Kim: ‘I wanted to become a teacher’

How did you start singing?
Because of my father Marty Wilde, who was one of the biggest English rockstars in the fifties, I saw all the recording studios from the inside from a very young age. In our house there were regularly guests from showbusiness. As children my brother Ricky and me have performed with our parents on stage from time to time.

Did you never want to do another profession?
I did. After school I did art college for a year in St. Albans, Hertfordshire. I wanted to become an art teacher. Because of music I stopped studying. Ricky had composed some songs and played them to record boss Micky Most – he is the father of his best friend. “Kids in America” was an immediate hit.

Your featured mark are your blonde manes. How did you come to that?
Naturally my hair is brown. I used to wear them long and straight, cut short on top. It bored me. I always cut my manes myself, every two months I colour my hair. Wash, dry, go through them with my fingers, done!

Is there something you don’t like about your own body?
Yes, I don’t like my legs. That’s why I usually wear trousers. The crooked tooth I used to have, I have had that fixed.

Do you still live with your parents and your siblings Ricky (24), Marty (2) and Roxanne (3) at home?
No, Ricky and I moved out recently. Ricky has bought a romantic old cottage in Hertfordshire. He wanted to stay in the vicinity of Welwyn Garden City, where the new studio of the Wilde family firm “Big M Productions” can be found also. I am living in London and have moved into a home near Regents Park, and decorated it meanwhile too.

Why was your boyfriend Gary Barnacle not there during your recent live shows?
You shouldn’t be together all the time. Gary preferred to tour in America to holding my hand here in Europe.