Holly Valance

Unusually, Australian singer Holly Valance's first single "Kiss Kiss" was released in the UK prior to its release at home, in the knowledge that the record would make a sizeable impression in the bigger market. Valance was already well-known in the UK for her appearances in the popular teen-oriented strip TV soap opera, Neighbours. A decade earlier the Australian-produced program had also launched the international careers of Kylie Minogue and Jason Donovan. In fact Kylie Minogue was a childhood idol.

Born Holly Vukadinovic her family originateed from Yugoslavia but she was born on May 11, 1983 in New Zealand. The family then moved to Australia and Valance was just four years old when Minogue and Donovan, who were a couple on and off the small screen, were regular shoppers at Holly's father's trendy imported European clothes store in Melbourne. Her father would make Holly come out and say hello whenever they were in the store, but she was too shy to actually speak to them. They did have an impact on her however. Holly started dancing and putting on shows at home for her family, and as Holly's stunning 34-26-34 figure began to develop, modelling work started flooding in. At first she posed for supermarket catalogues. By 14 she was earning $200 an hour modelling children's clothes and teenage lingerie. This was in stark contrast to her strict Catholic education where girls were given detention for wearing make-up or having a hem above the knee. It wasn't long before Holly 5ft 8in frame and figure were getting noticed across Australia, fronting ad campaigns. At 17 she starred in a raunchy shower scene for a pop video by Aussie boy band Human Nature. Recognising her daughter's ambitions and talents, her mother suggested the move to acting.

Soon after winning her role in Neighbours, Holly quit school to concentrate on becoming a TV star, determined not to return to her previous career as a ‘clothes horse', although she angered Neighbours bosses when she posed in a bikini for an Australian men's magazine. Not that the Neighbours creators had not taken the opportunity to exploit Valance's looks themselves. While Kylie Minogue had made her name as Neighbours' girl-next-door, Valance's character (Felicity "Flick" Scully) was more on the sexy side of the Neighbours scale.

It was this image and appeal Holly Valance exploited herself in her move to a singing with an eye-catching video for "Kiss Kiss", in which she appeared to be nude. She has signed with the London management company that guides the careers of George Michael and Geri Halliwell. As she was starting to strut the world stage, Holly's Neighbours character was being written out of the series.