Appleby, Kim

Kim Appleby was born on 28 August 1961 in East London, England. After working as a model and in a factory, as well as getting pregnant and having a daughter called Sharna, she and her sister were discovered and launched in 1987 by the famous producer trio Stock, Aitken & Waterman as Mel & Kim. The duo was an instant success. The debut single ‘Showing Out (Get Fresh at the Weekend) is a worldwide number 1 hit, and its successor ‘Respectable’ achieves similar success around the world. The joyful image and the uncomplicated music has a great appeal to the record-buying public.

The debut album ‘F.L.M.’ would, unfortunately, however be their last. Soon after the release of the third single ‘F.L.M. (Fun Love and Money)’ rumours are going around that Mel is suffering from a severe back injury. A fourth single, ‘That’s the way it is’, a new track, is released to reasonable success, but after that it becomes apparent that Mel is suffering from cancer. On January 19, 1990, Mel dies.

Kim soon decides to continue singing solo. Her first solo album is released in the same year. The self-titled album contains a few songs written by Mel & Kim, as well as some newer material written by her boyfriend Craig Logan (formerly from the group Bros). The single ‘Don’t worry’ is Kim’s only major hit to date. Subsequent singles ‘Mama’ and ‘If you cared’ feature Steve Byrd on guitar.

In 1993, the second album, called ‘Breakaway’, is released. It is produced by Tony Swain and in part mixed at Select Sound Studios. This album, however, fails to make any impact in charts despite strong tracks like “I’m not your property” and the title track. The last musical effort from Kim for some time was the 1994 single ‘Free spirit’.

In 2007 she returned with the download only single called ‘High’.

For some time Kim was a friend of the Wilde family. In 1996, she appears in Lulu‘s music video for Every Woman Knows together with Kim Wilde, Boy George and many others.