She is twenty-one and has earned her first million. But it also cost a lot of money to turn KIM WILDE into the star she is now. It has been calculated that it cost father Marty and Kim’s record company at least 400.000 Dutch guilders to ‘make’ the blonde singer.
How does one make a pop star? These days, video plays an important role in that. There are kilometers tape devoted to Kim, recordings which were sent to TV programs. Not only English ones, like ‘Top of the Pops’, ‘Tiswas’ and ‘Swap Shop’, but also to 60 other countries around the world. But the money came back: via Kim’s chart successes.
Still she barely buys clothes, owns an old car – which she bought only after repeated telling her to do so by her father Marty – and prefers to live in a tent in the garden of the beautiful house that she, father Marty, moeder Joyce, two year old Roxanne, Marty junior of one year old and of course brother Ricky live in.
Sleeping bag
That house is situated in the county Hertfordshire and used to belong to Dutch prince Bernhard. But Kim couldn’t care less. Father Marty: ‘She doesn’t care about owning stuff. She does exactly the same things as when she had nothing. Sometimes she takes a tent and lives in the garden, takes a sleeping bag along, bakes some sausages and has a great time.’
Still, Kim has always wanted to be a star: ‘When Ricky went into music and became famous, I was really jealous of him. Not that it hurt our relationship, but it did hurt for a while. Still I felt bad about having famous parents when I was young. I’ve often wished that dad had a regular job and that mom would be in the kitchen. In school they were often jealous of me and I felt bad about that. But those experiences toughened me up.’
Unavoidable
In the end it was unavoidable to go into music: Marty was a famous pop star, mother Joyce was a member of singing group The Vernons and brother Ricky also started finding his own fame. ‘Dad has tried to keep me off it’, says Kim, ‘but he didn’t succeed. I was determined to become a star’.
It’s just as well: hits like’Kids In America’, ‘Chequered Love’ and ‘View From A Bridge’ prove that Kim was right in continuing her plans. They also proved that the 400.000 Guilders that were invested came out many times!