KIM WILDE - SURPRISE SUCCESS!! - September 10th, 2015 1980s UK Pop Icon, Kim Wilde, burst onto the music scene with her debut single, "Kids In America", in 1981, which reached No.2 in the UK Charts. Dubbed as "A British Debbie Harry", with her sultry looks and known for rarely smiling during photo shoots, combined with her big bleached blonde hair and distinct dark roots, I remember boys instantly fancied her and girls wanted to imitate her (especially the hair).
Kim had 25 hit singles throughout the 80s and 90s. Her second biggest hit, peaking at No.2 in the UK charts and No.1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the U.S, was her cover of The Supremes - "You Keep Me Hangin' On" in 1986. This was when I really became a big fan of Kim's music. As a kid I loved this song and Kim looked amazing when she performed it on Top Of The Pops. Diana Ross has gone on record as saying that she prefers Kim's version to The Supremes.
The zenith of her career was in 1988 when she was asked by Michael Jackson to be the opening act on his Bad World Tour. To this day Kim is still unsure of why he singled her out for this unique opportunity. During the entire tour she only met him once!
By 1996 her music career was flagging so she branched out and appeared in London's West End musical, Tommy.
After the run had finished Kim did a complete 180 in her career and went to college to study horticulture, won Gold at The Chelsea Flower Show and became a landscape gardener! Much to the disappointment of her fans it seemed she'd put her music career behind her as her passion for gardening continued for the next 10 years but she shocked us all in 2006 by releasing her 10th album, Never Say Never. Kim has been recording and regularly touring ever since and now has her own radio show.
This was a surprise success as I'd written to the initial address listed on Fanmail.biz but had my LOR and photo returned to me with a message on my index card stating the address was not a fan mail address for Kim Wilde.
I then looked at both her websites to see if there was an address there. I was disappointed to see on http://www.wilde-life.com that it states, "Please note that we can't send out autographs or signed cards to you. We get between 30 and 100 requests of these every single month and it would simply be too timeconsuming and costly to honour all these requests."
I gave up after that until Fanmail.biz offered an alternative address which was her father's production company. I thought I'd give it a go and yesterday I received a response!
I'm so pleased I managed to get Kim's autograph as listening to her music takes me right back to being a kid again and to the 1980's (one of my favourite decades for music).
I sent 4 page A5 LOR, 1 A4 photo, 1 6"x4" index card, SASE.
Address: (Alternative taken from Fanmail.biz)
Kim Wilde
c/o Marty Wilde Productions Ltd,
Thatched Rest,
Queen Hoo Lane,
Tewin,
Hertfordshire
AL6 0LT
Sent: 29/07/2015
Received: 09/09/2015
Turnaround: 6 Weeks
Received: Personally autographed photo in my SASE.
KIM WILDE - FAILURE!! - July 25th, 2015 Sent LOR, 1 A4 photo, 6"x4" blank card, SASE.
Address: (taken from fanmail.biz)
Kim Wilde
Onside Management Limited,
(Talent Management Company),
8 Old Cross Wharf,
Hertford
SG14 1RU
Sent: 19/07/2015
Received: 24/07/2015
Received my unsigned photo, LOR and 6"x4" card in my SASE. On the card someone had written:
SORRY
NOT A FANMAIL ADDRESS FOR KIM WILDE!!
YOU ARE MISTAKEN
