Original Pop Icon Marty Wilde Celebrates 85th Birthday With New Single, EP & Mammoth Live UK Tour. Exactly 65 years since he first topped the pop charts, Marty Wilde releases new music for his 85th Birthday, alongside a 20-Date Greatest Hits UK Tour…
A national treasure, and recently celebrated by the Official Chart Company as the first ever artist to have had chart success over 8-decades, the original pop-icon and heart-throb, Marty Wilde*, announces the release of his new single ‘Two Eyes Streaming’ on 19 April, as he celebrates his 85th birthday in that very same week. Marty releases this single from his new EP of the same name ‘Two Eyes Streaming; the EP is released simultaneously on the same day. Marty will also be hitting the road for a string of 20 live dates in his Greatest Hits Tour 2024, including a special homecoming gig, as the boy from Blackheath returns to The Blackheath Halls, for one night only.
“What a career I’ve had,” smiles Marty, “Bounding into those early UK pop charts when I was just a kid at the age of 19, with chart toppers such as ‘Sea of Love’, ‘Teenager In Love’ and ‘Bad Boy’, who’d have known that I’d still be here making music and touring 65 years on. It’s been an incredible journey, especially as I’ve had my wonderful wife Joyce alongside me, and of course the success my kids Kim and Ricky had in the industry too, as well as my youngest daughter, Roxanne, who also has her own music career. It feels as if we’re the Waltons of music – and it’s amazing. “
Two Eyes Streaming EP
The EP is Marty’s love letter to the world, touching on poignant moments of love across his 85 years. A divine, gentle down-tempo ballad, the single, ‘Two Eyes Streaming’, showcases Marty Wilde’s distinct vocals, that fast became the trade mark of his success, and paints the emotion of love from the perspective of a young 5-year-old Marty, who’s missing his dad.
Other moments of love across the EP include ‘Elvis’ – Marty’s heartfelt tribute to the star he desperately misses, and live versions of ‘Danny’, the omitted King Creole track from Elvis and ‘Running Together’, the family song Marty recorded with his daughters Kim & Roxy Wilde, and released during lockdown.
“My 85th year, so it was important to me that this EP reflected back on my life – my poignant moments of love. The title track ‘Two Eyes Streaming’ is about memories of missing my dad when he had to go away, when I was a nipper. When I became a dad myself, I realised just how much my dad would have hated leaving the family too. That’s why I chose a personal family photo of me, mum and dad for the cover artwork,” says Marty. “It’s a sad emotion, but it comes from a place of extreme love. That’s what I wanted everyone to feel when they hear this song.”
Young Kim is serenaded by dad Marty at home (photo credit Marty Wilde)
From his teen heart-throb chart days of the 50s and 60s, and his song-writing success for the likes of Status Quo, Lulu, Snowpatrol, Hot Chocolate and Tom Jones, right through to his pennings for Brit Award-winning daughter, Kim Wilde throughout the 80s, and his own chart success as his ‘Dreamboats & Petticoats Presents: The Very Best of Marty Wilde’ shot to No7 in the UK album chart in 2019 – Marty Wilde has proven that he’s a stalwart within the industry.
Marty has remained strong from the start of the teen pop revolution, right through to the present day. The release of his latest album ‘Running Together’ in 2020 took him into a new decade and scooped him the record-breaking crown** of officially becoming the first of his pop peers to have chart success across 8 decades.
MARTY WILDE TOUR UK 2024
The new EP ‘Two Eyes Streaming’ is released on the same day