Kylie's birthday call

Thousands of pop fans sang 'Happy Birthday' to Kylie Minogue in Australia on Saturday (28.05.05) - down a telephone line from San Francisco.

The 15,000-strong audience joined the international sing-a-long to mark the star's 37th birthday as Kylie's sister, Dannii, performed on stage at the city's annual Gay Day convention.

Dannii, 33, who was the star act at the Aids Foundation concert, called Kylie during her set in a bid to cheer her up as she recovers from breast cancer surgery.

A source told Australia's news.com website: "She proceeded to get the entire packed club to sing happy birthday to Kylie while she was with her parents back in Melbourne"She explained that the night was not really for her, but a special night for somebody else back home in Melbourne."

Dannii, 33, cancelled all prior work commitments to jet back to Australia from her London home hours after hearing of her sister's diagnosis earlier this month.

But the sexy singer decided to fly over the San Francisco show, as her Kylie continues to recuperate from surgery to remove a tumour - because the Aids charity was so important to them both.

A source told Britain's Sunday Mirror newspaper: "It was a tough choice for Dannii to leave Kylie, but Dannii had agreed to perform for a long time before.

"As a result she and the whole family, decided it was too vital a cause to cancel."

Back in Australia, native fans rallied around to show their support for Kylie at the weekend, as she marked her birthday with low-key celebrations joined by her parents, Ron and Carol, and boyfriend Olivier Martinez.

The sexy singer, whose diagnosis was confirmed less than two weeks ago, spent the day holed-up at her family pad in Melbourne, where fans gathered to leave gifts and tie balloons to the gates.

Her spokeswoman was quoted by Canada's Fashion monitor website as saying: "Kylie is spending the day with family and friends in Melbourne.

"We're just leaving Kylie to enjoy the day."