As our Kylie gets ready to celebrate her 52nd birthday (May 28th), it’s a timely reminder that she began her colossal pop career whilst playing Charlene on Neighbours.
It’s a well-trodden path which has seen many actors try their luck at topping the charts. Some soap stars managed to hit the big time whilst others either sunk without a trace or went crawling back the small screen.
Here’s a reminder of some of the best (and worst) Aussie soap stars who turned singers.
12 Aussie soap stars who turned singers
The Blakeney Twins – All Mixed Up (1991)
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Known for playing twins Caroline and Christina Alessi in Neighbours, the Blakeney sisters were always involved in Aussie showbiz from a young age.
(See their stint as backing vocalists in The Monitors Top 20 hit ‘Singing in the 80s’ when they were just 14 years old here).
Produced by Brit hit factory Stock, Aitken & Waterman, ‘All Mixed Up’ sounds like an out-take of Kylie’s ‘Better The Devil You Know’ only completely forgettable.
11. Stefan Dennis – Don’t It Make You Feel Good (1989)
Better known as Neighbours’ Paul Robinson, Dennis released this synth-pop number which (inexplicably) went Top 20 in the UK. Worth watching for the now-dated 80s music video, which features a very stiff Stefan singing through draping silk, whilst attempting some very robotic leg moves.
10. Bec Cartwright – All Seats Taken (2002)
Before she became Mrs Lleyton Hewitt, we knew Bec as the cutesy Haley Smith Lawson on Home and Away.
At the age of 19 she landed a record deal with Warners and released this Swedish penned poptastic tune which went Top 10.
However after two poor follow-up singles and a debut album, Bec was released from her recording contract and was engaged to Hewitt a year later.
Craig McLachlan and Check 1-2 – Hey Mona (1990)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2ZW_uTlhEQ
McLachlan’s name is currently embroiled in sexual harassment allegations, but prior to that he was once known as a troubadour of sorts. The former Henry Ramsay of Neighbours attempted to trouble the pop charts in 1990 with this reworking of a Bo Diddley b-side.
The plan worked and ‘Hey Mona’ got to number 3, becoming the highest selling single by an Australian artist in 1990. No word however, on whatever happened to the other band members of Check 1-2.
Stephanie McIntosh – Mistake (2006)
Two years after her popular stint as Sky Mangel in Neighbours, McIntosh signed to Universal and launched a pop career with this debut single in July 2006.
Written by the uber-successful team behind tracks by Kelly Clarkson, Britney and J-Lo, ‘Mistake’ veered all the way to #3 on the ARIA charts, helped in part by the music video featuring Desperate Housewives hunk Ryan Carnes.
A follow-up single ‘Tightrope’ was released a few months later but disappeared from the charts – much like Steph’s fleeting pop career.
Toni Pearen – In Your Room (1992)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4cHDz_TjPE
Most of us know her as the bubbly host of Australia’s Funniest Home Videos (2003-2007), but back in the 90s, Toni Pearen first graced our screens when she was cast as Toni Windsor in the Network 10 soap E-Street. She (proverbially) resided on the show for three years before switching gears and diving into the music biz in 1992.
‘In Your Room’ was Pearen’s first offering. It peaked at #10 on the charts and featured the amusing line, ‘I wanna be your oxygen, you breathe me out, you breathe me in.’
There were a number of other follow-up singles and an album, but Pearen’s pop dalliance ran out of puff around the mid-90s.
Tammin Sursock – Pointless Relationship (2005)
Home and Away’s rebellious Dani Sutherland swapped Summer Bay for Hollywood in the mid Naughties and recorded an album with some heavy music industry hitters. The first single, an edgy rock number called ‘Pointless Relationship’ went Top 10 and was certified platinum in Australia.
There were also plans to release a debut album entitled Whatever Will Be overseas, but all bets were off when the actress scored a role in US daytime soap The Young and The Restless.
Holly Valance – Kiss Kiss (2002)
‘Kiss Kiss’ was a ‘cover-of-a-cover’ and it shot to #1 in both Australia and the UK. Playing the character of Flick Scully for three years in Neighbours, producers eventually wrote Valance out of the soap so she could court the music world.
Valance actually had a decent run by soap star standards. She released a number of high chart placing singles after ‘Kiss Kiss’ as well as two studio albums.
However Holly kissed her pop career goodbye after a few years, citing “Music wasn’t fun anymore.” Legal wrangles with her record company soon followed as well as acting parts in American TV crime dramas.
Jason Donovan – Too Many Broken Hearts (1989)
We loved him as Scott Robinson in Neighbours so when Jason Donovan signed to Mushroom Records and released his debut album Ten Good Reasons, we only needed one in order to part with our pocket money and send Jason’s record Top 5 in Oz. (And No 1 in the UK).
’89 also gave us the epic Kylie & Jason duet ‘Especially for You’.
as well as the catchy debut single ‘Nothing Can Divide Us’ – all cleverly crafted by pop super producers Stock, Aitken & Waterman.
Natalie Imbruglia – Torn (1997)
The character of Beth Brennan was well and truly buried by the time Imbruglia relocated to London in the mid ‘90s. Covering a track called ‘Torn’ by American alt rockers Ednaswap, Imbruglia kick-started an impressive pop career which has lasted much longer than her dalliance with Neighbours.
Melissa Tkautz – Read My Lips (1991)
Memorable for its lines, “If you wanna wait till later, hands off my detonator”, closely followed by “Read my lips and take dictation.”
Melissa Tkautz’s debut single went straight to number 1 in July of ’91 whilst she was playing Nikki Spencer on Network 10’s
E-Street. The now dated pop-dance hybrid tune was the highest selling song of the year, possibly due to the the sexy boxing antics of hunky Simon Baker in the music video.
Fellow E-Street cast mate Toni Pearon was originally earmarked for the song, but the soap’s producers deemed it too raunchy for her wholesome character.
Delta Goodrem – Born to Try (2002)
It’s fair to say Delta’s pop career was already well underway when she signed up to play Nina Tucker, (the quintessential girl next door), on Neighbours in 2002. She’d been signed to Sony a few years earlier, however Neighbours actually helped launch her to a prime time audience.
Delta premiered ‘Born to Try’ on Ramsay St which took her to the top of the charts.
ARIA records were then broken with massive sales of her debut album Innocent Eyes and the rest, as we know, is history.
To date, our Delts, has sold over 8 million albums globally whilst TV Week ranked good ol’ Nina Tucker (who wouldn’t say boo to a goose), in their Top 25 of best Neighbours characters ever.
