"Never Too Late" is a song written and produced by British production team

Stock, Aitken and Waterman Stock Aitken Waterman (abbreviated as SAW) are an English songwriting and record production trio consisting of Mike Stock, Matt Aitken, and Pete Waterman. The trio had great success from the mid-1980s through the early 1990s. SAW is considered ...

for Australian singer

Kylie Minogue Kylie Ann Minogue (; born 28 May 1968) is an Australian singer, songwriter and actress. She is the highest-selling female Australian artist of all time, having sold over 80 million records worldwide. She has been recognised for reinve ...

's second

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

, '' Enjoy Yourself'' (1989). Released on 23 October 1989, the song peaked at number four on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

, number one in Ireland, and number 14 in Australia. It was later rerecorded for Minogue's orchestral compilation album, '' The Abbey Road Sessions'', in 2012.

Background and release

Minogue allegedly wanted the album title track "Enjoy Yourself" to be released as the third

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

from that album, but Pete Waterman overruled her request and "Never Too Late" was released instead on 23 October 1989. The song debuted at number 17 on the

and rose to its peak of number four the following week. Its low debut broke Minogue's run of seven consecutive top-two hits, but it became her eighth consecutive top-five hit single and was certified silver by the

British Phonographic Industry British Phonographic Industry (BPI) is the British recorded music industry's Trade association. It runs the BRIT Awards, the Classic BRIT Awards, National Album Day, is home to the Mercury Prize, and co-owns the Official Charts Company with th ...

(BPI) for sales over 200,000.

B-side

Called "Kylie's Smiley Mix", the

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record compan ...

is a continuous mix of her biggest hits from the ''Kylie'' album, and the 12-inch version includes these songs in sequence order: "I'll Still Be Loving You", " It's No Secret", "

Je ne sais pas pourquoi "Je ne sais pas pourquoi" ( en, "I Do Not Know Why"), also known as "I Still Love You (Je ne sais pas pourquoi)" in Australia and New Zealand, is a song by Australian recording artist and songwriter Kylie Minogue from her debut studio album ''Ky ...

", "

Turn It into Love "Turn It into Love" is a single released by Australian singer Kylie Minogue. It was taken from her debut studio album '' Kylie'' (1988). The single was released in December 1988 in Japan only. The B-side was a new song "Made in Heaven", which al ...

", "

I Should Be So Lucky "I Should Be So Lucky" is a 1987 song performed by Australian recording artist and songwriter Kylie Minogue from her debut studio album '' Kylie'' (1988). Released on 29 December 1987 by Mushroom Records and PWL Records, the song became a worldw ...

", "

Got to Be Certain "Got to Be Certain" is a song by Australian singer Kylie Minogue from her debut studio album, ''Kylie (album), Kylie'' (1988). Written and produced by English songwriting and record production trio Stock Aitken Waterman (SAW), the song was relea ...

", and the whistle from the beginning of the 1988 mix of "

The Loco-Motion "The Loco-Motion" is a 1962 pop song written by American songwriters Gerry Goffin and Carole King. "The Loco-Motion" was originally written for R&B singer Dee Dee Sharp, but Sharp turned the song down. The song is notable for appearing in the ...

". The 7-inch mix contains the above tracks omitting "I'll Still Be Loving You" and "It's No Secret".

Music video

Directed by Pete Cornish, the video showed Minogue in various costumes with her dancers in front of various backdrops – some of the costumes are as a cowgirl, '70s disco, Chinese dress with fans and as a 1920s

flapper Flappers were a subculture of young Western women in the 1920s who wore short skirts (knee height was considered short during that period), bobbed their hair, listened to jazz, and flaunted their disdain for what was then considered acceptab ...

. It was awarded the Logie for the "Most Popular Music Video" at the 32nd Annual TV week Logie Awards held in 1990 in Australia.

Live performances

Since its release, "Never Too Late" has only been performed on four of Minogue's tours. Its first appearance was in the

Enjoy Yourself Tour Enjoy may refer to: Music *Enjoy, an album by Bob Sinclar *Enjoy, a song by Janet Jackson *Enjoy, a song from Björk's album ''Post'' *Enjoy Records, an American record label * ''Enjoy'' (play), a 1980 comedy play by Alan Bennett * ''Enjoy!'' (Des ...

. It featured a small dance before hand and then the original. Its next performance was not for 11 years when Minogue performed it on her

On a Night Like This Tour On a Night Like This was the sixth concert tour by Australian recording artist Kylie Minogue, in support of her seventh studio album, ''Light Years'' (2000). The tour began on 3 March 2001 at the Clyde Auditorium in Glasgow, Scotland, and con ...

in 2001, which was launched to promote ''

Light Years A light-year, alternatively spelled light year, is a large unit of length used to express astronomical distances and is equivalent to about 9.46 trillion kilometers (), or 5.88 trillion miles ().One trillion here is taken to be 1012 ...

''. It was performed as part of "Hits Medley" which featured 5 songs from her PWL days: "

Step Back in Time "Step Back in Time" is a song by Australian singer Kylie Minogue from her third studio album, '' Rhythm of Love'' (1990). It was released as the album's second single on 22 October 1990, and distributed by PWL and Mushroom as a CD single, cas ...

", "Never Too Late", " Wouldn't Change a Thing", "

" and " Celebration" respectively. It was then set to be part of her

KylieFever2002 KylieFever2002 was the seventh concert tour by Australian pop singer Kylie Minogue, in support of her eighth studio album, ''Fever'' (2001). The tour began on 26 April 2002 in Cardiff, Wales at Cardiff International Arena and concluded on 16 Aug ...

set list as a space age version to feature as the opening to the act entitled "Cybertronica", but was removed at the last minute. It made an appearance on Minogue's

Kiss Me Once Tour The Kiss Me Once Tour was the fourteenth concert tour by Australian singer Kylie Minogue. It was launched in support of her twelfth studio album, ''Kiss Me Once'' (2014) and visited Europe, Australia and Middle East. Rumours of plans to tour ar ...

in 2014. It featured in the "Dollshouse Medley" which featured four songs from her PWL days: "

Hand on Your Heart "Hand on Your Heart" is a song by Australian singer Kylie Minogue from her second studio album, '' Enjoy Yourself'' (1989), and released as its lead single on 24 April 1989. Much like her previous releases up to ''Let's Get to It'' (1991), the s ...

", "Never Too Late", "

" and "

" respectively. In this segment of the show, Minogue began in a pink shawl and took a layer off at the beginning of each song, before ending in a corset and knickers to sing "

" in a bath, alluding to a scene in the song's music video. More recently, it is performed on her

Summer 2019 Summer 2019 is a European tour by Australian recording artist Kylie Minogue, in support of her fourth major greatest hits album, '' Step Back in Time: The Definitive Collection'' (2019). The tour commenced on 20 June 2019 in Kingston upon Thame ...

Tour.

Formats and track listings

CD singlemix.kylie.co.uk
/ref> # "Never Too Late" – 3:21 # "Never Too Late" (extended) – 6:11 # "Kylie's Smiley Mix" (extended) – 6:17 7-inch single # "Never Too Late" – 3:21 # "Kylie's Smiley Mix" (7-inch version) – 3:59 12-inch single # "Never Too Late" (extended) – 6:11 # "Kylie's Smiley Mix" (extended) – 6:17 Australian 7-inch single # "Never Too Late" – 3:21 # "Made in Heaven" (Heaven Scent Mix) – 4:43 Australian 12-inch and cassette single # "Never Too Late" (extended) – 6:11 # "Made in Heaven" (Heaven Scent Mix) – 4:43

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Never Too Late (Kylie Minogue Song) Kylie Minogue songs 1989 singles 1989 songs Pete Waterman Entertainment singles Song recordings produced by Stock Aitken Waterman Songs written by Matt Aitken Songs written by Mike Stock (musician) Songs written by Pete Waterman