Chart entered : 21 February 1981
Chart peak : 2
Number of hits : 30
Kim's by no means the most talented artist to appear here but 30 hits over 15 years is an impressive performance by anyone's standards. Kim is the last new act from the RAK stable to appear here as Johnny Hates Jazz don't make the cut.
Having failed abysmally to launch his son Ricky as a pop star ( see the Goodbye Marty Wilde post for details ) in the mid-70s , Marty Wilde was in no rush to repeat the experience with his daughter Kim ( born 1960 ). He lay low during punk while Kim finished her course at St Alban's College of Art and Design. Ricky meanwhile was working as a producer for Mickie Most at RAK. When Kim came in to record some backing vocals Mickie Most spotted her star potential and the game was on again.
This first single exceeded all expectations. Written by Marty and Ricky and produced by the latter . It's a wonderfully frothy, radio-friendly synth-pop number from the tension-building one finger synth intro to the ominous inexorable chant at the fade. Lyrically it's a teen-focused update of Downtown with the "California / warn ya " rhyme brazenly filched from It Never Rains In Southern California . Most repeats the old Suzi Quatro trick of backing her up with a slightly yobby male chorus. Although she appeared in the video and on Top of the Pops with young musicians ( including Most's so Calvin Hayes on drums ) the players on the actual record were members of hoary old festival rockers , The Enid . Although able to hold a tune better than Ricky - which isn't saying much - Kim's an average singer at best but her snotty-brat insouciance was just right for a song celebrating youth. That and her drop dead gorgeous looks propelled the song almost to the top.
Kim's not to my tastes looks-wise but the song is sound enough. I only know of the Enid from being mentioned in Mick Middle's Factory Records book as an example of the kind of prog horror that was prevalent in Manchester pre-punk.
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