The Wildes of Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire, are a musical lot. Marty, the patriarch, had a string of hits – the biggest was Abergavenny – the late 1960s.
His eldest daughter, Kim, aged 20, is carrying the Wilde tradition into the 1980s. Her first single, Kids in America, forged its way into the top 10 in England and Australia. And her debut album, Kim Wilde, is ascending the charts now, indicating that she’ll be no one hit wonder. Dad had a big hand in his daughter’s success. With his son Ricky, 19, Marty wrote all the tracks on the album and Ricky produced it. It will be a while before the other Wilde offspring join the chorus. Daughter Roxanne is 18 months old, and the baby of the family, Marty jun, was born in April.
The Sun-Herald has 25 copies of Kim’s album from EMI to give away. Pick of the tracks are Water on Glass, Chequered love – the second single after Kids in America – Falling out, and Young Heroes, an adolescent anthem in which Kim wails: ‘We only want to stay young / We only want to be free / He doesn’t want to be you / She doesn’t want to be me’.
While Marty encouraged Ricky to enter show business, he had reservations about giving his daughter a push. ‘II’ve seen what some girls in rock go through’, he said. He need not have worried, for now he admits: ‘I suppose I was overprotective. I under-rated her. She’s sensible and she treats it like a business. I’m so used to seeing her across the breakfast table, I never thought about how beautiful she is until I saw a video they made for the single.’