Kim Wilde survives career low: ‘I almost went looking for an office job’

‘I was loved and admired’, says Kim Wilde about the heydays of her successful career. ‘But when things go less well, you don’t have any friends left. That hurt me the most over the past few months.’ After one flopped album and a cancelled tour Kim Wilde became very depressed. Now the blonde singer is there agani. How she survived this career low, she tells in this openhearted interview.

‘Teases and Dares’ was a turning point in the musical career and the life of Kim Wilde. For the first time the singer had written a few songs herself, but they weren’t such big hits as ‘Cambodia’ or ‘Kids in America’. The tour which supported the record was no big success either.
‘I thought I could do it without the support of my father and Ricky’, says Kim. ‘But that was a fatal mistake. My life suddenly looked very different. I was working in showbusiness constantly for three years. My whole personality was formed around that sort of life. The interviews became less frequent, the travelling, the autograph hunters around my house. The days were empty, dark and long. Mentally I wasn’t prepared for such a spectacular downfall. I had just moved out on my own. I had lost contact with my former friends. And when things go bad, no-one remembers your name. That caused me a lot of pain. For hours I was behind the piano or above an empty sheet of paper. The inspiration was gone, I felt empty and burnt out. Was I made for this business? Have I got enough talent to go up against the great names? Or am I just a one hit wonder after all? All questions which I didn’t know the answer to’.
‘It didn’t take much or I would have gone looking for an office job. So big was my disappointment. Whoever had a taste of success, gets addicted. I experienced this with my father as a child, too. You can’t live without the limelight. One night I got up to browse through my own books of cuttings. I could cry. Would I ever get on the cover of a magazine again?’

Kim couldn’t find her happiness in England anymore. The showbiz-friends kept away from her, she had become an unknown. A different surrounding would do her good. ‘I just wanted to go away. To be alone, to think about my life. In Spain I rented a quiet flat. Close to the sea. The coast did me a lot of good. I started to write again. Back in England I experienced there was some space for me after all. In the mailbox I found letters from people who hadn’t forgotten about me. I started working with them, and that turned out to be fruitful.’

That’s right. Kim Wilde wants to rebuild her career quietly. Soon the single ‘Schoolgirl’ is coming and La Wilde can also be heard on the soundtrack of ‘Running Scared’.
‘I am on top of things again’, she says finally. ‘I am enthusiastic and if all goes well I’m back this summer with a few concerts in your country. See you there’.
We’ll be there.