France honours Kylie

                                                                                         

It’s official, as if anyone had any doubt. The Aussie pop chanteuse, Kylie Minogue, is now a cultural icon, at least as far as the French are concerned.

On Monday Minogue became a chevalier de L’Ordre des Arts et Lettres (a knight of the order of Arts and Letters) in a ceremony presided over by the French minister of culture, Christine Albanel.

In bestowing the honour upon the singer Albanel proved her pop and fashion savvy credentials by proclaiming Minogue to be the “princess of pop and an uncontested queen of the dance floor who had a Midas touch on the international music scene and transformed everything she touched into gold – from records to micro-shorts.”

She also praised Minogue’s decision to go public three years ago after she received the diagnosis that she had breast cancer.

“In doing so,” Albanel told the 39-year-old singer. “You have raised public awareness.

“Doctors even go so far as to describe a ‘Kylie effect’, which encourages young women to go for regular check-ups,” she added.

L’Ordre des Arts et Lettres was established back in 1963 to recognise significant contributions to the arts and literature – not just in France, but also throughout the world.

Minogue now joins the ranks of an eclectic mix of other notable foreign recipients including among others TS Eliot, Allen Ginsberg, Bob Dylan, Ella Fitzgerald, Clint Eastwood, Sharon Stone and Jude Law.

Minogue, a former soap star turned singer who has had more than 30 hits over the course of the last two decades, kicks off her latest world tour in Paris on Tuesday.

About the author:
Johnny Summerton is a Paris-based broadcaster, writer and journalist specialising in politics and sport. For more on what's making the headlines here in France, log on to his website http://www.persiflagefrance.com

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