Released on 31 January 2025, Closer was Kim Wilde’s fifteenth studio album. It was released by Cherry Red Records.

Music

The ten tracks on the album are all original songs, primarily written by Kim Wilde, Ricky Wilde and Scarlett Wilde. The album references some Eighties sounds but it sounds very modern. There’s a diverse style with rock sounds in ‘Scorpio’, electro/dance sounds in ‘Love Is Love’ and a more gentle, slightly ambient sound in the closing track ‘Savasana’.

Tracks

The album features the tracks Midnight Train, Scorpio, Trail of Destruction, Sorrow Replaced, Lighthouse, Love Is Love, Rocket to the Moon, Hourglass Human, Stones and Bones and Savasana.

Artwork

Like the title of the album suggests, Closer uses the 1988 album Close as a reference point. The artwork reflects this: Kim strikes almost the same pose as she did on the cover of Close, but the picture is in black and white this time. Sean J. Vincent made the photograph; the familiar Kim Wilde logo is shown rotated to the left.

Formats

Closer was released on CD and four different LP’s: on black, white, silver and clear vinyl.
See also this page in the discography.

Credits

Guitar, keys and backing vocals: Ricky Wilde
Drums, percussion: Jonathan Atkinson
Bass: Paul Cooper
Guitar: Neil Jones
Keyboards: Steve Power
Backing vocals: Scarlett Wilde
Recorded at Doghouse Studios, Hertfordshire
Mixed by Sean J. Vincent and Ricki Wilde
Mastered by Sean J. Vincent at Mixdown Mastering, Hertfordshire

Chart performance

Germany: 11
UK: 27

Pseudonym for producers Nico Tonidis and Uli Wenzel.

They released a cover version of You Came, with vocals by Silvia Rheinstein, in 2004. Released on a 12″ single, their version was offered along with a club mix and another remix called the Hugh Hefner’s Dream Mix.

After one more release, ‘Push It to the Limit’ in 2005, there were no further releases by Candy Warhol.

On 5 September 2012, Kim Wilde attended the opening of Cartier’s redesigned boutique in Hamburg. Many guests celebrated the reopening of the jewelery house and were surprised by the presence of pop icon Kim Wilde. She even sang some of her hits.

Daniel Brühl, Susanne Atwell, Nandini Mitra, Julia Dietze, Franziska Knuppe, Petra von Bremen, Jenny Falckenberg, Ina Menzer, Marion Fedder, Bettina Zimmermann, Melanie Trochowski, Sabrina Staubitz, Mafalda Princess of Hesse, Bahar Kizil, Enno from Ruffin, Estelle Rytterborg & Andre Borchers all made an appearance on the red carpet.

On 5 October 1991, Kim appeared at a craft fair in Knebworth, organised by the Childrens Society. She opened the fair by speaking a few words and then did an autograph session.

Centredumonde is the nom de plume of Joseph Bertrand, a French musician based in Paris. Since 2015 he has been releasing albums at a steady pace. In 2020 he released ‘The Sweet Kiss’, a collection of five tracks, including ‘Cambodge’, a French-language cover of Cambodia. ‘The Sweet Kiss’ was created in collaboration with another Parisian musician, Claire Redor. For her part, she has been releasing music since 2012.

Instrumental track by Marco V, released in 2009. It features the melody of Kim Wilde’s Cambodia quite prominently.

Versions

There are three versions of ‘Coma Aid’: the original mix, the remix and a single mix.

BBC Children in Need  is the BBC’s UK charity. Since 1980, it has raised over £1 billion for disadvantaged children and young people in the UK. One of the highlights is an annual telethon, held in November and televised on BBC One and BBC Two. Pudsey Bear has been BBC Children in Need’s mascot since 1985, whilst Sir Terry Wogan was its long-standing host for 35 years.

A prominent annual event in British television, Children in Need is one of two high-profile British telethons. It is the only charity belonging to the BBC, the other telethon being Red Nose Day, supporting Comic Relief.

Kim Wilde has been raising money for Children in Need in various capacities. In the early 1980’s she was a guest during one of the telethons (see photograph), in 2013 she appeared in the TV show Celebrity Antiques Roadtrip and in 2016 she appeared live on stage during Carfest North for Children in Need.

 

In 2019 Kim Wilde featured in an advert for Cadbury Darkmilk. Jason Donovan starred in another advert. The promos were aimed at those who’ll remember the 1980’s, and maybe for those who don’t too. The TV commercials were directed by Vince Squibb.

The adverts were first broadcast on 20 April 2019 on ITV. The ads, part of a £6m spend, ran until the end of May during ‘Coronation Street’ and ‘Emmerdale’ on ITV1, as well as ‘First Dates’ and ‘When I Grow Up’ on Channel 4. On digital and social media the campaign was supported by faux ‘behind the scenes’ footage from the TV shoots. It shows young film crew members failing to recognise Donovan and Wilde. Other activity will include PR and sampling of five million chocolate bars.

Jahloul “Chico” Bouchikhi formed Chico & the Gypsies in 1992 after he left the band Gipsy Kings, who enjoyed an international breakthrough when they recorded the song ‘Bamboleo’.

With his new band he continued to have success, mainly in France. Their first album ‘Tengo Tengo’ (1992) did not chart, but the next, ‘Vagabundo’ (39) reached number 39. The albums ‘Nomade’ (1998), ‘Bamboleo’ (2003) and ‘Disque d’Or’ (2004) did not chart, but in 2005 the album ‘Freedom’ reached number 12 in the French albums chart. After the relatively minor success of ‘Suerte’ (number 43 in 2008), ‘Chantent Charles Aznavour’ (number 78 in 2011), they scored again with ‘Chico & the Gypsies & Friends’ in 2012, reaching number 8 in France, and, for the first time, number 20 in the Belgian (French-speaking) chart.

In June 2014, they released the album ‘Chico & the Gypsies & International Friends’, featuring duets with various artists including Kim. She sings on the track Las Cartas, which is an adaptation of Sting’s 1993 song ‘Shape Of My Heart’. The album reached number 60 in the French albums chart.

The albums ‘Color 80’s’ and ‘Color 80’s vol. 2’, both released in 2016, reach number 9 and 47 respectively in France. Their biggest success to date followed in 2018 with the album ‘Mi Corazón’, which peaked at number 4 in 2018.

Composer who was credited for writing Bitter Is Better together with Masami Tsuchiya. Alternatively known as Bill Crutchfield, who wrote ‘Rollin’ Into The Night’ for Japanese singer Akira Kushida and ‘Sayonara Tokyo’ for Bonnie Tyler.

Formed in Angers (France) in 2005, the band Carne de Puta specialized in goregrind metal, “grunt” vocals supperted by rather monotonous noise. They released three EP’s: ‘You’re Adopted’ (2005), ‘Take Your Dose’ (2005) and ‘Demo’ (2006) as well as one album together with the band Paedo Nanny. That album also featured Carne de Puta’s cover version of Kids in America – one of the loudest and least melodic versions of the track. In 2010, the band split up.