Kim Wilde’s first records were written and produced by her father and brother, Marty and Ricky. The three of them have had a great influence on the music world, as this regular series ‘Wilde World’ shows.
The song ‘I’m a tiger’ was written by Marty Wilde and Ronnie Scott for Lulu, who had a hit with it in 1968. Such was the success of the song that many other attempted to have a hit with it themselves. Versions by Ernie Djohan, Marcela Laiferová, Olivia Pascal and Michel Stax already appeared in this series of articles.
The version by the Alan Caddy Orchestra was not necessarily aimed at the charts, but was released as part of a cheap six track EP with covers of Cilla Black and Lulu songs, featuring three songs from each. Alan Caddy, who’d previously been guitarist in bands like Johnny Kidd & the Pirates and The Tornados, became a wellknown session guitarist. During the Seventies he and former Outlaws drummer Bobby Graham joined forces on the budget label Avenue Records, specializing in budget records featuring cover versions of contemporary hits. This EP was released in 1971 and featured versions of Cilla Black’s ‘Step Inside Love’, ‘If I thought you’d changed your mind’ and ‘Something tells me’, plus versions of Lulu’s ‘Boom bang a bang’, ‘Boat that I row’ and ‘I’m a tiger’. Having struggled with alcoholism throughout his life, Alan died in August 2000 aged just 60, being survived by the daughter of an early marriage.