Kim Wilde

Kim was born into a musical family. Her father is 1950s rock and roll star Marty Wilde, and her mother, Joyce Baker, also had a career as a professional singer with the group The Vernons Girls.

After finishing her schooling at the St. Albans College of Art & Design, Wilde was ready to begin her music career. In 1980, at the age of 20, Kim signed her first deal with RAK Records, which was a British record company, founded by producer Mickie Most in 1969.

Wilde did not have to wait long for her musical career to take off. Her debut album Kim Wilde, hit number one in Germany, and number three in the U. K., while two of the album's singles, "Kids in America" and "Chequered Love" would be major hits all across Europe.

Kim's follow-up album Select, would also sell over a million copies. The singles "Cambodia", and "View From A Bridge", gained Wilde two more solid European hits. Kim's last album at RAK Records would be Catch as Catch Can, and it gave Kim her fifth number one French single "Love Blonde".

Wilde signed with MCA Records in 1984. She would have limited success with the label until two years later when the album Another Step was released. This effort would spawn the smash single "You Keep Me Hanging On", a cover of the Supremes hit, and topped both the U. S. and Australian charts in 1986. Wilde's next album Close , proved to be her most popular album to date, selling over two million

copies, and Kim's popularity continued to increase when she opened for Michael Jackson on his Bad tour in 1988.

Between 1990 and 1995, Wilde released three more albums under the MCA label. Despite some success in a few European countries, Kim generally failed to recapture the magic of her earlier efforts.