Sixty years old, forty years in the business – Kim Wilde is known from eighties hits like Kids in America and You keep me hanging on and the extensive use of hair gel. “Industrial quantities went in to keep it up,” says Kim, here in 1982.
And today she is embracing her 60th birthday. When her sound was no longer popular in the nineties, she did not give up, but made a career switch. “I found much more interesting than music,” she says. “And I saw in my children how important it is to have nature around them, and a nice garden. In the entertainment industry you know that there are peaks and troughs. I have had great experiences, but I have also done great things afterwards. You should not let yourself be limited, women can do so much.”
She went on to study horticulture, worked on BBC programs like Better Gardens and Garden Invaders, and won Best In Show gold at the Chelsea Flower Show with her Courtyard Garden. Since then, she’s been more of a garden designer than a rock star, although she sometimes stands in front of the microphone, usually at Eighties parties.
Kim has been married to fellow singer Hal Fowler since 1996, with whom she has two children: Harry (22) and Rose (20).
If she could perform again in 2021, she will also visit the Netherlands with her Greatest Hits Tour in November 2021. Happy B’day Kim!
