Wilde World: Didi Zill

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.

Didi Zill was born on November 16, 1942 in Berlin. He started his music career in 1965 with his band Didi & his ABC boys and the album ‘Beat from Berlin’ which contained German-language covers of Beatles songs. He performed as a support act for Bill Haley, Little Richard and the Rolling Stones in the following years. His 1976 single ‘Fremder’ was a German-language cover of Kris Kristofferson’s ‘Stranger’, and the B-side featured a German version of Marty Wilde’s ‘Bring back rock ‘n’ roll’. The track was so successful that a second run of singles was made with a different sleeve, highlighting the B-side track.

Although he continued to release singles well into the Seventies, including a cover version of the Buggles’ ‘Video killed the radio star’, he was more successful as a photographer. His photographs were eagerly used by the German magazine Bravo and many German and British stars posed for him. He now lives near Munich and operates his own photo agency.

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