Date: 9 April 1981
Originally published in: Bravo (Germany)
Written by:
Black leather clothes, hair painted blonde, the big eyes in dark make up – Kim Wilde in the restaurant of Radio Bremen. A Bardot of Rock music. The graceful, 1,70 m girl doesn’t stand out, looks more like a fan, and also like more girls present here today. Hard to believe, that she is Englands new star, who has her first hit with “Kids in America”. Kim is the daughter of one of the biggest British rockstars in the 1950s.
“Many people think I have my father to thank for my success”, she says. “It’s actually the other way around. I have to fight my way into the showbusiness.”
Born on 18. November 1960 in the county Hertfordshire, where Kim still lives with her parents and siblings, Kim Smith (her real name) never thought of starting as a singer.
“I learned the business in record studios at an early age. In my parents’ house record company executives and managers came along one after another. But they all thought of me as little Kim.
My father was also not thinking of me as showbusiness material. he thought that it was not a thing for girls. My brother Ricky was given all the opportunities. When he was 12, he recorded his first single. When he left school three years ago, he immediately started playing keyboards in my dad’s band. I went to Art school in London, had theatre lessons and was thinking of a career in teaching art.”
After Kim did her exams in last autumn, she still tried to get into showbusiness. “Ricky had written some songs for me. His friend was the son of Record boss Micky Most, who also discovered Suzi Quatro. Through him we were given the chance to record our first songs. Ricky was the producer.”
The recording blew the Record boss away. Kim was given a record deal right away. “Kids in America” climbed the chart like a rocket. Micky Most gave her an image: “You may never laugh at photographs, but seem distant.”
“After I told my dad, he saw my first TV performance. He was impressed by the routine and rest I seemed to display.”
That does impress. Although Kim has long since had her debut performance, she’s still nervous and shakes like a leaf before her performance. Yet when the TV cameras start to roll, the tension disappears as if it’s blown away.
