Mike Stock is explaining how Kylie Minogue’s pop breakthrough very nearly didn’t happen. He was the principal songwriter for pop production team Stock Aitken Waterman – the self-proclaimed Hit Factory who dominated the charts in the 80s and early 90s with 13 number-one singles – when Minogue, then the teenage breakout star of Aussie soap Neighbours, turned up at the trio’s studio.
Stock wasn’t expecting the 19-year-old – didn’t even know who she was – but was told she was flying back to Australia that afternoon. He rang Pete Waterman, the team’s business brain and A&R guru. “I said, ‘Pete, there’s a girl here called Kylie, and she’s expecting me to work with her but with I’m working on Bananarama.’” Waterman admitted he forgot to tell Stock that Minogue was coming, but that he couldn’t send her home without a song.
Stock asked for a quick explainer of who Minogue was. “I was told she was a beautiful girl, lovely dancer, actress, just won a Logie Award in Australia. So I thought, ‘What does she want with us?’ Then I said, ‘Maybe she hasn’t got time for love. Maybe that’s what she’s missing.’” He got to work with his studio partner Matt Aitken. Just over 30 minutes later, Stock had written “I Should Be So Lucky”. It went to number one; the rest is pop history.
