Hypnotise

Song written by Kim and Ricky Wilde. The sixth track of the album Now & Forever. It was also released as the B-side of the single Shame.
In 2015, Kim said that this track is the favourite track from her own repertroire for Valentine’s Day.

Kim about ‘Hypnotise’

In the future if someone was to ask me to name my favourite song I’ve written with Ricki, I think this would jump straight into my mind. Ricki has composed one of the most beautiful melodies on the album. The words are from the heart of someone who felt hypnotised, what more can I say?

Credits

Keyboards & programming: Ricky Wilde
Produced by Ricky Wilde
Engineered by James Richards

Interview source

Kim Wilde Fanclub Magazine Christmas 1995


Lyrics

(Baby you hypnotise)
(Baby you hypnotise)
(Hypnotise)

I can’t help it when you’re near me
I don’t think straight I get all confused
I just lose all my concentration
With no question at all I’d surrender to you
Standing here so close together
I can feel all the magic again
But I’m holding back the emotion
Couldn’t take anymore of the heartache and pain
I know I should take it slow but
The minute I see you I just let go
Cos you,

Baby you hypnotise
I just have to look in your eyes
I’m in a daze I lose control
Deeper inside my mind
I’m leaving the real world behind
I give to you my heart and soul

It’s a gamble can we take it
Playing safe is no way to survive
There’s a chance for us we can make it
Give our love room to breathe to keep it alive
Admit that we made mistakes but
I know in my heart that it’s not too late
Cos you

Baby you hypnotise
I just have to look in your eyes
I’m in a daze I lose control
Deeper inside my mind
I’m leaving the real world behind
I give to you my heart and soul

It feels like I’m falling in love with you all over again
And I’m trying not to let it show
But the minute I see you I just let go
I just have to look in your eyes
I’m in a daze
I lose control

Hynde, Chrissie

Born 17 September 1951 in Akron, Ohio (USA), Chrissie Hynde came to England to seek her fortune during the early 1970’s. After meeting with New Musical Express writer and future boyfriend Nick Kent she joined the paper and gained entrance into the world of rock. She worked at Malcolm McLaren’s shop, SEX, played with Chris Spedding, joined Jack Rabbit, formed the Berk Brothers and made a tasteless, unreleased single as the Moors Murderers. By the time she assembled the band in 1978, Hynde had gained a great deal of experience. The first Pretenders’ line-up comprised: Pete Farndon (born 2 June 1952, Hereford, England, died 14 April 1983; bass), James Honeyman-Scott (born 4 November 1956, Hereford, England died 16 June 1982; guitar) and Martin Chambers (born 4 September 1951, Hereford, England; drums). Their debut was a Nick Lowe produced version of the Kinks’ ‘Stop Your Sobbing’ in 1978. It scraped into the UK Top 40 the following year, having received critical praise and much interest. ‘Kid’ and ‘Brass in Pocket’ followed. The latter reached the number 1 position in the UK.

It was their self-titleed debut album that eventually put them on the road to becoming one of the decade’s most important groups. In addition to their previous singles the album contained the reggae-styled ‘Private Life’ (later recorded by Grace Jones), the frenetic Precious, the Byrds-like ‘Talk of the Town’ and the beautiful ballad ‘Lovers of Today’.

Throughout 1980 they became a major stadium attraction in the USA; it was in America that Chrissie met and fell in love with her musical idol, the Kinks’ Ray Davies. Davies had already expressed an interest in Hynde during an interview in the rock magazine Dark Star. Their tempestuous relationship lasted four years, almost resulting in marriage. Davies stated that they had gone to a registry office by bus but spent so much time arguing that they changed their minds and came home. During their romance they brought each other onstage to play with their respective bands. ‘Pretenders II’ came in 1982; it was another collection of melodious rock played with new-wave enthusiasm. Singles taken from this album were ‘Message of Love’ and ‘I Go to Sleep’, first recorded by the Applejacks in 1964. During the turbulent month of June, Pete Farndon, whose drug abuse had been a problem for some time, was fired. Two days later Honeyman-Scott was found dead from a deadly concoction of heroin and cocaine.
Nine months later Hynde gave birth to a daughter; the father was Ray Davies. Two months after this happy event, tragedy struck again. Pete Farndon was found dead in his bath from a drug overdose.

The new full-time Pretenders were Robbie McIntosh (ex- Average White Band) on lead guitar, and bassist Malcolm Foster. They set about recording a third album and the band ended the year with another hit single, the Christmassy ‘2000 Miles’. ‘Learning to crawl’ was released at the beginning of another successful year. The album was erratic, but it did contain some gems, notably the epic ‘Thin Line Between Love and Hate’, the powerful ‘Middle Of The Road’ and the melodic, yet poignant tribute to Honeyman-Scott, ‘Back on the Chain Gang’. The band embarked on another US tour, but Chrissie refused to be parted from her baby daughter who accompanied her, while Davies and his band were touring elsewhere. In May 1984, following a whirlwind affair, Hynde married Jim Kerr of Simple Minds. Back with the Pretenders she appeared at Live Aid at the JFK stadium in Philadelphia, and would enjoy success under her own name duetting with UB40 on the chart-topping reggae re-make of Sonny And Cher’s I Got You Babe.

Following the birth of another daughter (Jim Kerr is the father), Chrissie effectively dismantled the band. ‘Get Close’ was released at the end of 1987 and was well received. Both ‘Don’t Get Me Wrong’ and ‘Hymn to Her’ were substantial hits. In 1988 a solo Hynde performed with UB40 at the Nelson Mandela Concert and the subsequent duet ‘Breakfast in Bed’ was a Top 10 UK hit. Hynde has since spent much of her time campaigning for Animal Rights. Her marriage to Kerr collapsed and in 1990 she returned with a new album ‘Packed’, still as the Pretenders. It was another critical and commercial success, demonstrating Hynde’s natural gift for writing tight, melodic rock songs. 1994 brought ‘Last of the independents’, featuring the hit I’ll Stand By You which saw her reunited with drummer Martin Chambers, alongside Adam Seymour (guitar) and Andy Hobson (bass).
The ‘Unplugged’-style album ‘Isle of View’, released in 1995, showed the Pretenders in a whole different setting, rearranging songs to acoustic masterpieces.

Hynde is one of Kim Wilde’s favourite female recording artists. On 24 March 2007, she took the place of Chrissie Hynde when she sang I Got You Babe together with UB40’s Ali Campbell during a live event in Brussels called Stars of Europe. She also recorded a cover version of I’ll Stand By You on her album Snapshots.


Hylene

Born 26 January 1987 as Helen Adamson in Võru, Estonia.
In 2004 she won a talent contest at Tivoli Tuur. As a winner she had the opportunity to be the main performer in Tivoli Tuur in 2005.
At the very beginning of Hylenes career she had a chance to be a covergirl in Estonian famous men magazine DI.
Since January 2006 she started recording songs in TopTen Studio. The result of this was released in the spring of 2007: her debut album ‘Täna Rikun Ma Reegleid’. The album is a collection of 11 songs in Estonian, including ‘Taevas Ja Maa’ (an Estonian version of Belinda Carlisle‘s ‘Heaven Is a Place on Earth’), plus an English-language cover of You Came.

A few years later she dropped the stage name Hylene and released the album ‘Helen Adamson’ in 2014.


Human League

The Human League are a British synthpop/new wave band. Formed in Sheffield in 1977, it was originally an avant-garde all male synthesizer-based group. The only constant band member since 1977 is vocalist and songwriter Philip Oakey (born 2 October 1955 in Hinckley, Leicestershire, England). Together with Martyn Ware (born 19 May 1956 in Sheffield, Yorkshire, England) and Ian Craig Marsh (born 11 November 1956) he formed the band. The latter two were both working as computer operators, and combined a love of pop music (such as glam rock and Tamla Motown) with avant-garde electronic music acts such as German group Kraftwerk.

Early sessions were awkward. Oakey had never sung in front of an audience before and couldn’t play keyboards. Listening to one of Ware and Marsh’s demos, Oakey was inspired to write some lyrics which he later delivered in his unique baritone style, the lyrics would later become the single ‘Being Boiled’.
In this first formation, the Human League released an EP, ‘The Dignity of Labour’ (1979), consisting of four experimental instrumental tracks.
The album ‘Reproduction’ (1979) followed. This album and the accompanying single ‘Empire State Human’ flopped. The Human League enjoyed more success with the EP ‘Holiday ’80’ (1980), containing the previously mentioned ‘Being Boiled’. They performed this track on Top of the Pops. More success followed during a UK tour and the release of ‘Travelogue’ in May 1980.

By the end of 1980 though, internal disagreements and a perceived lack of support from record company Virgin led to the group’s disintegration. Ware and Craig Marsh left the band, later starting up their own new band, Heaven 17. Phil Oakey kept the ‘Human League’ name. Unfortunately, it was two weeks before an important UK/European tour, so Oakey had to move fast to avoid huge debts as a result of cancellation. He had only a few days to recruit new members.

Oakey and his then-girlfriend visited various venues in Sheffield to look for suitable replacements. In the Crazy Daisy Nightclub they spotted two teenage girls dancing together on the dance floor. Susanne Sulley (born 26 March 1963) and Joanne Catherall (born 18 September 1962) were just two 17 year old schoolgirls on a night out together. Neither had any experience of singing or dancing professionally. Oakey asked both girls to join the tour as dancers and incidental vocalists. Originally just wanting a single female singer to replace the high backing vocals originally provided by Martyn Ware, he says that he thought having two female vocalists/dancers would also add potential glamour to the band. In addition to the girls, Oakey employed professional musician Ian Burden as a session keyboard player for the tour to cover for the keyboards of the now departed Ware and Craig Marsh. The success of the tour wasn’t very big, as the press wrote with derision about “Oakey and his dancing girls”. Nevertheless, Sulley and Catherall were made full members of the band, and they have been ever since.

The fortunes of Human League turned in 1981, when the classic album ‘Dare’ and the multi-million selling single ‘Don’t You Want Me’ were released. From then on, the group released the albums ‘Hysteria’ (1983) and ‘Crash’ (1987). Singles like ‘Mirror Man’, ‘(Keep Feeling) Fascination’, ‘The Lebanon’ and ‘Life on Your Own’ were Europe-wide hits.
In 1988 a greatest hits compilation was made, at the end of a very successful run of hits throughout the Eighties. The band meanwhile constructed their own purpose built studios in Sheffield, jointly funded by Oakey and a business development loan from Sheffield City Council. Oakey believed if the band owned their own facilities it would cut down on the enormous production costs of previous albums and the band could become more productive.

The last album with Virgin was 1990’s ‘Romantic?’, spawning only one minor hit single, ‘Heart Like a Wheel’. It was the beginning of a troublesome time for the band, because they were dropped by Virgin. After a couple of years they regained confidence to send out demos to other labels. They were signed by EastWest records in 1994. In January 1995, their first single with EastWest, ‘Tell Me When’ was a big success in Europe and the UK. The accompanying album, ‘Octopus’, returned the band to the top 10 and was awarded silver. Further singles ‘One Man in My Heart’, ‘Filling Up With Heaven’ and the non-album single ‘Stay With Me Tonight’ were all reasonably successful as well. A remix version of ‘Don’t You Want Me’ and a new Greatest Hits compilation were less successful. A change of management at EastWest led to the group’s contract being cancelled.

In 2000 the band signed to Papillon records, a label of the Chrysalis group. The album ‘Secrets’ (2001) was released just before Papillon developed financial troubles and then being closed by Chrysalis. The album was not promoted and didn’t sell too well as a result. The band decided to focus more on touring since then. Starting out with the ‘Secrets tour’ in 2001, they joined the Here & Now Christmas Party Tour in 2002, together with Kim Wilde amongst others. In 2003, they played during the Here & Now Tour in Australia, also together with Kim, who commented in her tour diary: “I melt every time I hear Human, and love Fascination. Phil’s voice is strong and hasn’t changed at all, and what can I say about Jo and Suzanne. They’re legends!”

For some time, the Human League were unsigned to a record label, but continead to play live. In 2010, they signed to Wall of Sound records and released their tenth studio album ‘Credo’ the next year. Human League continue to play live, while several of their older studio albums have had expanded and remastered re-releases.


Human Hamster Hybrids

The band Human Hamster Hybrids was founded in 1995 by Alex B. (a.k.a. Dr. Bacterius, 6-string guitar) and Wohnzimmer (Guitar, vocals), during a drinking session when they decided to found a Ramones coverband. They found P.K. Ripper (Drums) and El Duce (Bass). After recording some demos, including a punk cover of Kim Wilde’s song Chequered Love, they attracted the attention of audiences and record labels alike. In 2001, they released their first album ‘Dance classics’ on the Wolverine label.


How To Make a Scarecrow

A wordless instruction on how to make a scarecrow. Released as part of Collins’ ‘Big Cat’ series for children, this booklet is derived from Kim’s book Gardening with Children. It contains some photographs not included in the former. Illustrations by Blair Sayer have also been added.

Release date: 4 January 2006
Written by: Kim Wilde
Publisher: Collins
Number of pages: 20
ISBN: 0007186452


How Do You Want My Love

Song written by Kim and Ricky Wilde. A track included on the album Another Step.

The song lyric is quoted in the book Siren: Open Letter to Kim Wilde by Dutch poet Karel ten Haaf.

Live performances

‘How do you want my love’ was performed live during the Another Step Tour in 1986 only.

Credits

Drum programming, drums, percussion: Richard James Burgess
Synth programming and playing, additional arrangements: Paul Fox
Guitars: Steve Byrd
Backing vocals: Paulette McWilliams, Lisa Fisher, Myrne Smith-Shilling
Produced by Richard James Burgess
Engineered by Frank Roszak


Lyrics

It’s good to meet you – how you doin’
I haven’t seen your face before
Yeah I’m alone here – noticed you the minute
You walked through the door

It’s getting late and so much time is wasted
Dancing on the floor
And making small talk
I’ve been through that before
How do you want my love

You know they told me – keep your distance
Got to play love by the rules
And I believed them wound up losing
Love left me for a fool

I know I’m not the only one
Who knows what love can do
It’s in your eyes
You’ve been hurt the same way too

How do you want my love
How do you want my love tonight
How do you want my love
How do you want my love tonight

Here with you I can smile away the pain
Make believe I can fall in love again
Won’t you tell me your name
How do you want my love

The party’s over – there’s people leaving
Friend saying their goodbyes
So come on over – I’ll make you coffee
No need to end the night

House of Salome

Song written by Ricky and Marty Wilde. First track of the album Catch as Catch Can. It was released as the third single off the album in 1983 by RAK Records, but did not succeed in achieving chart success anywhere.

Formats

For a long time it was, together with Water on Glass, the only single to not have been released on 12″ single anywhere. The 7″ single was released in Europe only.
See this page in the discography for more information.

Versions

Four versions of ‘House of Salome’ have been released through the years:

  • the album version, released in 1983
  • the instrumental version, released in 2020
  • the rough mix, released in 2020
  • Luke Mornay Mix of the Seven Veils, released in 2024

Live performances

‘House of Salome’ was performed live during the Catch Tour in 1983 only.

Chart positions

Belgium: 36 (2 weeks)

Credits

Lead guitar, backing vocals: Steve Byrd
Bass guitar, backing vocals: Mark Hayward Chaplin
Drums: Trevor Murrell
Keyboards, bass, guitar, Linn programmes, synclavier, backing vocals: Ricky Wilde
Produced by Ricky Wilde
Engineer: Pete Schwier, Will Gosling, Simon Schofield, Keith Fernley


Lyrics

Shadows run in the heat of the desert
Hands beat at the door
Someone stands and calls
For the name of Salome

As the veils were pushed away
He gazed upon a face
He’d never seen
Was she a dream ?

He heard the sound from a distance voice
You’d better watch out!
You’d better watch out!
He heard the sound from a thousand years
Calling out
Calling out

In the house of Salome
You have to surrender

“Run with her” said the young handmaiden
“She will be your queen
All your life you’ll live
In the dream of Salome

Take her mouth and with your hands
Just kiss her painted lips
Don’t you make a move
’till Salome calls you”

As the music danced around the desert night
He smelt her perfumed skin
As they made love

He heard the sound of a distant voice
You’d better watch out!
You’d better watch out!
He heard the sound of a thousand years
Calling out
Calling out

And as the music danced around the desert night
He smelt her perfumed skin
Was she a dream?

In the house of Salome
In the house of Salome
In the house of Salome
This house calls you!

House

In 1990, Kim Wilde moved from an apartment in London to her current home. She found it in 1987, when she was browsing a few local newspapers. Kim decided on checking out some of the advertised barns. Soon after, she decided on buying one of the barns in the Hertfordshire area, and redesigning it with an architect.

The house is a 16th century Grade II listed barn, which used to be a chicken farm. After almost three years the barn got into shape and Kim herself got involved in designing the garden and building the pond in it. After having her children, the garden changed shape again, with the pond disappearing and making way for another section of the garden. A treehouse was built for the children as well.

The barn has already been visited a few times by the press, including Hello! Magazine (UK) and a Dutch TV show. It was also the background in a rockumentary to promote Kim Wilde’s 2010 album Come Out and Play.

Occasionally, fans do turn up at the house, but Kim makes it clear that they’re ‘most unwelcome’.

Kim about her house

I found it five years ago. There were chickens running around then. (…) The first time I walked in, the sun was streaming in through some of the boards, which were mislodged. It was the most peaceful place I’d ever walked into in my life. I said ‘I’ve got to live here’. Then we took a year and a half renovating it. We moved in on my 30th birthday, had a big party… I slept on the floor and I continued to sleep on the floor until I bought myself a bed and that’s only because I got married! (TV Show op reis, 30 January 1997)


Hot Tracks

In December 1981 Steve Algozino and Ross Lopez in San Francisco started the Underground Remix service Hot Tracks. They produced exclusive remixes for Club DJ’s. In January 1982 they released their first record. When Steve Algozino became ill in September 1985, Cameron Paul took over his place as producer. Algozino died in August 1986 because of AIDS, and his mother Anne Medice and his brother Scott Cox took over the service. Michael Lewis took over from Cameron Paul as producer. Lewis died in August 1988, also because of AIDS. Steve Bourosa became the next producer but only stayed on for a few months because he started his own service, Rhythm Stick.

In 1989 Hot Tracks moved from San Francisco to Las Vegas and Chris Cox was the new producer from then on. Two years later they moved to Tulsa and all releases became available both on vinyl and CD. Ron Hesters started as assistant-produre until Chris Cox leaves Hot Tracks two years later, when Hesters takes over.

Hot Tracks is still in business and has become the longest running DJ remix service in history.
They have released four remixes of Kim Wilde tracks: You Keep Me Hangin’ On, You Came, Can’t Get Enough (Of Your Love) and If I Can’t Have You.


Hot Stewards

Dutch pop punk band was formed by William Steward, Sopo Steward, Ken Steward, JD Steward and Roger Steward in 2005. They debuted with the EP ‘The very best of the Hot Stewards’, featuring three new songs plus a cover version of Bronski Beat’s ‘Smalltown boy’. This cover version led to an album of covers called ‘Cover Up’, released in 2007. That album featured their cover of Kids in America.

In 2011 the band released their second album ‘Ambassadors of Love’. A year later the band split up, with a final concert on 28 July 2012 in Dordrecht, the Netherlands.


Hot Rod Linkun

Band from Leicester which consists of Aron J. Hallam (all instruments) and Hickory Slim (drums). Their music sounds a lot like the Ramones. Their music is distributed via the Bandcamp website. Their album ‘Lowering the standards’ (2011) featured cover versions of various songs including Kim Wilde’s Chequered Love.