She scored a number of hits with her sister and later as a sKolo artist.

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Talented Kim Appleby is still gigging today and performed at Lets Rock 80s festival last week.

She was won half of Mel and Kim who were born in London’s Hackney and who sky rocketed to number one in the UK charts with their 1987 single Respectable.

It also charged to the top of the US dance charts.

They had three more UK Top 10 hits with Showing Out (Get Fresh at the Weekend), F.L.M. and That’s the Way It Is.

But there time together was tragically cut short when Kim lost her battle with cancer.

The lookalike sisters were inseparable and performed together non stop until Mel tragically passed away at the age of 23.

Mel was first diagnosed before their fame in 1985.

By 1987, during a tour in Japan she was struck with agonising back pain and returned to the UK in a wheelchair.

She was told her cancer had returned, and she tried to keep her terminal diagnosis out of the public eye.

The star passed away from pneumonia during her treatment in 1990 and was laid to rest in East Finchley Cemetry.

Kim recently explained why she has rarely spoken about her family tragedy.

She said: “I’m quite a private person and I don’t really crave the limelight.

“So it’s not important for me to keep the profile out there, I guess.”

She continued: “People ask ‘why the discs aren’t hanging on the walls?’

“It’s just not me, to be honest with you. For me, it’s my little secret.

“It’s Mel and I’s little thing… and I’d like to keep it as Mel and I’s little thing… my memories of what we did. I want to keep it close to her and I.”