Newsmaker: Kylie Minogue

LONDON, England (CNN) -- Show-biz troupers don't come sassier than Kylie Minogue. For Ms. Minogue "the show must go on" is not some empty entertainer's cliche.

Sashaying towards her 40th birthday the Australian pop princess has been resolutely proving this week that her life is about to fire up rather than settle down.

Given an award by the music industry, preparing for the release of a new album and launching a social networking site, Minogue has also been busy issuing denials to a story in UK newspaper The Daily Mail saying next year's proposed tour has been canceled because of health issues.

The Daily Mail reported on Monday that Minogue said: "The tour is not going to happen, it is far too soon. I can't do it next year. It kind of breaks my heart because that is what I'm in this business for.

"Not being able to go ahead with my plans is a real downer. Every woman has to face up to new priorities, near the top is health. I take my health very seriously but not obsessively. Everything is about pacing yourself."

The story sparked fears among fans that Minogue's cancer had reoccurred. But this week her management company denied the story saying the tour would go on.

In addition Minogue, 39, is set to release a new album "X" written in Melbourne while she was recovering from chemotherapy.

It has already received rapturous, slightly over-the-top reviews in Melbourne's Herald-Sun newspaper that says Minogue's illness has given her lyrics new depth. "Kylie Minogue's new album, 'X,' is a dancefloor confession with meaning," says the review.

"It is a marvelously upbeat, celebratory work in which a comeback queen acknowledges a hard-won return from the brink. Certainly, Minogue's triumph over breast cancer informs 'X,' causing her to reflect and reveal. 'I wanted the right to misbehave ... the things I'd put aside for years,' Minogue sings on "Cosmic," part ballad, part to-do list. 'It wasn't my choice to make the bed in which I lay,'' she contends over weeping strings.'"

Oh dear. Should popstars really "contend over weeping strings?" If anyone can -- it's Kylie.

While other popstars have gone off the rails and sunk into a mire of their own making (drink, drugs, fast food, prescription drugs) Minogue is the model of Protestant work ethic. Even her supposedly wild days with singer Michael Hutchence seemed to be all tease and no tickle. Instead Minogue's demons have not been of her own making: A series of wrong boyfriends (or "love rats" as they are known in the British tabloids) and being diagnosed and treated for breast cancer.

This strong work ethic, loyal fans and constant reinvention of her image has kept her on top of the pop pile for 20 years -- a feat rewarded this week in London when she received the Music Industry Trust's Award.

She was hailed at the gala as "an icon of pop and style" who has continued to "reinvent, experiment and inspire."

The ceremony at London's Grosvenor House Hotel featured video messages from celebrities paying tribute to Minogue.

Sting told her: "I have a great deal of respect for you as an artist -- and, like most men on the planet, I'm certainly not immune to your iconic beauty -- but more than this, you have become a symbol of courage and of grace under pressure."

Minogue is the first woman in the event's 16-year history to receive the award.

Previous holders include Sir George Martin and Sir Elton John. She is also the youngest. "I'm just trying to take in this moment. It's absolutely surreal. To be recognized in this way and to be the first woman to receive this honor makes me immensely proud," she said.

It's not just the awards she's scooping -- this week Minogue announced she's taking on social networking giants MySpace and Facebook by launching KylieConnect.

According to Wired Magazine, "it's an online social network where her fans can create their own profiles, post their own photos, blog entries, and friend lists -- just like any other social network, except that everything's at least tangentially about Kylie Minogue."

All this is at odds with her very modest ambition -- also published this week -- to simply "go feral." Yes the saucy, sequined singer wants to don a backpack and hit lice-infested hostels. "I would love to have a backpack and just go," she said in an interview with music magazine Q.