Date: 1 June 1988
Originally published in: Elle (Italy)
Written by: Francesca Caccini
“I like to sleep and I love good food,” says the English rock star. She admits to love the stage and the applause of the music even more.
Rock was a destiny, to Kim Wilde: her father Marty was a very famous guitarist in the fifties, her brother Ricky was working in the record business and when she was twenty, she was already a sex symbol of British rock – all too beautiful, and luscious blonde, in years in which sway the aftermath of punk, rock and affirmed the “Gothic” and the stars of disturbing sexual ambiguity. Her long and solid career – Today Kim Wilde is twenty-eight years old and has recorded a good number of successful albums – surged last season, when Kim accompanied Michael Jackson for four months during his international tour, opening, only in the scene, one of the most beautiful shows of the year. This experience has thrilled her: “Two million people have listened to me. The best moments I experienced at home, in England. I know I’m quite well known in the rest of Europe, but the British are becoming ever more heterophile and tend to underestimate their own musicians. This time however I felt really loved by my countrymen.”
Kim defends her private life with British reservedness: “I have a boyfriend, we live together in London when I’m there, that is quite rare. It’s not easy to keep up a relationship of love when you make an absurd life as mine, but so far I’ve managed. After five years in London, we are pondering to move to the country. “
The world of records is a world of men: it is very easy to be accepted when you are just a pretty girl, but Kim Wilde is also a musician (she plays the piano and composes), an author (she wrote the lyrics of many of her songs ). Have you ever had difficulties, misunderstandings and clashes? “I must confess I haven’t,” he says, “because I’ve always loved the look of this glamorous profession. I’ve never been part of the band of musicians purists, I love the stage and the applause of the music even more. I’m Honest: there so many people who think exactly like me, but they are ashamed to admit it. I do have great luck: my family. My father is an extraordinary musician and writes a good portion of my songs, my mother takes care of the commercial side of my business, my brother Ricky is my producer, and occasionally writes some lyrics for me. So, I’m not a woman alone against a hostile environment. “
With only fifteen days of vacation a year, where does she find the time to write songs, alone or with the help of her family? “I always find a moment of silence and tranquility to sit down at the piano with a recorder. I studied the piano from ten to fifteen years, then I gave it up when I discovered boys and nightclubs. I’m not a brilliant pianist, but I do it quite well. “
She absolutely doesn’t come across as an overactive and hectic person: she has lazy eyes and cat-like figure full of people who love good food. “I love the Italian restaurants,” she confesses, “and I have a real passion for the dumplings. It is very difficult to stay on a diet.” Between one sentence and the other she stretches voluptuously: “I have not slept enough. I hate to wake up early in the morning. I need many hours of sleep.”
But she is immediately on her guard when a photographer approaches. We to ask her to wear a dress that is not part of her personal wardrobe. “I like the Italian fashion,” says she, “and in particular Alberta Ferretti. In my next video I will take his bolera fringe, a little ‘bullfighter’.”
What are your plans for the near future? “Get some rest in London, write more songs. Spending time with my family, which gets bigger and bigger: I also have two little brothers, and my brother just had a baby.” Is distracted for a moment, looking at her watch: “I’m terribly hungry. Can I order something light? A salad for example. Something not fattening.”
When she discovers that the hotel does not serve salads in the room, a pleased smile: “It was fate, then. I’ll eat a pizza.”
