Kylie track dominates Ivors

Kylie's behind the scenes team is ready to grab the limelight

LONDON, England -- Diminutive pop idol Kylie Minogue's sexual magic and vocal abilities have helped her songwriters gain four nominations in Britain's annual Ivor Novello Awards.

The Australian singer's chart-topping "Can't Get You Out Of My Head" was chosen to contest writing honours in the Dance, Most Performed, International Hit and Best-selling UK Single categories, the event's organisers said on Tuesday.

The best-selling number was penned by Cathy Dennis, who had her own brief chart success as a singer in the early 1990s, and Rob Davis, the former guitarist of 1970s pop favourites Mud, Reuters news agency reported.

The Ivors, awarded only to British songwriting teams, were inaugurated 47 years ago as a response to the domination of U.S. pop music in the UK -- a trans-Atlantic rivalry which still continues.

Other nominees include Andy McCluskey and Stuart Kershaw for co-writing "Whole Again," the number one single from girl group Atomic Kitten, which was named for the International Hit and Best-selling Single awards.

The pair, former members of 1980s synthesiser band Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, created the chart-topping Liverpool girl band specially to showcase their music writing.

Other former pop stars in the contest include Alison Clarkson, nominated as co-writer of manufactured band Hear'Say's number one single "Pure and Simple."

Clarkson is better known as sultry rapper Betty Boo who had hits with "Where are You Baby" and "Doin' the Do" in the early 1990s.

Singer-songwriters up for honours include Dido, for her "Thank You," famously sampled by Detroit rapper Eminem on his worldwide hit "Stan," and Manchester-born singer David Gray, for his "Sail Away."

The Performing Rights Society and the British Academy of Composers and Songwriters will unveil the winners of the Ivors at an awards ceremony in London on May 23.