[Translated for Wilde Life by Tim Nielsen]
“I’m very nervous before I go on the stage, because I have never given any concerts before. I think, though, that it has been rehearsed very well with my band so it can only be good. In fact I’m more nervous when I go to the dentist.”
That’s what the 21-year old British singer Kim Wilde says before she after the selling of 110,000 LP’s and 45,000 singles gives her first concerts at all as a precursor to her tour in England.
Tonight she has her debut in Slagelse, on Saturday she’s in Åbenrå, the 12th in Holstebro, Monday the 13th in Falkonérteatret [Copenhagen], the 15th in Vejle and the 16th in Randers.
“We’ve been rehearsing in a very concentrated manner for 14 days in a special location outside London. All the songs are from the 2 first albums, but they won’t be copied directly because the lovely musicians have added a lot to them.” says Kim Wilde to B.T.
No stage fright
It’s not a kind of stage fright which has prevented her from giving concerts earlier. In the last year she’s been travelling a lot to make TV programmes in a lot of countries. She also preferred to finish her second album Select before she thought she had enough songs to sing.
2,000 in the fanclub
Kim Wilde is still living at home with her parents, who has also travelled to Denmark with her on her first tour ever. She has no idea what kind of a crowd she can expect, but she laughs out loud when it’s being said that it’s probably teenagers who can sing along on all the songs.
“It would seem odd to me if they sing along. It’s a group of completely strange people, so it’s going to be fantastic. I made the tracks in the studio back then and then the young ones should sing along at the concerts? It’s going to be strange” she says.
Some things she knows about her audience though. In England she has a fanclub with approximately 2,000 members who are asking for autographs and pictures, asks about potential tours, ask her to write to them, just as well as they write what they think about her records.
Living with the parents
“I have employed people to take care of the fanclub, but when it’s about letters with special problems I get them myself and I answer them as much as I have time to. I cannot help them directly of course, but a word on the way from me can perhaps support them a lot”, says Kim Wilde.
In fact she’s still living with her family, namely the father, who is the rocksinger Marty Wilde who recently was on Danish TV with his hit “Teenager in Love”. The mother was a member of the singing group Vernon Girls and her name is Joyce.
“I’m not together with any special guy” Kim says with a big smile, so that one doesn’t believe her very much.
And she continues: “I don’t think it’s hurting an artist that the person is married or engaged. That can’t hurt their image. That’s an old-fashioned attitude. Therefore I would also tell you if there was a man in my life. I love being with my family though and that’s how it’s going to be for a long time yet” says Kim Wilde.
The Bardot of pop
She keeps in shape by running a couple of kilometers every morning when she’s at home. In the english press she’s several times been called the Brigitte Bardot of english rockmusic and she takes that as a compliment.
“But I don’t think about creating a certain picture of myself to the outside [world]. I have always been the one I am, and I’m quite satisfied with that. I have no plans of changing myself so that I perhaps fit better into the publics taste. I hopefully make a kind of music that people like and that’s just how it should be”, says Kim Wilde who herself likes to listen to the old rockstars from 15-25 years ago.