Kim Wilde: “I have a (real) rocker’s heart!”

They called her the “Bardot of pop”! Kim Wilde, the British blonde with the cool sex appeal, was the shooting star of the early eighties! The singer had her big breakthrough in 1981 with her debut single “Kids In America”. From one day to the next, everyone knew her – at least in Europe – her posters adorned the walls of countless teenagers’ rooms, boys and girls alike fell in love with her. Chart hits such as “Cambodia”, “Chequered Love”, “You Keep Me Hangin’ On”, “If I Can’t Have You” and “Waten On Glass” followed. After that, nothing was the same in the life of Kim Wilde, who was born Kim Smith in Chiswick, London. The blonde-haired singer became a celebrated pop star with contemporary new wave pop. In 1983, she was awarded her first Brit Award as “Best Female British Solo Artist” and her well-wishers included rock legends and award winners such as Beatle Paul McCartney and Pete Townshend from The Who. In 1988, Wilde sang as the opening act for Michael Jackson on his “Bad” tour in the biggest stadiums in Europe, and just two years later she toured with David Bowie on his “Sound & Vision” tour. But few people would have guessed that the 62-year-old pop singer also has a real rocker’s heart! And that even has a family background, because her father Marty Wilde, born in 1939, was one of the first rock’n’roll stars in Great Britain in the late 1950s with hits such as “Bad Boy” alongside Cliff Richard, Tommy Steele and Billy Fury. In an interview with Kult! Kim Wilde tells us more about it…

Kim, your father Marty is a real rock’n’roller. But when you started your career in 1981 with “Kids In America,” you played synth pop. Did it influence you at all?
Yes, but he advised me to go for the new wave sound because it was really popular at the time. I joined in, even though I’m actually a real “rock chick.” Thin Lizzy were my favorite band, and I love David Bowie and Elvis. My father was one of the first rock idols in England in the 1950s, long before the Beatles. I trusted him, and it worked.

Your father was a rock’n’roller, your mother was a singer in the show troupe The Vernons Girls, your brother Ricky was also a musician – you were practically born into show business.
I was already on stage at one of my dad’s concerts when I was 12. When I was 16, I was allowed to accompany him on tour as a backing singer. After school, I started studying art, but dropped out.

To become a pop star?
Absolutely! I was drawn to show business like water draws ducks. I really wanted to sing, but more like my mum, in a backing choir. I was pretty shy.

Did your father push you, even urge you to have a pop career?
No way. On the contrary. He was more worried and wanted to protect me from show business, because he knew all too well what goes on in this shark-fishing world.

But that couldn’t stop you.
No. It all started with my brother Ricky, who was signed by the well-known producer Mickie Most. Mickie had discovered The Animals in the sixties, often hired the then-unknown Jimmy Page as a session guitarist and in the seventies made The Sweet, Smokie and Suzi Quatro big. Mickie said I could sing along in the studio. My ambition to become a star myself was limited.

But Mickie Most recognized your show talent.
He was convinced I would make a good front woman! He wanted to get me on stage instead of hiding me in the studio. My brother had composed a song on his mini synthesizer at the time, in our house in Hertfordshire, and my father supplied the lyrics: “We’re the kids in America …” Then it was decided that I should sing the song.

“Kids In America” ​​became one of the most popular pop hits of the eighties. How did your dad come up with the “America” ​​theme?
He had a soft spot for the country and its culture, America is where rock’n’roll originated, and the reason he wanted to be a musician was Elvis. My dad had seen a documentary about young people in the USA, what makes them tick, what drives them, and that became his inspiration for “Kids In America”.

You had a top 30 hit in the USA with the song, and later a number 1 hit followed there with the Supremes cover version “You Keep Me Hangin’ On”. But you never toured the USA. Why not?
Somehow success in Europe was enough for me. I was constantly on the move here, that was stressful enough. The USA was too big for me. And the Americans are considered possessive in showbiz: if you sign a contract there, you are expected to always be available and to appear on all the TV shows there. I didn’t want to get involved in that.

In early videos you wore jeans and T-shirts, then soon after that you wore tight miniskirts and high heels. Was this drastic change of image your decision or the management’s idea?
With my early success I had gained self-confidence and was therefore ready to show myself a little sexier. It wasn’t forced on me. When “Kids In America” ​​came out, I had just left art college and was still wearing my student look. In addition, as a teenager I was what is called a “tomboy”, a girl with a boyish attitude. In my early 20s I gradually became a woman, I discovered my feminine side. My outfit experiments were sometimes completely wrong, but over time I got a feel for what suited me.

You became a sex symbol – and suddenly called the “Brigitte Bardot of pop” …
At a photo session I once wore a T-shirt with a picture of Bardot – without knowing who it was. I just liked the motif. It was the photographer who first drew my attention to Bardot, and that’s how I came up with the “title”. I had never seen a film of her.

Blondes have always been considered particularly erotic in show business: In addition to Bardot, Marilyn Monroe, Madonna, Lady Gaga, even Beyoncé had her hair bleached …
… and Mary J. Blige! But my style icon was Marilyn, I watched “Some Like It Hot” dozens of times, and there was a beautiful portrait of Monroe hanging in our living room. Later I helped myself and had my dark blonde mane dyed a little lighter.

What is the big secret of being blonde in show business?
I have no idea. When I had my babies and wasn’t singing, I was brunette for a while, it was an experiment. When I started singing again, I instinctively dyed my hair blonde. Perhaps the attractiveness has something to do with the fact that you are more photogenic with blonde mane and look better on TV. Blonde makes you look more radiant, it has an attractive effect, like gold.

How did you deal with success when you were young? Your posters adorned countless teenagers’ rooms at the time.
In “Bravo” there was even a star cutout, you could see me life-size into his room (laughs). Jokes aside, my advantage was that my father knew the ins and outs of the business, he was my best advisor. I was also brought up in a British disciplined and down-to-earth way. I never thought much of my success.

35 years ago you went on the big stage – on a European tour with Michael Jackson!
I felt it was an honour, because Michael was the biggest pop star in the world, at the height of his career. He was absolutely great and an artistic inspiration – and he had personally chosen me as the support act for his “Bad” tour. Suddenly I was singing in stadiums in front of 60,000 fans. It was a very big honour!

Did you get to know him privately?
Unfortunately only once, very briefly, for a photo together. That was before the concert in Munich, the tour had already been going on for two weeks. I gave countless interviews at the time, during which journalists asked me about Michael. At first I had to pass, as I hadn’t even met him yet. The press saw this as arrogance on Jackson’s part. His manager found out about this and promptly arranged a meeting with me.

What impression did you have of the “King of Pop”?
I was only able to exchange a few words with him, but I had the feeling that he liked me. He seemed surprisingly modest. After that I only saw him on stage. Frank DiLeo, his manager, allowed me to stand on the side of the stage during Michael’s amazing show. There were only the bodyguards who protected and isolated him. To me, Michael seemed lonely and isolated from life, despite the entourage. I never wanted to be as famous as him, that’s a tough fate.

Two years later you were on tour with Bowie. Was that more relaxed?
Definitely! But I hardly saw David Bowie either, because he had just fallen in love with Iman and was always hanging out with her. I found Bowie irresistible and I admit that I was quite envious of Iman back then.

In the eighties Nena was something like the German equivalent of you – young, cheeky, sexy.
The German teen press wanted to create a rivalry between Nena and me – blonde against brunette, England against Germany (laughs). But the opposite happened – we became friends. It was also Nena who brought me out of obscurity in 2003 with the idea for the duet “Irgendwie, irgendein, ir¬ndwann”. The fact that it was such a big success surprised me and made me want to make music again, because I had stopped because of my children. I have to laugh when I think of our TV appearance with Stefan Raab. In the middle of the interview, Nena fell off the sofa, giggling.

In your new song “Pop Don’t Stop” you sing about how something that was once “in” is suddenly “out”. Could that be understood as autobiographical?
Of course, that’s what happened to me. You get older and trends change. Nothing lasts forever, especially not fame. Is that why you said goodbye to the music scene in the mid-nineties? My pop career was simply over, but I had had enough of the glittering world anyway. I played in the musical “Tommy” by The Who and met Hal Fowler, an actor. We fell in love, got married and had two children, Harry and Rose-Elisabeth. My priority now was to be a good mother. When the kids were old enough, I turned my hobby, landscaping, into a career and hosted a TV show on the subject. The world of plants has always fascinated me; as a child, my favorite playground was the apple tree in our tiny garden in Greenwich. When I was nine, we moved to the countryside, to a village outside London. There was a vegetable garden and forests all around; I felt like I was in paradise.

At some point, music seems to have grabbed you again! Your album HERE COME THE ALIENS was released in 2018. Rock influences are unmistakable on it!
I love hard rock! At home, I turn up Metallica to the max – to Much to the chagrin of my neighbors (laughs). On the album I worked with my brother Ricky again, which was a lot of fun. We are simply a great team.

You are now enjoying live performances again and are touring with your band, with concerts in England, Belgium, Denmark and Germany. You also performed at the “Rock Meets Classic” festivals with shock rock king Alice Cooper.
That was so cool. I love Alice, and so does Sheryl, his wife. I found it particularly funny that he always practiced his golf swing backstage with his walking stick, a stage prop. I had to tell my dad, who is also an enthusiastic golfer. Alice is really a brand. Once during “School’s Out” he grabbed me by the hair and dragged me across the stage, theatrically, of course. He is the only one who is allowed to do that. And I was lucky that I didn’t end up under his guillotine…