Pop princess of the 80’s Kim Wilde – still the most successful British female solo artist of all time – jetted into Sydney yesterday morning. The daughter of the ’50s pop star Marty Wilde, the sultry songstress stormed the international charts when just 18 with her hit ‘The Kids in America’.
Yesterday, Wilde – in Sydney to promote the re-release of her singles – revealed why she is so passionate about Australia.
Her boyfriend, a 23-year-old university student, spent months backpacking around Australia. Since their meeting on the ski fields of Europe in January, he has warmed her to the great sunburnt land.
“He’s spent a lot of time in Australia, on a sheep station with friends a few years ago”, said Wilde. “He really loves it here – he backpacked around for quite a while – and he’s very jealous that I’m here and he’s not.”
Wilde, who has been making a comeback in the music world over the past few years, recently toured with Michael Jackson on his Bad tour and supported David Bowie in a string of European stadium dates.
“I think people have a healthier attitude these days towards shamelessly enjoying pop music”, Wilde said. “When I started, at the beginning of the ’80s, punk music still had hold and there were all the style victims around painfully desperate to be cool. Nowadays, there seems to be a lot of bands saying ‘We don’t want to be hip and trendy, we just want to make great pop records’… it’s what I’ve always done.
“The Michael Jackson and David Bowie tours were a great challenge for me. They were a real learning experience for me when it came to working with a live audience.”
With her raunchy image and provocative pout, Wilde has been compared to Madonna and Debbie Harry. Labelled ‘the Brigitte Bardot of pop’, she shot to fame with such songs as Cambodia, You Keep Me Hanging On and Chequered Love.