Kim Wilde takes the reins into her own hands

Just go for it / go for the second time. New round, new chances. Without too much noise, Kim Wilde has swapped her old boss RAK Records for MCA, who have released her newest record. And what she couldn't do before, a definitive breakthrough in Europe and America, she hopes to realise now. The LP has to bring the storm after the quiet. Kim has used the silence to get her affairs in order. If she doesn't succes now, she may have to return to art college.

In the RAK archives Kim will go into the history books as one of the few artists launched by the label that didn't rake in loads of gold albums. The harvest was limited to a series of pretty big hits, that Kim scored in England, the Netherlands, Germany and Scandinavia. With those results neither one of the parties were very satisfied. RAK's big man Mickie Most, has been scoring world hits ever since the sixties, when he made a world group of Herman's Hermits. And in the seventies the label was still going strong in Europe thanks to the golden duo Chinn and Chapman, that wrote hits for groups and artists like the Sweet, Suzi Quatro, Smokie and others. Most also took care of the group Hot Chocolate.

Love blonde

Kim Wilde seemed to fit in fine. A singer with a nice face and a good sounding voice, who is supported by her father and brother, who already left their tracks in the music industry. A few years ago Most had tried to launch Kim's brother Ricky Wilde, but the talented guitarist was not appreciated enough by the general public. Since then Ricky is active as a producer, more or less hired by Most. He has produced the records of sister Kim and wrote most of her songs together with dad Marty Wilde. And at first that went pretty well. 'Kids in America' was a good debut, that was followed pretty quickly by other nice songs, of which 'Cambodia' was the most striking one. But unfortunately for Kim her second album flopped in England, just like the singles, like the autobiographical "Love blonde" that was a small hit over here.

Family

Kim's fortunate start of her career threatened to end with RAK. And the family Wilde didn't like that one bit. Dad and Ricky started searching for another interested party and MCA showed their preparedness to blow new life into her career. Kim has decided not to go blind on the talents of her brother and father. She has demanded creative freedom and won't stop at replacing brother and father with another producer who can deliver her a hit. An obvious question: is there tension in the house of Wilde?
Kim: "Barely. You have to be able to separate things from one another. I have to be able to refuse a song of dad and Ricky without them looking away from me. And that's how it works. On top of that I have been living in London for some time now, which made the family ties less binding anyway. In the studio we work as a producer and artist, not like brother and sister because that doesn't work."
How did you cope with the disappointing sales of your albums?
Kim: "I am hoping for a long and successful career as a singer. If I fail I won't start drinking for misery, there are more nice things to do."
Have you any idea what went wrong with RAK?
Kim: "No. Everyone there has worked very hard. I can't blame anyone for anything, but you can't force the public to buy your records."
But when it went wrong you left RAK and not your family. Do you really believe that much in your father and brother, or didn't you have a choice?
Kim: "I didn't leave RAK on a whim. We went our separate ways as friends. It was just better to have a new go at it. And MCA seemed like a good partner, also when you consider America."
Has your image as rock and roll's Marilyn Monroe boomeranged on you? Sometimes people wrote more about your looks than about your music. Kim: "Then I would have to take part of the blame, because I like to look good and a little sexy on sleeves and posters. I think it's other factors. Blondie's Deborah Harry has not suffered from her good looks either."

Again

Do you get the feeling you have to start all over again now?
Kim: "No, not at all. Despite the decline in sales of my records, people in Europe know my name. I have noticed this during my last European tour, when I had full halls even without a hit record. It's true that two or three nice hits aren't a guarantee for the future. And you can't live off of that for very long. Starting artists, which I still consider myself to be, need good successes. We have to work on it."
Aren't you a little jealous when you see that a singer like Sade has enormous success all over Europe with her debut album?
Kim: "I think she deserves all the success she gets. She has had to work very hard for it during a few years. Success never comes overnight. It seems that way. Maybe the success came too fast for me, because I had no band or other experience. That experience came during the past two years. And I hope to profit from that during the next few years."