After the sizzling Eighties, during which she was the most successful female British pop star, Kim Wilde chose quiet and silence of her gardens and the security of her own family. But blood is thicker than water and at 54 there is also room for rock ‘n’ roll in her life again.
Kim Wilde is doing well, she says from her house on the countryside in rural English Hertfordshire. It rains, but almost every type of weather is good for the garden, she teaches. Any way the wind blows is fine by her. She looks forward to her four forthcoming Dutch concerts in the Netherlands, starting next Thursday: “I have a longstanding relationship with Holland, which has been supportive of me since the very beginning.”
Hits
That was in 1981 when the blonde vamp had big hits with ‘Kids in America’, ‘Chequered love’ and ‘Cambodia’. Kim Wilde was soon loved on two sides of the ocean and she stayed that way until the end of the decade.
But as turbulent as her twenties were, after her 30th birthday things calmed down considerably. Gardening, love, children and musicals went on througout the Nineties. Near the turn of the century she had a number 1 hit again: ‘Anyplace anywhere anytime’ from 2001, together with Nena. Since then, everything has changed, she says. “Ever since I got married, I am more able to enjoy everything that crosses my path. I see performing as a privilege these days. It’s not every older singer who gets to go on stage and then go for a walk with the dog and feed the children. And I get to do it all with a mature rest inside my head”, she says proudly.
Before Wilde travels to the Netherlands next week there’s a performance at an English Eighties festival planned. Does she do a lot of those? “I do, yes, since 10 years already. And it must have been 20 years ago when I was first asked. Like other artists I had my doubts. Until I tried it once and was blown away by what it did to the audience. I realised that I grew up together with those people and that the music transported us back to the old days. And I’m 54, time flies. Each show can be my last, so I’m glad to be asked for these parties so often.”
Having said that, there’s nothing like concerts of her own. “Especially now that the children are a bit older now. It makes it easier to hop over to the Netherlands for four concerts. To be quite clear: being married and being a mum has been the best thing that happened to me, for the last 20 years. But my heart would break if there would be no place for music besides that.”