Kim Wilde

Kim Wilde is a British pop singer and songwriter from Chiswick, England, born Kim Smith in 1960. She is the daughter of 1950s singer Marty Wilde and is also associated with gardening as well as music. Her work spans pop, pop rock, synth-pop, new wave, dance-pop and hi-NRG.

Early success

Wilde begins her recording career with the single Kids in America in 1981, written by her father and her brother Ricky. The song becomes a major hit in the UK, reaching number 2, and her self-titled debut album follows later that year on RAK Records. That album stays in the UK charts for 14 weeks and peaks at number 3. It also yields the singles Chequered Love and Water on Glass.

RAK Records years

Her second album, Select, appears in 1982 and includes the singles Cambodia and View From a Bridge. In 1983 she releases Catch as Catch Can, her third and final album for RAK. Although the album is less successful, it includes the minor hits Love Blonde and Dancing in the Dark.

MCA period and international hits

Wilde signs to MCA Records in 1984 and releases Teases & Dares later that year. The album is not a major commercial hit, but it receives favourable critical attention and produces three hit singles. Rage to Love becomes her first top 20 hit in two years.

In 1986 she records You Keep Me Hangin' On, a cover of the Supremes song, which reaches number 2 in the UK and number 1 in the United States. Her next album, Another Step, also appears in 1986 and includes the title track, Another Step (Closer to You), a duet with Junior, and Say You Really Want Me.

Peak commercial period

Close, released in 1988, becomes her most successful studio album. It spends 38 weeks in the UK album chart and produces three top ten singles: You Came, Never Trust a Stranger and Four Letter Word. Around this time she also supports Michael Jackson on the Bad tour.

Later albums and compilations

Her 1990 album Love Moves and 1992 album Love Is do not match the success of Close, though Love Is includes the top 20 single Love Is Holy, written by Rick Nowels. In 1993 MCA issues The Singles Collection 1981-1993, her first official greatest hits album, which gathers material from the RAK and MCA periods and adds two new singles: If I Can't Have You, a cover of the Yvonne Elliman song and a top 20 hit, and In My Life, written by Wilde.

In 1995 she releases Now and Forever, which includes the singles Breakin' Away and This I Swear. In 1996 she records Shame, a cover of the Evelyn “Champagne” King song, though it does not enter the UK top 100. In 2001 she releases Loved to accompany another greatest-hits set; it is co-written by Ronald and Masterton.

Later work

Wilde continues to record and has further success in Europe. In 2003 she has a hit with Anyplace, Anywhere, Anytime, a duet with Nena. In 2006 she releases Never Say Never, which includes new tracks as well as remakes and remixes of earlier songs such as You Came, Cambodia, Kids in America and a duet version of You Keep Me Hangin' On with Nena. In 2018 she releases Here Come the Aliens, an album in a pop-rock style.