Kim goes wild for Majorca after recording session

She and her brother Ricky were so impressed with Palma’s set up they posted a message on Facebook.

And studio founder, musician and co-owner who has produced many of the world’s greatest artists during his career, Fredrik Thomander, said yesterday that he was over the moon with the message.

“This is not the first time I’ve worked with Kim, I produced a few of her songs over the past ten years but it is really special this time as she’s about to celebrate her 60th birthday and is bringing out her greatest hits to mark this milestone in her life and career."

“She came down for the best part of a week, we wrote a new single for the album and recorded a number of tracks. She’s amazing. Her voice is still just like it was when she was 19, she’s still got that great range and enthusiasm."

“Apart from the greatest hits album, she is also starting a major tour in Scandinavia in April and should be appearing across the United Kingdom after the summer - so she’s pretty full on which is great,” Fredrik said.

Kim first saw success in 1981 with her debut single Kids in America, which reached number two in the UK. In 1983, she received the Brit Award for Best British Female solo artist. In 1986, she had a UK number two hit with a reworked version of the Supremes’ song You Keep Me Hangin’ On, which also topped the US Billboard Hot 100 in 1987.

Between 1981 and 1996, she had 25 singles reach the Top 50 of the UK singles chart.
Her other hits include Chequered Love (1981), You Came (1988) and Never Trust a Stranger (1988). In 2003, she collaborated with Nena on the song Anyplace, Anywhere, Anytime, which topped the Dutch charts.

Worldwide, Kim, who has a European tour with Michael Jackson under her belt, has sold over 10 million albums and 20 million singles.

She holds the record for being the most-charted British female solo act of the 1980s, with seventeen UK Top 40 hit singles.

Starting in 1998, while still active in music, she has branched into an alternative career as a landscape gardener, which has included presenting gardening shows on the BBC and Channel 4.

In 2005, she won a Gold award for her courtyard garden at the Royal Horticultural Society’s Chelsea Flower Show and it was shortly after that she first came to Majorca. As the presenter of a gardening makeover programme, she came to the island with her TV crew to tackle the garden of a British couple in Cala Mayor.

She continues to be a keen gardener and is involved with a number of charities, but this year, she is preparing her new album and getting ready to go back on tour.

Fredrik, whose studio has gone from strength to strength since it opened in January, 2018, is looking forward to Kim returning as they continue working together while hosting a series of songwriters’ workshops and producing and collaborating with budding and leading artists who are coming to Palma from all over the world to work at the studio.