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.
Bjørn Tidmand was born on January 24, 1940 in Copenhagen, Denmark. After being a member of the Copenhagen Boys Choir as a child, Tidmand began performing in local nightclubs and signed a recording contract in 1959, having a hit with a Danish-language version of ‘Only Sixteen’. In 1963, Tidmand took part in the Dansk Melodi Grand Prix to choose the country’s Eurovision Song Contest entry, and finished in second place behind Grethe & Jørgen Ingmann, who went on to win that year’s Eurovision for Denmark. The following year, Tidmand won the DMGP with the song ‘Sangen om dig’ (‘The Song About You’), which went on to the Eurovision Song Contest, held in his home city of Copenhagen on 21 March. The song ended up in ninth place out of 16 contestants.
Tidmand went on to enjoy a string of hits in Denmark, while developing a parallel career as a television host in the 1970’s and 1980’s. In 1975, he released a self-titled album, which featured ‘Gennem sol og regn’, a Danish translation of Pete Shelley & Marty Wilde’s ‘Love me, love my dog’ by Keld Heick, one of the most frequently used translator/lyricists in the Danish pop scene at the time. Tidmand remains active and continues touring and performing.