Date: 1 August 1981
Originally published in: Popfoto (Netherlands)
Written by:
“Look, what a great antique shop!”, Kim Wilde shouted happily, during one of her regular shopping sprees through beautiful and less beautiful neighbourhoods in London. Popfoto went along with her for a day. And discovered a very different Kim Wilde this way…
Kim Wilde lives together with her parents, brothers Ricky and Marty and sister Roxanne in a very small town, some 30 km north of London. At the request of Kim herself, we meet her in the English capital. We stay a way from Kim’s domestic situation.
“I love getting out every once in a while”, says the 20-year-old singer. “I borrow my mother’s car and drive to here. Sometimes together with my brother Ricky, but usually alone. We were always protected by our parents, which is why we can usually handle our money wisely. I buy all my clothes in the many second hand shops in London.
We want to walk along with Kim during this day. So we do. We walk through the busy streets of London. Pretty quickly she discovers an antique shop, where she goes in pretty quickly. “Look, what a great jacket!”, she says, showing a green one from the racks. “I think it looks good on me, shall I try it on?”. She asks the owner what she should pay for the jacket. “What? Twenty pounds? That’s too much for such an old thing”, Kim decides. Resolutely she puts the jacket back.
hen she sees a book about primitive painting. The title is “Innocent art”. The price is good. She pays for it immediately and walks out with the book. Right before the antique shop, where two old chair are waiting for a buyer in the sun, Kim sits down, leafing through it.
“I spent a year on art college”, the 20-year-old singer says. “I draw a lot myself. Which is why I’m so interested in painting.”
When we pass a bakery a few minutes later, Kim asks if we are hungry like she is. After a visit to the bakery and a grocery we go to the house of our English photographer, who has accompanied us today. Kim makes our sandwiches. “I always do this at home for my 5-year-old brother Marty and my 2-year-old sister Roxanne”, Kim laughs. She keeps one bread to the side, because that’s for the birds in the park.
We head for a nearby park, where Kim starts feeding the birds with pieces of bread. The pigeons flock together at her feet until the bread is gone. Kim sits down in the grass, feeling satisfied. When we say goodbye to Kim at the end of the day, she says: “In a month I will be in Australia and South Africa, to promote my debut album ‘Kim Wilde’. Which is why I can only start putting a band together in the winter for a tour. So you can expect to see me early next year in Holland for a few concerts. I’ll see you then!”
Just before she drives away in her mother’s Mini, she stops, opens the car window and waves…
