KIM WILDE

follow up single makes for one of the sexiest appearances on video dancing, our very own Debbie Harry 'Blondie' clone with the honeyed voice and sultry slutty appearance!

On this day in music history: June 6, 1987 - “You Keep Me Hangin’ On” by Kim Wilde hits #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for 1 week. Written by Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier and Eddie Holland, it is the biggest hit for the British pop/new wave singer. Born Kim Smith in the West London suburb of Chiswick in 1960, she is the eldest daughter of 50’s teen pop idol Marty Wilde. With both of her parents coming from a musical background, Kim becomes involved in music herself in her teens along with her younger brother Ricky. Adapting her famous father’s stage surname in 1980, Kim is signed to RAK Records by label founder Mickie Most (The Animals, Donovan, Herman’s Hermits, Hot Chocolate). Her debut single “Kids In America” written by her father and brother and released in early 1981, is a huge worldwide smash, even cracking the Top 30 (#25 Pop) on the Billboard Hot 100 in August of 1982. While Kim has major success in Europe and throughout the rest of the world, further American chart success proves elusive even after switching to MCA Records in 1984. For her fifth album “Another Step”, Kim again works with her brother as well as songwriter Rod Temperton and engineer Bruce Swedien also producing tracks for the project. While working with Ricky, they come up with the idea of recording a cover of The Supremes’ 1966 classic “You Keep Me Hangin’ On”. For their remake, it is made over with Hi-NRG synth pop arrangement. Released in the UK first in October of 1986, it peaks at #2 on the UK singles chart. Off of the back of its European chart success, MCA Records in the US releases it in March of 1987. Entering the Hot 100 at #96 on March 28, 1987, it climbs to the top of the chart ten weeks later, replacing U2’s “With Or Without You at the top. Wilde’s version of "You Keep Me Hangin’ On” becomes the sixth song of the rock era to top the US singles charts by two different artists. It is also the third time the song has reached the top ten by different artists, with versions The Supremes and Vanilla Fudge having proceeded it. While Wilde continues to be successful  throughout the world for the rest of the 80’s and into the early 90’s, she’ll only charts two more times on the Hot 100 with the singles “Say You Really Want Me” (#41 Pop) and “You Came” (#44 Pop), both stopping outside the Top 40. Still recording and performing today, Wilde is a currently a presenter on radio with programs on the air in London and in Germany.

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