The shelf life of a popstar particularly a <em>manufactured</em> one is brief at the best of times. But some stars, such as Madonna and Robbie Williams, have an acute sense of their own marketability, not to mention a hardcore following of fans to keep them at the cutting edge of pop culture. Kylie is another such artist; but what she has - in spades that neither Robbie nor Madonna can lay claim to is innocence.
When then-Russian president Boris Yeltsin appointed little-known former spy Vladimir Putin as prime minister in 1999, newspaper headlines dubbed him "Putin The Great Unknown" and "Russia's Mystery Man".
Raised by a single mum on a Southampton council estate, Craig David says he was never tempted by the vices he was surrounded by. "Music had such a passion there was no drug that could ever have gotten me that high," he says. "And then to go and step out in Wembley Arena I was like, what drug could ever give you a buzz like this?"
Not since Elvis has a pair of hips caused such a stir. Former Menudo cherub Ricky Martin went into the February 1999 Grammy Awards in Los Angeles an unknown, shook his bon bon, and came out a bona fide celebrity.
<br><br>On Oscar night 2000, new mum and best supporting actress nominee Samantha Morton found her planned outfit was a bit tight, thanks to her curvaceous post-pregnancy figure. So instead, she donned a Sex Pistols t-shirt because, well, it was the only clean thing that fitted.
<p>"New facts keep coming into one's life, new feelings," Jane Fonda once said. "As long as I'm changing, there's hope for me." The actress who paved the way for every female power player from Meryl Streep to Julia Roberts has been through myriad incarnations: bombshell, revolutionary, film producer, workout queen, billionaire's wife. The former sex kitten obviously has more than nine lives so what's next?</p>
Yves Henri Donat Mathieu-Saint-Laurent was born in 1936 in Algeria to a well-to-do French family. His father Charles was an insurance company manager, his mother Lucienne a prominent socialite.
When Bill Clinton landed the US presidency he did so under the slogan of "two for the price of one" a reference to the skills and political acumen embodied by his wife Hillary Rodham Clinton. During their time in the White House they proved a formidable team, and since leaving Washington Hillary has come into her own with the former US leader shifting into a support role.
International singing sensation Chantal Kreviazuk was just three years old when her musical gifts became evident, but it took a near-fatal accident in her early 20s to make her realise where her future lay.
When Robert Redford offered a young Kate Bosworth a supporting role in his
equestrian movie The Horse Whisperer the fledgling actress was flabbergasted.
"Acting was so strangely accidental in my life at that point," she reflected
later. "I was this 14-year-old horseback rider from Connecticut. A bunch of
girls from the barn went to New York to audition, and I went along. Then I was
called back."
Richard Gere is an actor known for his roles in Pretty Woman, American Gigolo,
An Officer and a Gentleman, and others, plus his passion for Buddhism, advocacy
for Tibet's independence, and AIDS awareness
