Mel and Kim - WikiHQ

Mel and Kim (stylized as MӗL & KIM) was an English pop duo, consisting of sisters Melanie and Kim Appleby. Originally managed by Alan Whitehead, they achieved success between 1986 and 1988, before Melanie died of cancer in January 1990 at the age of 23.

The duo reached number one in the UK Singles Chart with their 1987 single "Respectable",

"I remember we were shocked that these were the guys who produced the Princess track "Say I'm Your Number One" because we were expecting someone like Quincy Jones," Kim said of her first meeting with the production team. "We were convinced that they had some young groovy guy who was doing all the work, and they were just fronting it." "The follow up was genius," recalled Kim "It started to go global; 'Respectable' just took it to another level." a form of cancer, on her liver. By January 1987, Mel was experiencing back problems, delaying the filming of the "Respectable" music video. During a promotional visit to Japan in June 1987, Mel's back pain worsened, rendering her unable to perform, A recurrence of the cancer was detected in Mel's spine after undergoing tests at Barts.

Footage from their Montreux Festival performance was used to compile the "F.L.M." music video, with the sisters mainly represented by a pair of lookalike marionettes. While the media speculated that Mel was being treated for cancer, both sisters categorically denied this, stating that Mel had suffered a debilitating back injury.

Kim later confessed she was "devastated" by the widely-panned "F.L.M." video, having not been consulted on its contents, and only seeing it for the first time when it was aired on TV. The singer, who said that her sister Mel was equally dissatisfied with the clip, added that she would have preferred that no video was released at all. The B-side, "You Changed My Life", was composed by the sisters during Mel's treatment and was submitted to the producers as a potential single. Work on a second album produced by Stock Aitken Waterman was not continued, due to Mel's illness. Both sisters appeared on the Wogan show in April 1988 while Mel was still undergoing treatment, as part of European Cancer Week. Later in late summer 1988, after Mel had finished chemotherapy, the duo appeared on Good Morning Britain to promote the need for teenage cancer wards in British hospitals.

thumb|Grave of Melanie Appleby

The sisters then again withdrew from publicity while writing songs for a second album; several of these songs later appeared on Kim's debut solo album. In a TV interview with Trisha Goddard in 2005, Kim revealed that she knew Mel's illness was terminal in mid-1989.

After Mel and Kim

With the aid of her then-boyfriend, ex-Bros bassist Craig Logan, Kim launched a solo career with much of her debut solo album composed of songs co-written with Mel, for what had been intended to be the next "Mel and Kim" album. The album, Kim Appleby, contained her debut solo single "Don't Worry", which reached number two on the British charts in November 1990. A follow-up single "G.L.A.D" was also a UK Top 10 hit. Subsequent singles from her debut album were "Mama" [No. 19] and "If You Cared" [No. 44].

Kim's second album, Breakaway, was not a commercial success and had a limited release. She released three further singles: "Light of the World" [No. 41, 1993], "Breakaway" [No. 56, 1993], and "Free Spirit" [No. 51, 1994]. A download-only single called "High" was released in 2007.

In 2010, a deluxe double-disc edition of F.L.M. was released, which included extended bonus tracks as well as the single "That's The Way It Is" and various remixes of the original hits.

In October 2019, Cherry Red Records released a seven-disc Mel & Kim CD singles box set.

Discography

Studio albums

{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center;"

|+List of albums, with selected details, chart positions, and certifications

! scope="col" rowspan="2" style="width:8em;"| Title

! scope="col" rowspan="2"| Details

! scope="col" colspan="8"| Peak chart positions

! scope="col" rowspan="2"| Certifications

! scope="col" style="width:2.5em;font-size:90%;"| UK

! scope="col" style="width:2.5em;font-size:90%;"| NOR

! scope="col" style="width:2.5em;font-size:90%;"| NZ

! scope="col" style="width:2.5em;font-size:90%;"| SWI

! scope="row"| F.L.M.

Released: 13 April 1987
Label: Supreme

| 3 || 2 || 16 || 12 || 7 || 2 || 20 || 4

BPI: Platinum

! scope="col" style="width:2.5em;font-size:90%;"| AUS

! scope="col" style="width:2.5em;font-size:90%;"| BEL (FLA)

! scope="col" style="width:2.5em;font-size:90%;"| FRA

! scope="col" style="width:2.5em;font-size:90%;"| GER

! scope="col" style="width:2.5em;font-size:90%;"| IRE

! scope="col" style="width:2.5em;font-size:90%;"| NED

! scope="col" style="width:2.5em;font-size:90%;"| SWI

! scope="col" style="width:2.5em;font-size:90%;"| US

! scope="col" style="width:2.5em;font-size:90%;"| US Dance

! scope="row"| "Showing Out (Get Fresh at the Weekend)"

| 1986

| 3 || 12 || 1 || 18 || 1 || — || 1 || 8 || 1 || 78 || 1

BPI: Silver

| rowspan="4"| F.L.M.

! scope="row"| "Respectable"

| rowspan="3"| 1987

| 1 || 1 || 1 || 14 || 1 || 2 || 1 || 1 || 1 || — || 1

BPI: Gold