This is what British ‘Kids in America’ popstar Kim Wilde looks like now

Her name says it all: Kim Wilde (59) was a true (wild) pop star. With her tough looks – and yet girlish voice – she captured our hearts. Rock chick or doll: what did she eventually become, almost forty years later?

The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree: Wilde is the daughter of Marty Wilde, a well-known British rock and roll singer in the 1950s. Americans had just discovered that type of music and England was eager to try this new genre. Marty was also immediately sold. In the Netherlands he scored his first and only hit, Abergavenny.

The singer always saw her father perform and had fallen in love with the idea of ​​singing and entertaining. All she needed was an opportunity.

Kids in America

Who would have thought that a mistake – although it almost sounds like a genius plan – would make her world famous? Marty had made a double booking at a studio, allowing Wilde’s brother to record some self-written songs in his place. Ricky ended up with record company RAK records with his demos and asked if his sister could do the backing vocals. Producer Micky Most saw a new pop icon in her.

The record company wanted to write a song for Wilde themselves, but her brother did not let that happen. He put blood, sweat and tears in the song he wrote for his sister that same weekend. And so in 1981 Kids in America was born.

Present day

After hits like Cambodia, View From A Bridge and Never Trust A Stranger, Wilde takes a completely different path. During her first pregnancy she studies horticulture. Here too she excels, because the BBC is only too happy to make her the (garden design) star of their Garden Invaders program.

Still, Wilde is not completely tired of music. In 2018 she releases her most recent album Here Come The Aliens. Interesting suits, leather gloves and black nails: the stage animal is back.