Kylie Minogue has breast cancer

Kylie Minogue

SYDNEY - Australian singer Kylie Minogue has been diagnosed with breast cancer and has cancelled her upcoming Australian tour, her management said on Tuesday.


Minogue, 36, who was due to start her Australian concerts this week, said she was sorry to disappoint her fans.


"Nevertheless, hopefully all will work out fine and I'll be back with you all again soon," Minogue said in a statement.


The Frontier Touring Company, the promoter of her Australian concert tour, said Minogue was diagnosed with "early breast cancer" whilst visiting family in Melbourne this week.


"She will undergo immediate treatment and consequently her Australian tour will not be able to proceed as planned," the company said in a statement.


Minogue has risen from humble beginings as an actress on the television soap Neighbours to be a top pop singer. She is signed to music company EMI.


Minogue's promoter, Michael Gudinski, said the news was a great shock.


"I'm hoping and praying because the doctor found it so early that everything will be OK," he told the Seven Network.


Mr Gudinski said Kylie's concert and touring plans were irrelevant now.


"Let's just give her time to go through what she's going through and we'll worry about all that in the future.


"Our thoughts, and I'm sure all the legions of Kylie's fans, will be with her all the way."


Mr Gudinski said Minogue's experience was a lesson to all women to keep checking themselves for breast cancer.


"Thank god she has been, you have to find these things early and hopefully we'll be doing many, many shows to come.


"But at the moment it's time for her to be at home with her family and I think you'll find she'll be in hospital in the next couple of days."


Mr Gudinski said Minogue was having a few days off before flying to Sydney today to start rehearsals when told she had breast cancer.


"It's never a good time for a thing like this to happen, but to be in Melbourne, her home town, and her family around her...," he told the Nine Network.


"The one thing I know about Kylie is, she's a fighter, and we're all thinking very positively and can't wait for the day she is smiling and back in action.


"But she's got a few tough weeks ahead of her."


In 2002, one of Minogue's bras sold for $US6880 ($NZ9859) in London at an auction to raise money for breast cancer awareness.


She had donated a skimpy black mesh bra with pink straps from her own underwear range.


Minogue has also worked to raise awareness of prostate cancer, after her father was diagnosed with it.


She said her father had received a great deal of family and professional support after his diagnosis.


- Reuters, AAP