Kim Wilde
United Kingdom, 1980–now
English singer (b. 1960, Kim Smith). 'Kids in America' (1981), written by her brother Ricky and her father Marty, put a bored suburban voice over a synthesizer riff and sold across Europe and America. She kept working through the decade, took twelve years off to be a landscape gardener with a television series about it, and came back.
MusicRoots documents 8 artists who influenced Kim Wilde and 0 artists Kim Wilde influenced in turn. Every connection cites a published source.
Who influenced Kim Wilde?
- Marty Wilde — Her father is the largest influence on her by her own account - the record collection in the house, and a childhood spent watching him work an audience, which is where her own stage manner comes from.
- Blondie — Blondie is first among the acts Wilde names - the model for a woman fronting a pop-punk record without softening it.
- David Bowie — Bowie is among her named influences - and had himself come up on the British rock and roll her father was making.
- Kate Bush — Kate Bush is among the British singers Wilde names.
- T. Rex — Marc Bolan is named among her influences; the glam single as a form is behind 'Kids in America'.
- Elton John — Elton John is among the names she gives.
- Thin Lizzy — Thin Lizzy is among the rock bands she names, against the synth-pop her brother was writing for her.
- Ultravox — Ultravox is among the synth-pop acts her brother Ricky, who wrote and produced her early records, was working from.