“”
Birthname:
Kim Smith Flower
Hometown:
Chiswick, London
Chicks She's Worked With
Nena
yes]]
Kim Smith was born in November 1960, the first child of 1950s rock 'n' roller Marty Wilde (real name Reginald Smith) and Joyce Baker, formerly of the British singing and dancing group The Vernons Girls.
As a child, she attended Oakfield Preparatory School, Dulwich. She moved with her family to Hertfordshire at the age of nine, where she was educated at Tewin School and later Presdales School, Ware, before completing a foundation course at St Albans College of Art & Design in 1980.
In 1980, at age twenty, Wilde was signed to Mickie Most's RAK Records.
The RAK years
Wilde released her debut single "Kids in America" in January 1981. It was an instant success, reaching number two in the UK Singles Chart and scaling the Top 5 in other important markets such as Germany, France and Australia. Although it achieved only moderate success in the U.S., peaking at number 25 when belatedly released in 1982, it is often regarded today as Wilde's signature song.
Her debut album Kim Wilde repeated the success of the single, spawning two further hits in "Chequered Love" (Top 5 in the UK, France, Australia and Germany) and the UK-only single "Water on Glass". It was followed in 1982 by another million selling[citation needed] album, Select, led by the synthesizer-driven mid tempo "Cambodia" and "View From a Bridge". Both were Number 1 hits in France and reached Top 10 positions in Germany and Australia. In France, "Cambodia" sold more than 1 million copies[citation needed].
At the time there was some controversy about Wilde's hesitation to do live concerts. Her first concerts in September 1982 took place in Denmark, before embarking on a UK-wide tour in October.
Wilde's third album, Catch As Catch Can (1983) was a relative failure. The first single from the album, "Love Blonde", was another success in France and Scandinavia, but failed to have major success in other important markets. The failure of the album led her to her leaving RAK and sign with MCA Records in the summer of 1984.
The MCA years
Her first MCA album Teases & Dares was again relatively overlooked in her home country, but fared better in Germany, France and Scandinavia as well as scoring another German Top 10 single with "The Second Time". The video for this song appeared in an episode of the 1980s TV hit Knight rider in 1985. [6]. The second single, "The Touch" wasn't a big success, but the third single, the rockabilly "Rage to Love" finally hit again the UK Top 20 in 1985.
All of Wilde's songs up to this point, including all her major hits, had been written by her father Marty and brother, Ricki Wilde. On "Teases & Dares", she began contributing herself to the writing, penning two songs on her own. ´
Meanwhile, Wilde had embarked on three European concert tours (1983, 85 & 86). At this time she had much more records success on the European continent than in her native UK.
On her fifth album, 1986's Another Step, Wilde wrote or co-wrote most of the songs. The album's lead single "Schoolgirl" flopped in Europe and Australia — but Wilde's fortunes improved in spectacular fashion with the album's second single, a remake of The Supremes classic "You Keep Me Hangin' On". After topping the charts in Australia and Canada and peaking at number two in the UK, it became a U.S. number one single in 1987. With that hit, she became the fifth U.K. solo female artist to ever top the U.S. Hot 100, following Petula Clark, Lulu, Sheena Easton, and Bonnie Tyler.
Wilde later admitted to "not knowing the song terribly well" beforehand: "Basically we just went into the studio with a lot of energy and not a lot of reverence. We changed quite a lot of the song and I think that's why it was so successful. It was a very spontaneous idea."
Her popularity, especially in her native UK, was back at the top and she scored further Top 10 hits in 1987 with "Another Step (Closer to You)" (recorded with Junior) and "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" (a charity single, recorded with comedian Mel Smith). Unfortunately the success of all the singles didn't help the album Another Step to climb up the charts.
In 1988, Wilde released her biggest selling album to date, Close, which spent almost eight months on the UK album chart and increased her popularity all over Europe. It produced four major European hits: "Hey Mr.Heartache", "You Came", "Never Trust a Stranger" and "Four Letter Word", (the last 3 were Top 10 hits in the UK). The release of the album coincided with a tour of Europe, where she was the opening act for Michael Jackson during his Bad tour. Although she only met Jackson once to pose for a promotion photo, the opportunity to tour with the biggest pop star of the era had a positive impact on her career.
Wilde released the follow-up album Love Moves in 1990. The album attempted to capitalize on the success of Close, but although it was a Top 10 success in Scandinavian countries, it failed to sell as strongly as its predecessor and only spawned two minor hits, "It's Here" a Top 20 success in Middle and Northern Europe as well as "Can't Get Enough (Of Your Love), her last Top 20 hit in France. She toured Europe again, this time opening for fellow Briton David Bowie.
A collaboration with Rick Nowels, songwriter for Belinda Carlisle, resulted in the guitar-driven pop of the single "Love Is Holy" and the album Love Is (1992). The albums success was again limited to a small number of countries, though the first single became another Top 20 hit in the UK. In 1993, she released her first official compilation album "The Singles Collection 1981-93", which was a success throughout Europe and Australia and the dancefloor-influenced single "If I Can't Have You" (a cover of the Yvonne Elliman (Bee Gees written) song from the film Saturday Night Fever), became her last UK Top 20 Hit as well as a number 3 in Australia.
Wilde embarked on a huge "Greatest Hits" concert tour through Europe in 1994 and also toured Australia and Japan for the first time in six years.
Her next album "Now & Forever" (1995) was a commercial flop worldwide. From February 1996 to February 1997, Wilde appeared in London's West End production of the musical, Tommy.
After this, Kim started recording a new album. Subsequently there were problems and downsizing at Universal, who had by then swallowed up MCA Records, and legal problems concerning the songs. Originally slated for release in 1998, Kim turned her attention toward her private life, and the album was never released.
Stuff she’s done, ie: movies, tv, albums:
Dudes she has worked with:
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