Kylie to lead gay festival

Kylie performs her number one hit at the International Indian Film Awards

Kylie Minogue - who is enjoying her first number one single in 10 years - will be among the hosts of the UK's biggest gay and lesbian festival at the weekend.

The 32-year-old will perform at the London Mardi Gras in Finsbury Park on Saturday, days after she hit the top with her track Spinning Around.

Other acts who will perform to an esitmated 85,000 people will include All Saints, Billie Piper, Steps, Stephen Gately, Culture Club, Marc Almond and Bananarama.

Chart success eluded Kylie for a decade

London Mayor Ken Livingstone will also address the crowd from the main stage at the event, which will follow a 100,000-strong march through central London.

The live date further boosts Minogue's remarkable comeback after a disappointing few years for the Australian singer, whose last number one was Tears On My Pillow in 1990.

It was followed by an uncharacteristic foray into a more alternative-flavoured sound in the mid-1990s - including a collaboration with the Manic Street Preachers - which confused her public and saw her lose appeal.

Her album Kylie Minogue - originally titled Impossible Princess - reached only 14 in the charts when the name and a huge advertising campaign had to be dropped following the death of Diana, Princess of Wales.

Worse still, its commercial failure eventually resulted in Kylie parting company with her record company, DeConstruction.

Spinning Around, and the forthcoming album Light Years due for release in September, however, seem to show a return to the traditional Kylie sound.

Wide apppeal

Once again, Kylie is flying the pop-disco flag which bagged her 20 top 10 hits in the late Eighties and early Nineties.

Tracks such as I Should Be So Lucky, The Loco-Motion, Hand On Your Heart, Better The Devil You Know and Especialy for You with Neighbours co-star Jason Donovan kept Kylie in the limelight after she had left the hit soap which had made her a household name.

Kylie had a number one hit with Neighbours co-star Jason Donovan

Chart expert Gennaro Castaldo says Kylie has been able to make a comeback because, despite the time lapse, she still has appeal across the gender and age ranges.

"The fact that she's older now doesn't make her too remote to the younger music fans, because she still comes over as being quite young," he said.

He added: "She's also got a lot of mums who grew up with her, and she's now got the lads, of course, due to the photos she's done recently.

"Then there's her massive gay following which, these days, is probably even bigger than Madonna's."