My life through a lens

Stars tell the tales behind their favourite snaps.this week it’s singer Marty Wilde, 81, and his pop star daughter Kim, 59

1962 KIM: Dad’s closest famous friend, who we came to love, was Billy Fury, pictured here on the right (that’s Joe Brown on the other side of Dad). Billy would come to our home with his glamorous girlfriend Lisa. He really liked wildlife and was a gentle soul and I used to love his soft Liverpool accent – he and my mum (also a Scouser) would rattle away together. Dad was usually working weekends, when everybody else’s dad was at home mowing the lawn, but otherwise home life was very normal, there were no all-night parties, and famous friends didn’t visit very often, apart from Billy.

1989held MARTY: My 50th birthday party was at home in Hertfordshire and was one of those wonderful nights where everyone sang. In this picture Joyce is on my right, and on my left Kim, Ricky and his son Mason, who is now 23. Elaine Paige, Tim Rice and lots of other songwriters were there. Tim and I belong to SODS, which stands for Society of Distinguished Songwriters. He loves rock’n’roll and once sang Teddy Bear with Kim and me doing all the doo-wahs behind him!

1966

MARTY: This was taken in the back garden of our house in Kidbrooke in south London. Kim was five then and our son Ricky was four. By this time I was more of a family man than a pop star, and when I was touring Joyce and the children used to come too so we didn’t miss each other too much.

Growing up with a famous dad, you don’t know any better, until you go to school and the other kids’ mums would blush every time he turned up for the school play!

1996 MARTY: Kim’s wedding was a lovely sunny day. She married actor Hal Fowler, who was in the cast of Tommy with her. Here I’m accompanying her in a carriage to the church in Codicote, near where we live. Kim and Hal have two musical children – Harry’s a guitarist and Rose is a singer. I have nine grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. After we had Kim and Ricky, Joyce tragically lost a number of children, but, in the end, we were fortunate to have another girl and boy, Roxanne and Marty 2. Ricky’s boy is Marty 3 and now we’ve got Marty 4 – a little tot who belongs to Marty 3!

1959 MARTY: I met my wife Joyce at rehearsals for the Oh Boy! TV show. She was in the singing group The Vernons

Girls and I thought, ‘Wow.’ Many moons later, she told me she’d been one of the fans screaming at one of my shows at the Liverpool Empire. We love Chinese food and this is our wedding reception at Lotus House restaurant in Edgware Road.

1956 MARTY:

Here I am at 16. I was working as an office messenger boy and in my first skiffle band, The Hound Dogs. I went to see the film Blackboard Jungle, which had Bill Haley’s Rock Around The Clock in it. The next day I said to the boys in the band, “No more skiffle, we’re doing rock’n’roll.” I was born Reg Smith, but Tommy Steele’s manager signed me and chose the name Marty Wilde for me.

1982 MARTY: My song Kids In America started Kim’s career and this photo of us was taken on her first tour, before her first show. She was nervous, but they loved her and she became a star. I’ll never forget seeing the video on Top Of The Pops, I’d never seen her made up like that – she was a new person! KIM: I’d watched Dad performing from a very early age from side of stage. When it was time for me to be centre stage Dad gave me great advice. He told me not to change my hits as people loved them just the way they were.

2017 MARTY: Getting the MBE for services to music was a great honour. I took Joyce, Roxanne and Kim who wore fascinators, which I call exciters, and they loved dressing up. KIM: Growing up, the Queen and Elvis were like Jesus and Mary in our house. We arrived not knowing if the Queen would be doing the honours, but when a young usher gave us the nod that she was there, we became quite emotional. It made all the difference that our Queen pinned the MBE on Dad’s lapel that day.

KIM: