Kim Wilde

Kim Wilde (2014)

Kim Wilde (actually: Kimberly Smith , born  November 18, 1960 in Chiswick , West London ) is a British pop singer . She is the oldest child of the rock 'n' roll singer Marty Wilde , whose stage name she has taken.

Kim Wilde was internationally successful with hits like Kids in America , Cambodia , You Keep Me Hangin 'On and You Came , especially between 1981 and 1988. From 1997 she appeared, among other things, as a landscape gardener in British television programs and worked as an author for newspaper columns.

Since 2006, Wilde has devoted herself mainly to her music career and has been able to build on old successes since then.

With 30 million records sold, she is one of the most successful singers of the 1980s.

Career

1980–1982: record deal, successes and tours

Kim Wilde was signed to RAK Records in 1980 and released her first single, Kids in America , composed and written by father Marty and brother Ricky in January 1981 . This song was a top five international hit, both in Europe, as well as in Australia and Asia; in the US charts, it made it to number 25.

Her debut album Kim Wilde , released in June 1981, contained the likewise very successful synth pop hits Checkered Love and Water On Glass . After her big breakthrough, Wilde received the British Phonographic Industry’s Best Female Vocalist Award in 1983 and two other nominations in this category in the following years.

Her second album Select , released in May 1982, could not quite build on the success of her debut in her home country Great Britain. Neither the album nor the singles reached the Top 10 in Germany, France , Switzerland and the Scandinavian countries had, however, still a lot of fans and Cambodia (one million singles sold in France alone) and View from a Bridge more Top ten successes. The song Child Come Away , released a little later, missed the UK Top 40 for the first time.

1983–1985: Waning success at RAK and a fresh start at MCA

The album Catch as Catch Can , released in October 1983 , which showed stylistic changes from its two predecessors, was a failure in Great Britain, while it sold well in other parts of Europe. With the first release Love Blonde , she had another single bestseller in France and Scandinavia.

With RAK Records , she recorded a total of three albums by 1983 and switched to MCA Records in the summer of 1984 . Nevertheless, the chart successes in Great Britain were missing. In Germany, however, the fans remained loyal to her and gave her another top ten hit in the single charts with The Second Time in the fall of 1984, as well as a solid sales success with the corresponding fourth studio album Teases & Dares . In their British homeland, the success failed again.

A similar picture presented itself at her concerts: The tours of 1983, 1985 and 1986 brought Kim Wilde in Great Britain half empty halls, while she mostly played in front of sold out houses, especially in Germany and France. Her popularity in Germany earned her the nickname "Bardot of Pop Music" and from 1981 to 1984 she received four Bravo Otto's in a row as best singer (1981 and 1984 gold; 1982 and 1983 silver).

1986–1989: International successes

With a cover version of the Supremes classic You Keep Me Hangin 'On , Kim Wilde successfully returned to the British and international charts in the autumn of 1986 and achieved her greatest international hit, although many critics had already written it off by this time. The song was a top 10 hit in many European countries in the winter of 1986/1987 (2nd place in the UK and 8th in West Germany) and gave the singer a number 1 hit in the USA, Canada and in June 1987 Australia. Kim Wilde hardly performed in the USA and so this was her only big success there. But she was now very successful again in her British homeland: With the following duet Another Step (Closer to You) (together with Junior Giscombe ) she was again in the British Top 10 in the spring of 1987, as was the British top 10 at the end of the year Humor tailored Rockin 'Around the Christmas Tree , a benefit single for Christmas, sung in a duet with comedian Mel Smith . With the album Close and the singles Hey Mr. Heartache , You Came , Never Trust a Stranger and Four Letter Word (the latter three were top ten in the UK), she continued to achieve commercial success across Europe. Due to her regained high popularity, Kim Wilde was hired for the opening act for the large-scale European tours of Michael Jackson (1988) and David Bowie (1990) and performed live in front of an audience on this scale for the first time.

1990–1993: Falling successes and The Singles Collection 1981–1993

In the 1990s, the singer was unable to build on this international success: The album Love Moves (1990) only sold well in France, Scandinavia and Switzerland, while the successor Love Is (1992) was even less successful.

The song Can't Get Enough (Of Your Love) from the summer of 1990 reached number 21 in France, while Love Is Holy (1992) and If I Can't Have You (1993, a cover of the Bee Gees classic from the Film Saturday Night Fever ) Kim Wilde's last top 20 titles were in the UK singles chart. The latter also made it to 3rd place in Australia.

Further releases over the course of the decade could no longer place high in the charts. However, her 1993 best-of album The Singles Collection sold very well in Europe and Australia from 1981-1993 , showing that her earlier songs were still very popular.

1995–2000: Change of style, personal happiness and moderation

After the failure of her ninth studio album Now and Forever (1995), she played from February 1996 to February 1997 in a production of the musical Tommy in London's West End . In 1998 Wilde recorded a complete album, which was never released due to licensing problems with one of the authors.

In 1996 she married Hal Fowler, who also starred in the musical Tommy . In 1998 their son Harry Tristan was born and two years later daughter Rose Elisabeth was born. During her first pregnancy, she took an interest in an old hobby again, gardening. As a trained landscape gardener, she then hosted gardening programs on British television and wrote numerous articles in newspapers and magazines on the subject. Her first book Gardening with Children was published in April 2005 .

Since 2001: Comeback with classics, duets and new works

Kim Wilde and presenter Matthias Lorenz-Meyer in the local TV show “Neue Helden” in February 2007

Kim Wilde at Bospop (2007)

At the end of 2001, Kim Wilde reported back with another best-of album (The Very Best of Kim Wilde) , which, however, barely differed from the previous sampler The Singles Collection from 1993 and therefore hardly noticed except for top 20 listings in Scandinavia has been. The only new title was the single Loved , which largely went under in Germany and was unable to maintain its position in the top 100. It was very successful in other European countries. A year later, she covered the James Bond song Nobody Does It Better , which was not released. Another single, Born to Be Wild , only made it to the bottom of the charts.

Kim Wilde had a surprising success in spring 2003 with Anyplace, Anywhere, Anytime , a duet with Nena , which was number 3 in the charts in Germany for weeks and even number 1 in the Netherlands and Austria .

In winter 2005 Wilde signed a new record deal with the German department of the record company EMI . The contract came about through the hit duet with Nena. The album Never Say Never , on which work was completed in summer 2006, was released on September 8, 2006. It was produced by Uwe Fahrenkrog-Petersen , the songwriter of Nena. The first single You Came 2006 immediately reached the Top 20 in Germany, in which the album was also able to place. In addition to eight new titles, six reinterpretations of their greatest hits can be heard, including You Keep Me Hangin 'On in a duet with Nena and Kids In America with Charlotte Hatherley . A European tour followed in March and autumn 2007.

In November and December 2008 Kim Wilde performed live again in Germany as the star guest at “Nokia Night of the Proms”. In 2009 the European tour continued, starting in Munich on March 24, 2009. In mid-2009 she recorded a song with the Swedish rock band Fibes oh Fibes . Under the name Fibes oh Fibes feat. Kim Wilde released the up-tempo number Run to you as a single in Sweden in early September 2009.

In the summer of 2010, Kim Wilde made a comeback with the album Come out and play . Tempo, melody and voice are strongly reminiscent of their successes in the 1980s. The first single Lights Down Low was released on August 13th, the album followed two weeks later. After 22 years, Kim Wilde again had an album in the top 10 of the German charts. The second single was released on November 19, 2010, the song Real Life - a cover of the song Story to Tell by the band Some & Any , which emerged from the 2009 talent show Popstars .

On August 26, 2011, the album Snapshots was released , on which only cover versions can be heard. The first single was a double A-side with the songs It's Alright by the British boy band East 17 and Sleeping Satellite by the British singer Tasmin Archer . This was published a week before the official date on August 19th. On December 5, 2011, To France by Mike Oldfield was released as a single. A large European tour followed in 2012, when they in Germany and Switzerland from the Cologne band 2THEUNIVERSE as opening act was accompanied.

For 2013, Wilde announced their 13th studio album and a Christmas album in collaboration with singer DJ BoBo . The album DJ BoBo Reloaded , released on September 20, 2013, contains a duet with Kim Wilde. The Christmas album Wild Winter Songbook was released on November 22, 2013 and contains twelve tracks.

In March and April 2014 Wilde was part of the tour of Rock Meets Classic alongside Midge Ure , Joe Lynn Turner , Bernie Shaw & Mick Box ( Uriah Heep ) and lead actor Alice Cooper .

Her 14th studio album Here Come the Aliens was released in 2018 . It contains twelve songs. It was produced by her brother Ricky Wilde and recorded at RAK Studios in London.

Discography

→ Main article : Kim Wilde / discography

Studio albums

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks / months, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks / months, awards, notes)					Remarks
		DE	AT	CH	UK	US
1981	Kim Wilde	DE1 gold (31 weeks)DE	-	-	UK3 gold (14 weeks)UK	US86 (22 weeks) US	First published: June 29, 1981
1982	Select	DE4 (19 weeks) DE	AT20 (2 weeks) AT	-	UK19th silver (11 weeks)UK	-	First published: May 10, 1982
1983	Catch as Catch Can	DE23 (13 weeks) DE	-	CH6 (16 weeks) CH	UK90 (1 week) UK	-	First published: October 24, 1983
1984	Teases & Dares	DE22 (22 weeks) DE	-	CH10 (9 weeks) CH	UK66 (2 weeks) UK	US84 (10 weeks) US	First published: November 12, 1984
1986	Another step	DE41 (17 weeks) DE	-	CH5 (8 weeks) CH	UK73 (5 weeks) UK	US40 (26 weeks) US	First published: October 3, 1986
1988	Close	DE10 gold (34 weeks)DE	AT7 (7½ months) AT	CH8th platinum (36 weeks)CH	UK8th platinum (38 weeks)UK	US114 (6 weeks) US	First published: May 13, 1988
1990	Love moves	DE24 (15 weeks) DE	-	CH12 gold (9 weeks)CH	UK37 (3 weeks) UK	-	First published: May 14, 1990
1992	Love Is ...	DE42 (13 weeks) DE	AT22 (11 weeks) AT	CH7th gold (15 weeks)CH	UK21 (3 weeks) UK	-	First published: May 18, 1992
1995	Now and Forever	-	-	CH37 (2 weeks) CH	-	-	First published: October 30, 1995
2006	Never say never	DE17 (7 weeks) DE	AT22 (5 weeks) AT	CH11 (9 weeks) CH	-	-	First published: September 8, 2006
2010	Come out and play	DE10 (8 weeks) DE	AT24 (4 weeks) AT	CH9 (7 weeks) CH	-	-	First published: August 27, 2010 Sales: + 80,000
2011	Snapshots	DE14 (4 weeks) DE	-	CH27 (3 weeks) CH	-	-	First published: August 26, 2011
2018	Here come the aliens	DE11 (3 weeks) DE	AT34 (1 week) AT	CH10 (4 weeks) CH	UK21 (2 weeks) UK	-	First published: March 16, 2018

gray hatching : no chart data available for this year

Awards

• RSH gold
  • 1996: in the "Classic of the Year" category

• BRAVO Otto
  • 1981: in gold, for "Best Singer"
  • 1982: in silver, for "Best Singer"
  • 1983: in silver, for "Best Singer"
  • 1984: in gold, for "Best Singer"

• Bambi
  • 1993: for "Classic of the Year" (The Single Collection)

• Brit Awards
  • 1983: for "Best British Female"

Further nominations: 1985 1987 1988

• Pop / Rocky Hammer Smurf
  • 1981: in gold, for "Best Singer"
  • 1982: in gold, for "Best Singer"
  • 1983: in silver, for "Best Singer"
  • 1984: in bronze, for "Best Singer"

• Further awards
  • 1981: Rockbjören for "Best Female Singer" (Sweden)
  • 1988: European Platinum Award for the album "Close"
  • 1990: Diamond Award (Belgium)
  • 1990: World Music Award

Web links

Commons : Kim Wilde  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Kim Wilde in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• Kim Wilde at laut.de
• Official website Kim Wilde (English)
• wilde-life.com: albums
• Alex Gernandt : Kim Wilde: "I've had enough of the glittering world". one day on Spiegel Online , March 20, 2018, accessed on March 21, 2018 . 

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Annemarie Ballschmiter: Composting with Kim Wilde . In: The world . August 28, 2011.
2. ↑ Kim Wilde: Can you forgive an affair, Kim Wilde? In: bild.de . ( bild.de [accessed on August 13, 2018]).
3. ^ Official website of Kim Wilde
4. ↑ Monica: Kim Wilde - New album "Snapshots" will be released in August . In: track4-info.de . June 20, 2011.
5. ↑ www.amazon.de
6. ↑ Reinhold Packeisen: Kim Wilde has fulfilled a lifelong dream “Snapshots & Greatest Hits Tour”. In: Colozine. December 20, 2011, accessed January 27, 2014 . 
7. ↑ Andreas Weist: Kim Wilde Snapshots Tour 2012 support 2 The Universe, Europahalle Trier. Musicheadquarter.de, March 8, 2012, accessed January 27, 2014 . 
8. ↑ Florian Hessler: KIM WILDE / 2 THE UNIVERSE / STEREOBLONDE - Berlin, Columbiahalle (March 15, 2012). (No longer available online.) Metal-district.de, May 19, 2012, archived from the original on February 1, 2014 ; accessed on January 27, 2014 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
9. ↑ DJ BoBo . In: cd-lexikon.de .
10. ↑ Chart sources: DE AT CH UK US
11. ^ The Billboard Albums by Joel Whitburn , 6th Edition, Record Research 2006, ISBN 0-89820-166-7 .
12. ↑ Kim Wilde: Wild Winter Songbook. jpc.de, accessed on November 20, 2019 . 
13. ↑ RSH Gold Award 1996
14. ↑ The Brit Awards - Kim Wilde. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on February 1, 2012 ; accessed on November 7, 2013 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.