#32: Love Blonde by Kim Wilde

City: Montreal, PQ
Radio Station: CFMB
Peak Month: September 1983
Peak Position in Montreal ~ #1
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “Love Blonde”
Lyrics: “Love Bonde”

Kim Wilde was born in 1960 with the birth name Kim Smith. Her father, Reginald Smith, was a pop singer who took the stage name Marty Wilde. Kim Wilde’s first professional singing credit was as a backup singer to her brother Ricky Wilde’s 1972 song “I Am an Astronaut.” In 1981, at the age of 21 Kim Wilde became an international star with her hit single “Kids in America”. It topped the pop charts in Finland and South Africa, reached #2 in Ireland, Sweden and the UK, and the Top Ten in Australia, Belgium, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Switzerland, and West Germany. Later in 1981, “Chequered Love” topped the pop chart in South Africa, reached #2 in Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland and West Germany, and was also a Top Ten hit in Australia, Ireland, Sweden and the UK.

In the winter of 1981-82, Wilde had a third huge international hit single with “Cambodia”. It topped the pop charts in France, Sweden and Switzerland, reached #2 in Belgium, the Netherlands, South Africa and West Germany, and the Top Ten in Australia, Austria, Finland, and Norway. Later in 1982, “View From a Bridge” was a Top Ten hit in eight nations. She continued to get strong sales in 1983 with “Love Blonde”.

“Love Blonde” was cowritten by younger brother Ricky Wilde, and Kim Wilde’s father Marty Wilde. “Love Blonde” is a song about a woman with sex appeal who has “sensuality for love.” She knows how to flash her eyes and get guys to notice her lips when she smiles. When she’s in the sack with a guy, he’d better “hold on tight.” As someone who’s in charge, she’s accustomed to cutting guys loose. From the lyrics we can infer she just moves on to her next conquest.

“Love Blonde” climbed to #1 in Montreal. Internationally, the single reached #3 in Finland, #7 in Belgium and Sweden, #10 in the Netherlands, #11 in Switzerland, #12 in Luxembourg, and the Top 30 in Ireland, the UK and West Germany.

However, subsequent single releases from the album Catch as Catch Can and Teases & Dares met with less success.

In 1986, Kim Wilde released her studio album Another Step. From the album came her cover of the 1966 Supremes chart topper, “You Keep Me Hangin’ On”. Wilde’s successful cover topped the pop charts in Australia, Canada, Norway, and the Billboard Hot 100 in America. The single also cracked the Top Ten in Denmark, France, Ireland, Portugal, Switzerland, the UK and West Germany. In the winter of 1987, her cover of the Brenda Lee holiday favorite, “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree”, became a hit single in Denmark, Ireland, Norway, Sweden and the UK.

In 1988, Kim Wilde released her sixth studio album, Close. The debut single was “You Came”.

Kim Wilde (1988)

In 2006, a re-mix of “You Came” was released and charted in the Top 40 in eight nations across Europe.

A second track from the album Close, “Never Trust A Stranger”, was a Top Ten hit in eight nations and reached the Top 20 in three more. Record sales tampered off into the early 1990s. However, Kim Wilde recorded a cover of the 1977 Yvonne Eliman chart-topper “If I Can’t Have You”. Wilde’s version in 1993 was a Top Ten hit in Australia, Belgium and Ireland. It also had strong sales in Iceland, Italy, the Netherlands, Switzerland and the UK. Her last noteworthy hit single was in 2003 with an English-language cover of a 1984 German single by Nena. Kim Wilde’s 2003 song “Anyplace, Anywhere, Anytime” topped the pop charts in Austria and the Netherlands, reached #2 in Belgium, #3 in Germany, #9 in Switzerland, and also sold well in Denmark and Hungary.

In 2021, Wilde joined Ireland’s Classic Hits Radio, presenting The Kim Wilde 80’s Show which airs in the evenings, four days a week. Wilde’s fifteenth studio album, Closer, was released in January 2025.

Over the years, Kim Wilde has received seven nominations at the Billboard Music Awards. She has also received four British Female Solo Artist nominations at the Brit Awards, winning in 1983. She has also won Best Singer awards in both West Germany and Sweden.

Separate from her music career, Wilde has written two books about gardening. The first, Gardening with Children, was released in 2005. Translations of the book were released at the same time in Spain, France, Denmark and the Netherlands, and later in Germany. Her second book, The First-Time Gardener, was released in 2006. In 2019, Cadbury featured Wilde in one of their 30 second TV commercials for their Darkmilk chocolate bar campaign, set in a horticultural setting. In 2021, Marcel Rijs published a biography of Kim Wilde titled Kim Wilde: Pop Don’t Stop. On Kim Wilde’s website, she has tours scheduled in Europe into 2026.

September 19, 2026
Ray McGinnis

References:
Peter Jones, “Kim Wilde taking different route to top: Word-of-mouth, Personal Promotions, Not Live Shows build sales,” Billboard, September 19, 1981.
“Former pop star and ‘Better Gardens’ presenter Kim Wilde is photographed in the grounds of Capel Manor,” OK!, May 26, 2000.
Daniel Selwood, “Cadbury enlists Kim Wilde and Jason Donovan for Darkmilk ads,” The Grocer, April 18, 2019.
Marcel Rijs, Kim Wilde: Pop Don’t Stop (This Day in Music Books, 2021).

CFMB 1410-AM Montreal (PQ) | September 15, 1983