Star Spot: Princess of Pop

Singer Kim Wilde is not just following in her father’s footsteps – she’s striding way ahead of him. Kim’s father, Marty, was a rock ‘n’ roll idol in the fifties before she was born, and although he had 14 hits in his career he never topped the pop parade. However, his daughter reached number one in the charts with her first record, ‘Kids in America’ – and she did the same with her second, ‘Chequered love’. Kim’s amazing success story has continued. Apart from hit records, she’s in demand on television and in countries all over the world. ‘Sometimes I think it’s one big dream’, she says. ‘I read about myself, but I can never really believe it’s me.’

It’s all happening for the Princess of Pop – and she says it’s thanks to her father and brother, Ricky, for they write her songs, and Ricky also produces her records. ‘I wouldn’t be anywhere without them’, says Kim, ‘or my Mum’. Her mother, Joyce, who once sang with the famous Vernons’Girls group, acts as the family’s business manager.

Kim, who was at college four years ago studuing fine art, has not let success go to her pretty head. Thousands of young boys have her picture pinned up all over their bedroom walls. ‘There’s no harm in it’, she says, ‘but it’s not the be-all and end-all. Creating good songs is more important to me.’

kim has her own flat, but most nights she goes home to her parents’ beautiful thatched house in Hertfordshire. There she meets the love of her life – her five-year-old sister, Roxanne. ‘I persuaded Mum and Dad to call her Roxanne after The Police hit record’, she says. ‘She looks upon me as a mother.’

Kim also has a brother, Marty Junior, aged three, whom she adores. ‘I love kids and want a big family of my own one day’, she says.