, it went down well.
0:51:24 > 0:51:26Everybody wants Simon to love them.
0:51:26 > 0:51:30And your main thing is Simon.
0:51:30 > 0:51:32Cos he's the guy that will change your life.
0:51:32 > 0:51:35The first two weeks, I thought she was OK.
0:51:35 > 0:51:38And then it all changed week three, when she sang Summertime.
0:51:38 > 0:51:44# Summertime... #
0:51:44 > 0:51:48It was a song I could really emote on, it was a song that I did my own arrangement on,
0:51:48 > 0:51:54instead of a song that was given to me, that other people have done in the same style.
0:51:54 > 0:51:59'That's when she emerged as a potential winner of the X Factor.'
0:51:59 > 0:52:01Something clicked that week.
0:52:01 > 0:52:05I remember watching her, going, "Oh my gosh. This girl's gonna win."
0:52:05 > 0:52:07CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
0:52:07 > 0:52:10As the weeks went on, and you could see how excited,
0:52:10 > 0:52:12genuinely, Simon Cowell was getting.
0:52:12 > 0:52:18You are absolutely the best contestant I have ever had across any of these shows
0:52:18 > 0:52:21and that was an amazing performance.
0:52:21 > 0:52:23CHEERING
0:52:23 > 0:52:26It made the rest of us at home think, "I wanna buy into this,
0:52:26 > 0:52:31"I want to be part of this, I want to vote, I want it to be that my 20p has made this person a star."
0:52:31 > 0:52:36From the start, Leona had potential appeal to an American audience.
0:52:36 > 0:52:40She modelled herself on American singers, like Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston.
0:52:40 > 0:52:43SHE SINGS: "I Will Always Love You"
0:52:47 > 0:52:50Someone sent me a link to YouTube,
0:52:50 > 0:52:57saying, "Check this singer out. She's this girl in Britain on this show called X Factor."
0:52:57 > 0:53:00And I just thought, "Oh my God, that's unbelievable."
0:53:00 > 0:53:05She was doing a Whitney Houston song, but she was nailing it. NO-ONE can do that!
0:53:05 > 0:53:11# Love you. #
0:53:11 > 0:53:13CHEERING
0:53:19 > 0:53:20Leona!
0:53:20 > 0:53:26Leona nailed the X Factor, won the final, and changed her life forever.
0:53:26 > 0:53:32Watching Leona go through and win the X Factor in 2006, for me, inspired me a lot.
0:53:32 > 0:53:39I mean, she was the first girl to win the X Factor, and the fact that she was from Hackney,
0:53:39 > 0:53:41I was like, "You're round the corner from me!"
0:53:41 > 0:53:44I think it broke a lot of boundaries down.
0:53:44 > 0:53:49Definitely being female, being mixed, you know,
0:53:49 > 0:53:56it definitely brought it home that it's not just the atypical kind of people that are gonna win.
0:53:56 > 0:53:58On the night of the final,
0:53:58 > 0:54:03Simon Cowell made an announcement that showed how serious he was about Leona.
0:54:03 > 0:54:08He had teamed up with the man behind Whitney Houston, Clive Davis.
0:54:08 > 0:54:11I wanted to save this moment, and basically, he said, win or lose,
0:54:11 > 0:54:13Clive Davis is taking you on for America.
0:54:13 > 0:54:16CHEERING
0:54:16 > 0:54:18I knew immediately who Clive Davis was,
0:54:18 > 0:54:25and I was just blown away that he would even consider getting in contact with Simon about me.
0:54:25 > 0:54:31# I can't believe it's happening to me... #
0:54:31 > 0:54:35It was Christmas and Leona was top of the pops.
0:54:35 > 0:54:38All the TV talent show winners have had their own moments like this,
0:54:38 > 0:54:42but then most of them have vanished months later.
0:54:42 > 0:54:47Cowell decided that the best thing to do with a woman that had been on TV every night for three months
0:54:47 > 0:54:49was to make her disappear.
0:54:49 > 0:54:52She did very few interviews, very few TVs,
0:54:52 > 0:54:55and they made her seem as if she was an international artist
0:54:55 > 0:54:57who people couldn't just get out.
0:54:57 > 0:55:01They made her seem famous, and desirable, and untouchable, and it paid off.
0:55:01 > 0:55:05Ten months later, the shiny new Leona was finally revealed,
0:55:05 > 0:55:09climbing the walls of her shiny new video, Bleeding Love.
0:55:09 > 0:55:14# Closed off from Love I didn't need the pain
0:55:14 > 0:55:19# Once or twice was enough And it was all in vain... #
0:55:19 > 0:55:22'You can have a hit record after being on a huge television programme,'
0:55:22 > 0:55:27but to get a song that reaches through the whole world and is a success like that?
0:55:27 > 0:55:28That song - incredible.
0:55:28 > 0:55:32I think it's the lyric, it's the melody,
0:55:32 > 0:55:36It's the way it's not, you know, the perfect love song, happy.
0:55:36 > 0:55:38It's got a lot of angst and pain in there.
0:55:38 > 0:55:41# You cut me open and I
0:55:41 > 0:55:45# Keep bleeding I keep, keep bleeding love
0:55:45 > 0:55:50# I keep bleeding I keep, keep bleeding love... #
0:55:50 > 0:55:55It's quite an unusual pop song, it's pretty graphic, it's pretty gruesome in its imagery,
0:55:55 > 0:55:58it's about being cut open and blood going everywhere.
0:55:58 > 0:56:02The brutal imagery backed with quite a beautiful production worked really well.
0:56:02 > 0:56:04It's a great juxtaposition.
0:56:04 > 0:56:09And it wasn't exactly what people were expecting, it wasn't just a massive Whitney-esque ballad,
0:56:09 > 0:56:11it was a lot more restrained and dignified.
0:56:11 > 0:56:14It came out in the US, and at first, it didn't do that good.
0:56:14 > 0:56:19I actually had people call me from radio and say, "Man, I'm sorry, I know that was your song,
0:56:19 > 0:56:22"and I know about Leona, she's great, it's just not gonna happen."
0:56:22 > 0:56:24And I was like, "Aw, man, that sucks."
0:56:24 > 0:56:27And then three weeks later, it turned around and went whoosh!
0:56:27 > 0:56:32They're playing it on the radio almost every hour. Ladies and gentlemen, singing Bleeding Love,
0:56:32 > 0:56:33it is Leona Lewis!
0:56:33 > 0:56:36CHEERING
0:56:49 > 0:56:54Two years ago, she was answering phones in an office, as a receptionist.
0:56:54 > 0:56:57Two years later, she's number one in America.
0:56:57 > 0:57:01And that's why these shows, even though they're criticised, they are important.
0:57:01 > 0:57:08# I'll sing it one last time for you
0:57:08 > 0:57:14# Then we really have to go... #
0:57:14 > 0:57:17So, Leona has the voice and the backing.
0:57:17 > 0:57:22But does the down-to-earth Hackney girl have the persona for a life of stardom?
0:57:22 > 0:57:27When people say, "She's huge, but is she a star?" I think she's a star, but a different kind of star.
0:57:27 > 0:57:30She's a diva in her voice, but not in person.
0:57:30 > 0:57:34It's been a real journey, and just an amazing journey,
0:57:34 > 0:57:37and I feel so, so, so lucky to be able to be doing this.
0:57:37 > 0:57:41# Light up, light up
0:57:41 > 0:57:47# As if you have a choice... #
0:57:47 > 0:57:52Leona's cracked America by being the most American-style star we've ever produced.
0:57:52 > 0:57:58I think Leona is an example of how we have got amazing talent here.
0:57:58 > 0:58:01And it can be successful throughout the world.
0:58:06 > 0:58:11For the last 30 years, these six queens have ruled over British pop.
0:58:11 > 0:58:17They're the ones who outraged, bust boundaries, and provoked hysteria, love or respect.
0:58:17 > 0:58:22And in turn, they got there on the backs and bouffants of the women who came before them -
0:58:22 > 0:58:25the pioneers, with grace, nerve and imagination,
0:58:25 > 0:58:31who told the world that pop was just as much a woman's business as a man's.
0:58:31 > 0:58:37# Why don't you stop and look me over?
0:58:37 > 0:58:41# Am I the same girl you used to know?
0:58:41 > 0:58:47# Why don't you stop and think it over?
0:58:47 > 0:58:52# Am I the same girl who you hurt so?
0:58:53 > 0:58:58# I'm the one you want and I'm the one you need... #