Where are we now? Is this Phoenix? Is there a beach somewhere?’ Kim Wilde is a bit lost. Because we’re somewhere in Texas and water is only available in the swimming pool of the hotel. The singer does not complain, though. After years full of problems she’s having some luck again.
The big breakthrough in America demands the best of each artist. Also from Kim Wilde. Her ‘You Keep Me Hangin’ on’ has gone into the highest regions of the charts and the promo-tour because of this is quite hard.
‘Most of the time I don’t know where we are’, says a rather tired Kim. ‘Every city, every hotel, every airport… they all look alike.’
Still the singer isn’t swept away by the success. Even though the papers wrote she was tipped as “the new Madonna”.
‘That’s a bit over the top’, she says. ‘I am just me. Kim Wilde, a blonde girl from England. Nothing more, nothing less.’
It must be a relief for you. Scoring a hit in America after all these years?
‘Absolutely’, La Wilde agrees. ‘Things are finally picking up. I had an unsuccessful album, singles that no-one bought and I was a bit down myself. I feared things would never pick up in my career. It just goes to show you that thinking the worst is always wrong.’
Personally, Kim hasn’t had it easy either. Having only just recovered from her split with Gary Barnacle, her saxophone player, she fell in love with the french musician Claude, who was working in the same studio during the recording of her album ‘Another step’.
‘It remained a friendship’, she says rather sorrily. ‘I fear that the big love hasn’t arrived yet. It’s just not easy to combine it with my work right now. Combining work and my friendships takes up all my time. And then I don’t worry about love so much.’
Kim is staying home when she can. Her mother is pregnant again. And then Kim will have another brother or sister. That will be someone to love, after all!