Kim Wilde has released many songs during her career. Some of them have been covered by other artists. On Cover Friday, Wilde Life presents cover versions of Kim Wilde songs. This week: Jive Bunny & the Mastermixers.
In an interview in 1990, Kim Wilde said she would protest against Jive Bunny doing a cover version of one of her songs. “Jive Bunny is just out to make fun of everybody. I don’t feel I should be part of that.” Little did she know, that the act would actually release a version of ‘Kids in America’ in 2001.
Jive Bunny and the Mastermixers were in reality a father and son DJ team from Hetton near Sunderland in South Yorkshire. The original idea was from Les Hemstock on the DJ-only Mastermix DJ service. Andy Pickles (the son) then became the front man largely on his own. John Pickles (the father) was never actually in the band, but the owner of the label and effectively the manager. Their biggest hit, ‘Swing the mood’, based on Glenn Miller’s track ‘In the mood’ (a recording dating back to 1939), was no. 1 for 5 weeks on the UK singles chart in 1989. The follow-up ‘That’s what I like’ also reached the peak of the charts that year. The album ‘Ultimate 80s party’, which Jive Bunny released in 2001, contained their version of Kim Wilde’s Kids in America.