Date: 3 October 2008
Originally published in: Speyer Aktuell website (Germany)
Written by: Harald Stein
Live interview: Speyer-aktuell’s Harald Stein had the opportunity after the press conference for the Nokia Night of the Proms in Berlin to ask Kim Wilde a few questions in a more private atmosphere.
Kim, in the eighties and the first half of the nineties you were the most successful English popsinger. Why did you pull back from the music business?
In the beginning the music business was an exciting thing. I had a lot of fun with my work. But then I noticed that it wasn’t like the beginning anymore and it bored me. Maybe the music business got bored of me too. I didn’t want to be in the spotlights and the focus of the media anymore, because I had been since I was 20. After I pulled out I felt very relieved.
How did you spend this private time?
In 1996 I moved to the countryside and swapped my microphone for a watering can. Landscape gardening had been my hobby for some time already. With the surname Fowler I could disappear into anonymity, and follow a gardening course. As a landscape gardener I was often on British television. I wasn’t just writing gardening columns in magazines, I also wrote two gardening books. Many people turn to God, I turned to plants. Then I became the proud mum of two children. My son Harry Tristan is now ten years old and my daughter Rose Elisabeth is eight years.
Is it true that the German singer Nena played a big part in your comeback?
You are partly right. In 2001 I made a “Best Of” album. In 2003 my work with Nena started. For many years I had no problem living without the pop circus, but I took the offer from Nena, to sing a duet with her, after some scepsis at first. I was impressed with Nena as an artist and was excited to work with her. “Anyplace, anywhere, anytime” became a success, that’s why I signed a new recording contract with EMI in 2005. “Never say never” was released in 2006.
What challenge do you see with your appearance in “The Nokia Night of the Proms”?
I’ve always played live with my band. I look forward to being supported by a 75 part orchestra. Such a thing doesn’t happen every day.
Do you still get stage fright these days and what is your cure?
Yes, and it’s a good thing too. Because without some stage fright there are no emotions when you’re singing. Then I would only be serving words, wrapped in notes to my fans. The stage fright begins in the morning when I have to perform and grows bigger every hour until the evening. Before it gets too much to handle, I sit behind my piano and play a few songs to relax. The feeling stays until shortly before my performance. I get all hot and I begin to tremble. As soon as I get on stage in front of my fans and I’ve sung the first few notes, there’s an adrenaline thrust and my stage fright is blown away. Then it’s just fantastic.
Have your children inherited the musical talent of their mother?
My brother Ricky taught my son Harry how to play the guitar. He wants to play in a band like Metallica, because Harry loves the hard sound of guitars.
What were the most beautiful moments of your life?
Of course the birth of my two children. But outside of my family I once designed a garden, which I received gold medal from the Royal Horticultural Society. That was surely one of the most beautiful days of my life.
