Rock
Interview: British rock 'n' roll pioneer Marty Wilde on his new LP, plans for a Bruno Mars duet and what the future holds for him and daughter Kim Wilde
British rock 'n' roll icon Marty Wilde spoke to Contact Music about his new album Let's Rock This Place, his life with his pop icon daughter Kim Wilde, his plans for a collaboration with Bruno Mars and why he intends to rock until he drops.
Marty Wilde has been shaping the sound and spirit of British rock 'n' roll for seven decades.
One of Britain's original teen idols, he broke through in the late 1950s as rock 'n' roll first took hold on this side of the Atlantic, scoring a string of hits including Endless Sleep, Sea of Love and A Teenager in Love. Alongside contemporaries Sir Cliff Richard, Billy Fury and Joe Brown, Marty helped define a distinctly British take on the American-born genre, bringing swagger, charm and a homegrown edge to a generation hungry for something new.
While his chart success made him a household name, Wilde’s influence has stretched far beyond his own recordings. A gifted songwriter and astute musical mind, he played a central role in shaping the career of his daughter Kim Wilde, one of the biggest pop stars of the 1980s. Working closely with his son Ricky Wilde, Marty co-wrote many of Kim’s early hits, including Chequered Love and You Came, and was instrumental in crafting the sound and identity that powered her rise to fame. At the heart of it all was her breakthrough smash Kids in America, a defining pop anthem that captured the energy of a new decade and was a hit in 1981 all over the globe.
Ricky Wilde, a successful artist in his own right, has continued to collaborate with Kim across her career, ensuring the Wilde family name remains woven into the fabric of British pop. That musical lineage now extends to a new generation with Harry Fowler - Marty’s grandson and Kim’s son - making waves as the guitarist in British rock band Wunderhorse.
From pioneering rock 'n' roll in the 1950s to helping soundtrack the 1980s and beyond, Marty Wilde’s legacy is one of constant reinvention and enduring influence and he has just released his latest album Let’s Rock This Place and, at the age of 87, he is still touring and showing no signs of stepping away from the microphone.
Contact Music's Philip Hamilton spoke with Marty about his decision to return to his rock 'n' roll roots on his new LP, being a pioneer of British rock 'n' roll, his dream to collaborate with pop megastar Bruno Mars, how Michael Bublé snubbed him, why he doesn't think he and Kim will ever make music together again and whether he plans to retire or just keep on rocking.
What was it like being at the forefront of the rock ‘n’ roll revolution in the 1950s?
It was the beginning of youth culture. It was phenomenal. I can’t put over loud enough what a great, great feeling it was.
Mum and Dad would tuck me in most Sunday nights when I was eight or nine, because I had school the next day, and I would lay in bed and they would put the radio on and it was a Palm Court Orchestra playing all these dreary old Victoria waltzes and things. They were melodic and lovely but they didn’t mean anything to me, so I used to fall asleep to these things. In the end, to try and get over this feeling, I used to imagine all the people dancing in their big dresses and furs and the men in their bow ties and that was the only I could get through it.
“But then it started to change and commercial radio started coming in via the ships and we started to get Radio Luxemburg and it started to change. Then I learned to play the guitar, I was lucky because I was only about 11 when I started to play it. Rock ‘n’ roll came in when I was 15 and I could already play chords and that helped me. I loved the beat and the music. We had Lonnie Donegan first of all with his skiffle, doing black folk songs, he was a great artist and a big inspiration, but his image wasn’t. His image was okay but he was no Elvis.
I can remember when rock ‘n’ roll first hit me like a ton of bricks I watched a film called Blackboard Jungle and Rock Around The Clock by Bill Haley was the commercial song that was added to it. The first time I heard it in the cinema on big speakers I could hear properly, it wasn’t like the radio with a six-inch speaker, suddenly it was like bam, bam, bam, pow! I walked out of that cinema like I was walking on air. I got the bus home and I thought, ‘That is it, no more skiffle.’ I had a band and I knew we were going to be playing rock ‘n’ roll. It never leaves you that feeling. It probably still happens with people who listen to music today, that feeling will never leave them.
But that rock ‘n’ roll was the big change. For us children after the Second World War this was a whole new thing.
And what impact did Elvis Presley have on you?
Well, the album that tore me to pieces, still does, it’s still my favourite album of all time, is Elvis Presley, his first album. I’ve still got it, and it still faces me every day, the original copy. His voice it just hit me like a being hit on the back of the head with a hammer. It was the track That’s All Right, I was just blown away. Every other track was a masterpiece, a song like Tryin' to Get to You got me so deep. It was an unbelievable experience. It wasn’t just me getting hit here, it was people like Cliff (Richard), like Billy (Fury), and we got up there ourselves.
Have you tried to channel that same feeling on Let's Rock This Place?
The spirit of rock ‘n’ roll was in those original tracks and that’s what I’ve tried to get on this album. There are three tracks on my album that I’m really proud of. They are Let’s Rock This Place and I like the Sting track I’ve covered Can’t Stand Losing You and I like the last track Words Fell Down which is one of Kim’s tracks and we re-did it because I felt I could put my own slant on it, like, I’ll do it this way. So I did.
Do you still speak with Cliff and people like Joe Brown?
Well, most of them are gone now. And a lot of them are not working, which is natural. Age catches up with you, it catches up with you all the time. I mean, Joe Brown is a good buddy of mine, but we’ve had age catch up with us. I don’t see much of the other guys, there’s no one to see. It’s lonely, in a way. I realise that I’m in the last few years of my work.
I’m lucky to be able to adapt a bit. I can’t so the things I used to do with my voice, that’s impossible, but it’s a different sound for me. On this album I’m not trying to imitate Elvis Presley, but the influence is there. It doesn’t sound like Elvis, it’s my own sound.
You were just a young man in your 20s when you and your wife Joyce had your daughter Kim, what was it like being one of Britain's biggest pop stars and a father?
Well, you miss out on time with your family. It’s like that in the music industry, it’s an easy rut to get into. It was like that with Kim and Ricky, I was quite immature, really, as a guy. We were very young, my wife and I. But what made up for it in the end was being young with your children. That’s where the bonus is, as they grow up you're around. There was a good side to it.
Initially, the first three years, I was always fairly busy. Although in the end when the kids got older they could come out with us, we could take them with us. We took them on lots of travels – Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, around Europe. So we made up for it in that way.
Marty and his wife Joyce and a baby Kim Wilde in January 1961 / Credit: AVALON
What was your own childhood like?
I was very spoilt, looking back on it, I was the only child. My mum couldn’t have any more children because she had a weak heart. In those days they didn’t want her to have another child.
I was into my books. If I get a book I don’t want anyone to dirty it, they’ve got to keep it spotless like I’ve kept it. It’s a stupid thing!
I think that’s part of being a single child and spending hours on my own. The only good thing about being an only child is that it does make you think a lot when you’re on your own, you’ve got to work things out for yourself. In the end it was good for me because I had music. It became the biggest influence in my life.
When you say biggest influence in your life, what do you mean exactly?
Music is basically my religion. I don’t have a religion so I’ll pick music as mine. It just fills me up every day, every second and every minute. I’ve always got my guitar. I’m always writing and I’m always listening to music and trying to be a better writer.
When you say you’re always writing and playing music can I assume it wasn’t too difficult to come up with this new album?
In some ways no. It was a dream come true. The album happened in a strange way. I have been recording for years in a studio with a click track. It was dead easy when you had to put the vocals down, you could do loads of doo-wops or whatever and you could fit them in anywhere in that track. You just record it once and then you don’t have to do it again. It was dead easy but it became a bit soulless. I said to my wife one day, ‘I’m getting really tired and frustrated, I don’t want to do this much more, like this. It’s just not me.’ She said. ‘Why don’t you sing some rock ‘n’ roll?’ I said, ‘Rock ‘n’ roll? Oh, I couldn’t bear that. I’m not going to go back singing Blue Suede Shoes and all of the old tracks.’ I didn’t want to that way, I wanted something fresh.
How did you end up working with Darrel Higham on the album?
I thought of Darrel because he’s been a fan of mine for a while, it’s not facetious to say that because he has been a big fan. He’s much younger than me, obviously. So, Darrel used to come to some of my shows and I knew that the work that he was doing was fantastic. He was working with great people and you can’t work with great people unless you’ve got a great output. I thought, ‘Well, it might be an idea if we got together.’ Then I formulated what I wanted to do which had been in my heart for years. That was to have the buzz of rock ‘n’ roll, the spirit of rock ‘n’ roll but use modern instrumentation and modern writers. Take some great writers’ songs and give it the rockabilly makeover and give it something completely different. That’s exactly the same as how rock ‘n’ roll began. Rock ‘n’ roll was a mixture of country music and blues and the two fused together and created something new. That crossover goes on all the time in pop music. I knew I was onto something. The album was a joy to do.
With this album finished are you thinking about the next record already?
I’m writing all the time. I’m writing new songs for the next album which I want to do with Darrel.
Do you still write for other artists? Because you did in the past…
If I could get to Bruno Mars, who is really big, he has a very good voice. I would love to do one track with Bruno. I would love to do a rock ‘n’ roll track with him. I could come up with a melody line and get him to do it. Because he’s Bruno Mars it would be a totally fresh sound.
I did pitch a song for Michael Bublé. I sent him a song about four years ago. I sent it to his company which I felt he would’ve smashed. It would have been a standout track in his act, it may not have been the number one best song he’s ever done, but a standout. It was a song I’d written called Running Together - I had recorded it, that was just me singing it. Back came the reply and not in too many words either, that they couldn’t do it. They were too busy.
What actually happens is you have about four writers who get one hit and then they think, Christ we’ve got £50,000 come in one morning just for a few plays, so they don’t want to let it go. They’ll be trying to hang on for dear life. He’ll have a group of people around him and you can’t get in there, it’s like a tank, you can’t get in the circle. They’re surrounded by all these writers.
I once saw at the Ivor Novello Awards, and I won’t say who, but it was a girl singer. She was a good singer, she wasn’t a brilliant, she’d had a couple of hits, and when it come to giving out the award seven people stood up to receive their statuettes. That is crazy. That’s what goes on, you get one whole team and they’re all making money, and you can’t get in there. They’ll hover. I can understand that, but we didn’t do that with Kim. If we sound a better song then we would do it. We had a number one with You Keep Me Hanging On. Holland, Dozier and Holland sent us a telegram to say thanks for making a great version of our song and getting us back to another number one.
When it comes to modern artists who else do you listen to? Do you like Taylor Swift?
I think Taylor Swift will be judged on her music, more than on her singing. I’m not mad on her voice. Her voice is alright. But for the kids she is a package, she is an image, and she has songs that relate to young people. I can understand that completely. You can see how much it means to people.
Some of her tracks are very commercial. She’s a commercial writer and she hits little original patches. She’s okay.
In America they’ve had this spate of all these girls all singing very high, they all sound basically the same. Although now and again you’re going to hear one and think ‘well that’s a fabulous voice’. But you’ve got no Eartha Kitt – she was out on her own.
Working with Kim and your son Ricky and getting her on Top of the Pops must be a wonderful time in your life and career?
Top of the Pops was okay as long as they were doing original vocals. Not a lot of them were. Eventually they started to get back to that. If you make a mistake or it’s not quite the right tempo who cares? It’s live and it’s art.
With Kim they would keep the backing but take the vocal off and Kim would sing live and I loved that.
Do you think you and Kim will record together again? Perhaps a final song?
I don’t know if that will come up. Over the last few years I’ve asked her to do odd things, like will you put a backing vocal on this, to keep it in the family.
Her career is going off in another sort of tangent. It’s different to the way it was originally and it has to be. When you’re in our industry you have to keep changing all the time, to a certain extent. I would only hold her up, I’d be getting in the way and I never ever wanted to do that. I always tried to keep Kim’s career very separate to mine.
She’s having a third act. I went to see her at The O2, which was a fabulous night.
Marty with his daughter Kim who dominated the charts in the '80s / Credit: FAMOUS
And your grandson, Kim’s son, is in Wunderhorse...
Yes, her son plays in Wunderhorse. So it’s still running in the family. It’s nice to know that I had some part in that. We’re a very musical family. We are a musical bunch.
Ricky has always been a wonderful musician, very natural. He had melody ideas all the time and the right touch. He got great synth sounds. He did the great synth sounds on You Keep Me Hanging On. That’s a beautiful layered track. And You Came which Kim and Ricky wrote together was a great track, I always loved that song.
Have you been to watch Wunderhorse?
Yes I’ve seen two of their shows. They’ve got far more energy than I’ve got!
Do you ever contemplate retiring?
Well, I’m 87, but I don’t see myself as old other than when I get back ache, I just see myself as a guy who loves music. But now and again it hits you.
When I’m on stage I used to do a Biden thing as I walked across the stage. It would always get a laugh. So I’d be getting a rise out of Biden at the peak of his presidency and I’d be laughing and the audience would be laughing. That was until they did a video of me and I watched myself and I was walking just like Biden was! I’ve accepted I’m an elderly gentleman these days.
I feel it when I’m trying to play golf. Or I have trouble walking sometimes because of damn arthritis. With arthritis you have to keep going.
But really I don't feel old at all.
Although I do remember I went to one of the great big shopping precincts in Welwyn Garden City (a shopping centre in Hertfordshire) and as I was walking up to the back entrance there were these steps and there was a young couple, a young man and a young woman, and I was walking behind them. As I came behind them the young man stood back and opened the door for me, it dawned on me. I got home and looked in the mirror and thought, ‘Oh, right.’
But you’ve got to laugh at yourself, you can’t be too serious.
I think you should rock until you drop Marty...
I do have to. I have to try. I can’t stop music. I can’t. I’ll have periods sometimes when I get down on in the dumps and I don’t want to touch a guitar and only listen to the odd bit of music, maybe two weeks or three weeks. But then it comes flooding back. Something will start it off. It could be a classical piece or it could be something from our past.
You can listen to Let's Rock This Place HERE and get information and tickets for Marty Wilde's 2026 tour HERE
MARTY WILDE 2026 TOUR DATES:
07 APR The Crooked Billet, Henley-on-Thames
08 APR The Crooked Billet, Henley-on-Thames
18 APR Epstein Theatre, Liverpool
16 MAY Princess Theatre, Hunstanton
11 JUN The Tivoli, Wimborne
12 JUN Riverhead Theatre, Louth
11 JUL Ballroom, Blackpool Tower
19 JUL Theatre Severn, Shrewsbury
4 SEP City Varieties Music Hall, Leeds
5 SEP Witham Public Hall, Witham
12 SEP West Cliff Theatre, Clacton-on-Sea
19 SEP The Exchange, Sturminster Newton
20 SEP Chequer Mead Theatre, East Grinstead
26 SEP St George’s Theatre, Great Yarmouth
