| Kate Bush |
Kate Bush about to perform at Comic Relief 1986 |
| Background information |
| Birth name |
Catherine Bush |
| Born |
(1958-07-30) 30 July 1958 (age 53)
Bexleyheath, Southeast London, England |
| Genres |
Art rock,[1] progressive rock,[2] alternative rock[1], baroque pop |
| Occupations |
Musician, vocalist, songwriter, record producer |
| Instruments |
Vocals, piano, keyboards, bass guitar, guitar, violin |
| Years active |
1975–present |
| Labels |
EMI Records (1975–present)
Columbia Records (U.S.) (1989–2009)
Legacy Recordings (2010–present)
Fish People (division of EMI) 2011– |
| Website |
Official website |
| Notable instruments |
| Fairlight CMI |
Catherine "Kate" Bush (born 30 July 1958)[1] is an English singer-songwriter, musician and record producer. Her eclectic musical style and idiosyncratic vocal style have made her one of the United Kingdom's most successful solo female performers of the past 30 years.
In 1978, at the age of 19, Bush topped the UK Singles Chart for four weeks with her debut single "Wuthering Heights", becoming the first woman to have a UK number one with a self-written song.[3] She has since released ten albums, three of which topped the UK Albums Chart, and has had 25 UK Top 40 hit singles including the Top 10 hits "Wuthering Heights", "Running Up that Hill", "King of the Mountain", "Babooshka", "The Man with the Child in His Eyes", and "Don't Give Up".
In 1987, she won a Brit Award for Best British Female Solo Artist, and in 2002, her songwriting ability was recognised with an Ivor Novello Award for Outstanding Contribution to British Music. During the course of her career, she has also been nominated for three Grammy Awards. After her 1979 tour – the only concert tour of her career – Bush released the 1980 album Never for Ever, which made her the first British solo female artist to top the UK album charts and the first female artist ever to enter the album chart at Number 1.[4] She is also the first (and to date only) female artist to have Top 5 albums in the UK charts in 5 successive decades.
In May 2012, Bush's latest album, 50 Words for Snow, won the South Bank Arts Award [5]. The album was also nominated for an Ivor Novello Award and a Brit Award that same year.
Bush was born in Bexleyheath, Southeast London, to English physician Robert Bush and his Irish wife, Hannah Daly.[6] She was raised in their farmhouse in East Wickham with her older brothers, John and Paddy.[7] Bush came from an artistic background: her mother was a former Irish folk dancer, her father was an accomplished pianist, Paddy worked as a musical instrument maker and John was a poet and photographer. Both brothers were involved in the local folk music scene.[8]
John was a karateka at Goldsmiths College karate club and Kate also trained there, becoming known as "Ee-ee" because of her squeaky kiai. One of the instructors, Dave Hazard, later noted in his autobiography that her dance moves seemed to owe something to karate.[9]
Her family's musical influence inspired the young Kate to teach herself to play the piano at the age of 11. She also played the organ in a barn behind her parents' house and studied the violin.[10] She soon began writing her own tunes and eventually added lyrics to them.[11]
Bush attended St Joseph's Convent Grammar School (later the St Joseph's campus of Bexley College) and a Catholic girls' school on Woolwich Road in Abbey Wood, London, in the mid-1970s. During this time her family produced a demo tape with over 50 of her compositions, which was turned down by record labels. David Gilmour of Pink Floyd received the demo from Ricky Hopper, a mutual friend of Gilmour and the Bush family. Impressed with what he heard, Gilmour helped the sixteen-year-old Bush get a more professional-sounding demo tape recorded that would be more saleable to the record companies.[12] Three tracks in total were recorded and paid for by Gilmour. [13]The tape was produced by Gilmour's friend Andrew Powell, who would go on to produce Bush's first two albums,[11] and sound engineer Geoff Emerick.[14] The tape was sent to EMI executive Terry Slater.[15] Slater was impressed by the tape and signed her.[16] The British record industry was reaching a point of stagnation.[15] Progressive rock was very popular and visually oriented rock performers were growing in popularity, thus record labels looking for the next big thing were considering experimental acts.[15]
Bush was put on retainer for two years by Bob Mercer, managing director of EMI group-repertoire division. According to Mercer he felt Bush's material was good enough to be released but felt that if the album failed it would be demoralising and if it was successful Bush was too young to handle it.[17] For the first two years of her contract, Bush spent more time on school work than making an album. She left school after doing her mock A-levels and having gained ten GCE O-Level qualifications.[18] In 2005, Bush stated in an interview with Mark Radcliffe on BBC Radio 2 that she believed EMI signed her before she was ready to make an album so that no other record company could offer her a contract. After the contract signing, EMI forwarded her a sizeable advance which she used to enrol in interpretive dance classes taught by Lindsay Kemp, a former teacher of David Bowie,[19] and mime training with Adam Darius.[20]
Bush also wrote and made demos of close to 200 songs, a few of which today can be found on bootleg recordings and are known as the Phoenix Recordings.[21] From March to August 1977, she fronted the KT Bush Band at public houses around London – specifically at the Rose of Lee public house (now Dirty South) in Lewisham. The other three band members were Del Palmer (bass), Brian Bath (guitar), and Vic King (drums). She began recording her first album in August 1977,[11] although two tracks had been recorded during the summer of 1975.
[edit] The Kick Inside and Lionheart
As part of her preparation for entering the studio, Bush toured pubs with the KT Bush Band. However, for her debut album The Kick Inside (1978) she was persuaded to use established session musicians, some of whom she would retain even after she had brought her bandmates back on board.[22] Her brother Paddy played the harmonica and mandolin, unlike on later albums where he would play more exotic instruments such as the balalaika and didgeridoo. Stuart Elliott played some of the drums and would become her main percussionist on subsequent albums.[23]
Bush released The Kick Inside when she was 19 years old, but some of the songs had been written when she was as young as 13. EMI originally wanted the more rock-oriented track "James and the Cold Gun" to be her debut single, but Bush insisted that it should be "Wuthering Heights". Even at this early stage of her career, she had gained a reputation for her determination to have a say in decisions affecting her work.[11] "Wuthering Heights" topped the UK and Australian charts and became an international hit.[24] Bush became the first woman to reach number one in the UK charts with a self-penned song.[25] A second single, "The Man with the Child in His Eyes", reached number six in the UK charts.[26] It also made it onto the American Billboard Hot 100 where it reached number 85 in early 1979. Bob Mercer felt that Bush's relative lack of success in the United States compared to the rest of the world was due to her music being a poor fit for American radio formats and that there were no outlets for the visual presentation central to Bush's appeal.[17] "The Man with the Child in His Eyes" went on to win her an Ivor Novello Award in 1979 for Outstanding British Lyric.[27]
EMI capitalised on Bush's appearance by promoting the album with a poster of her in a tight pink top that emphasised her breasts. In an interview with NME magazine in 1982, Bush criticised the marketing technique, stating: "People weren't even generally aware that I wrote my own songs or played the piano. The media just promoted me as a female body. It's like I've had to prove that I'm an artist in a female body."[11] In late 1978, EMI persuaded Bush to quickly record a follow-up album, Lionheart, to take advantage of the success of The Kick Inside. Bush has often expressed dissatisfaction with Lionheart, feeling that she had needed more time to get it right. The album was produced by Andrew Powell, assisted by Bush. While it had spawned several hit singles, most notably "Wow", it did not garner the same reception as her first album, reaching number six in the UK album charts.[28]
Bush was displeased with being rushed into making the second album. She set up her own publishing company, Kate Bush Music, and her own management company, Novercia, to maintain complete control over her work. Bush herself, along with members of her family, comprised the company's board of directors.[11] Following the album's release, she was required by EMI to undertake heavy promotional work and an exhausting tour, the only one of her career.[29] The tour, named The Tour of Life, began in April 1979 and lasted six weeks. This live show was co-devised and performed on stage with magician Simon Drake.[30] Typical of her determination to have control, she was involved in every aspect of the show's production, choreography, set design, and staff recruitment.[11] The shows were noted for her dancing, complex lighting and her 17 costume changes per show. Because of her intention to dance as she sang, her sound engineers used a wire coat hanger and a radio microphone to fashion the first headset mic to be used by a rock performer since the Swedish group Spotnicks used a very primitive version in the early 1960s.[1][31]
[edit] Never for Ever and The Dreaming
Released in September 1980, Never for Ever saw Bush's second foray into production, co-producing with Jon Kelly. Her first time as a producer was on her Live On Stage EP, released after her tour the previous year. The first two albums had resulted in a definitive sound evident in every track, with orchestral arrangements supporting the live band sound. The range of styles on Never for Ever is much more diverse, veering from the straightforward rocker "Violin" to the wistful waltz of hit single "Army Dreamers". Never for Ever was the first Kate Bush album to feature synthesisers and drum machines, in particular the Fairlight CMI, to which she was introduced when providing backing vocals on Peter Gabriel's eponymous third album in early 1980.[11] It was her first record to reach the top position in the UK album charts, also making her the first female British artist to achieve that status,[18] and the first female artist ever to enter the album chart at the top.[4] The top-selling single from the album was "Babooshka", which reached number five in the UK singles chart.[32] In November 1980, she released the Christmas single "December Will Be Magic Again", which reached number 29 in the UK charts.
September 1982 saw the release of The Dreaming, the first album Bush produced by herself.[33] It was also a major departure for Bush, being initially composed on the Fairlight CMI rather than piano, with songs extensively revised and rebuilt in the studio, rather than merely arranged there.[citation needed] With her new-found freedom, she experimented with production techniques, creating an album that features a diverse blend of musical styles and is known for its near-exhaustive use of the Fairlight CMI. The Dreaming received a mixed critical reception in the UK at first. Many were baffled by the dense soundscapes Bush had created, and some critics accused the album of being over-produced.[citation needed] In a 1993 interview with Q, Bush stated: "That was my 'She's gone mad' album."[11] However, the album was hailed as a "masterpiece" and a "musical tour-de-force" by critics in America, and the album became her first to enter the US charts, albeit only reaching number 157.[11] The album entered the UK album chart at number three, but is to date her lowest-selling album, garnering only a gold disc.
"Sat in Your Lap" was the first single from the album to be released. It pre-dated the album by over a year and peaked at number 11 in the UK.[34] The album's title track, featuring the talents of Rolf Harris and Percy Edwards, stalled at number 48, while the third single, "There Goes a Tenner", failed to chart, despite promotion from EMI and Bush. The track "Suspended in Gaffa" was released as a single in Europe, but not in the UK.
Continuing in her storytelling tradition, Bush looked far outside her own personal experience for sources of inspiration. She drew on old crime films for "There Goes a Tenner", a documentary about the war in Vietnam for "Pull Out the Pin", and the plight of Indigenous Australians for "The Dreaming". "Houdini" is about the magician's death, and "Get Out Of My House" was inspired by Stephen King's novel The Shining.[35]
[edit] Hounds of Love and The Whole Story
Hounds of Love was released in 1985. Because of the high cost of hiring studio space for her previous album, she built a private studio near her home, where she could work at her own pace.[36] Hounds of Love ultimately topped the charts in the UK, knocking Madonna's Like a Virgin from the number one position.[37]
The album takes advantage of the vinyl format with two very different sides. The first side, Hounds of Love, contains five "accessible" pop songs, including the four singles "Running Up that Hill", "Cloudbusting", "Hounds of Love", and "The Big Sky". In August 1985, NME featured Bush in a "Where Are They Now" article. "Running Up that Hill" reached number 3 in the UK charts and also re-introduced Bush to American listeners, climbing to number 30 on the Billboard Hot 100 in November 1985. The second side of the album, The Ninth Wave, takes its name from Tennyson's poem, "Idylls of the King", about the legendary King Arthur's reign, and is one continuous piece of music.[38] The album earned Bush nominations for Best Female Solo Artist, Best Album, Best Single, and Best Producer at the 1986 BRIT Awards. In the same year, Bush and Peter Gabriel had a UK top ten hit with "Don't Give Up" (Dolly Parton, Gabriel's original choice, turned his offer down),[39] and EMI released her "greatest hits" album, The Whole Story. Bush provided a new lead vocal and refreshed backing track on "Wuthering Heights," and recorded a new single, "Experiment IV," for inclusion on the compilation. At the 1987 BRIT Awards, Bush won the award for Best Female Solo Artist.
[edit] The Sensual World and The Red Shoes
The increasingly personal tone of her writing continued on 1989's The Sensual World, with songs about unexpressed and unrequited love ("Love and Anger" and "Never Be Mine", respectively), and the pressures on modern relationships ("Between a Man and a Woman").[citation needed] One of the quirkiest tracks on the album, touched by Bush's black humour, is "Heads We're Dancing", about a woman who dances all night with a charming stranger only to discover in the morning that he is Adolf Hitler.[40] The title track drew its inspiration from James Joyce's novel Ulysses.[40]
The Sensual World went on to become her biggest-selling album in the US, receiving an RIAA Gold certification four years after its release for 500,000 copies sold. In the United Kingdom album charts, it reached the number two position.[41]
In 1990, the boxed-set This Woman's Work was released and included all of her albums with their original cover art, as well as two discs of all single B sides recorded from 1978–1990. In 1991, Bush released a cover of Elton John's "Rocket Man", which reached number 12 in the UK singles chart[42], and went as high as number two in Australia, and in 2007, was voted the greatest cover ever by readers of The Observer newspaper.[43] She recorded "Candle in the Wind", as the single's b-side.[44]
The Red Shoes was released in November 1993. The Red Shoes features more high-profile cameo appearances than Bush's previous efforts, including contributions from composer and conductor Michael Kamen. Comedian Lenny Henry, Prince, Eric Clapton, Gary Brooker of Procol Harum, Trevor Whittaker, and Jeff Beck also contributed to the album. Both "The Sensual World" and "The Red Shoes" featured contributions from Trio Bulgarka, a trio of women who sang on several tracks, including "You're The One" and "Rocket's Tail." The album gave Bush her highest chart position in the US, reaching number 28, although the only song from the album to make the US singles chart was "Rubberband Girl", which peaked at number 88 in January 1994. In the UK, the album reached number two, and the singles "Rubberband Girl", "The Red Shoes", "Moments of Pleasure", and "And So Is Love" all reached the top 30.[34][45] That same year, the short film The Line, the Cross & the Curve, written and directed by Bush, and starring Bush and English actress Miranda Richardson,[46] used six of the songs on the album.
The initial plan had been to take the songs out on the road (though a new tour did not transpire), so Bush deliberately aimed for a live-band feel, with less of the studio trickery that had typified her last three albums and that would be difficult to recreate on stage.[47] The result alienated some of her fan base, who enjoyed the intricacy of her earlier compositions,[48] but others found a new complexity in the lyrics and the emotions they expressed.[49]
This was a troubled time for Bush. She had suffered a series of bereavements, including the loss of guitarist Alan Murphy, who had started working with her on The Tour Of Life in 1979, and her mother Hannah, to whom she was exceptionally close.[18] Many of the people she lost are honoured in the ballad "Moments of Pleasure". However, Bush's mother was still alive when "Moments of Pleasure" was written and recorded. Bush describes playing the song to her mother, who thought the line where she is quoted by Bush as saying "Every old sock meets an old shoe", was hilarious and "couldn't stop laughing".[50]
[edit] Aerial
After the release of The Red Shoes, Bush dropped out of the public eye for many years, although her name occasionally cropped up in the media with rumours of a new album release. Bush had originally intended to take one year off but despite working on material 12 years would pass before her next album release.[51] The press often viewed her as an eccentric recluse, sometimes drawing a comparison with Miss Havisham from Charles Dickens's Great Expectations.[52] In reality, she was trying to give her young son a normal childhood, and needed a quiet place for her creative process to function.[51] In 1998, Bush had given birth to Albert, known as "Bertie", fathered by her guitarist and now-husband Danny McIntosh.[18][53] After living for many years on Court Road, Eltham, southeast London, the couple and their son moved away from the city and currently have two homes: a £2.5 million house in East Portlemouth on the Devon coast[53] and a mansion on an islet on the Kennet and Avon canal at Sulhamstead in West Berkshire.[54]
Bush's eighth studio album, Aerial, was released on double CD and vinyl in November 2005.[18] The first single from the album was "King of the Mountain", which was played for the first time on BBC Radio 2 on 21 September 2005.[55]
As on Hounds of Love (1985), the album is divided into two sections, each with its own theme and mood.[56] The first disc, subtitled A Sea of Honey, features a set of unrelated themed songs, including "King of the Mountain"; "Bertie", a Renaissance-style ode to her son; and "Joanni", based on the story of Joan of Arc. In the song "π", Bush sings the number Pi to 115 decimal places.[56][57] The second disc, subtitled A Sky of Honey, features one continuous piece of music describing the experience of being outdoors after waking at dawn, moving through afternoon, dusk, to night, then back to the following dawn of single summer's day. All the pieces in this suite refer or allude to sky and sea in their lyrical content. Bush mixed her voice with cooing wood pigeons to repeat the phrases "A sea of honey, a sky of honey," and "You're full of beauty" throughout the piece, and uses recordings of actual birdsong throughout. A Sky of Honey features Rolf Harris playing the didgeridoo on one track, and providing vocals on "The Painter's Link".[56] Other artists making guest appearances on the album include Peter Erskine, Eberhard Weber, Lol Creme, and Gary Brooker. Two tracks feature string arrangements by Michael Kamen, performed by the London Metropolitan Orchestra. A CD release of the single "King of the Mountain" included a cover of "Sexual Healing" by Marvin Gaye.[58]
"King of the Mountain" entered the UK Downloads Chart at number six on 17 October 2005,[59] and by 30 October it had become Bush's third-highest-charting single ever in the UK, peaking at number four on the full chart. Aerial entered the UK albums chart at number 3,[60] and the US chart at number 48.[61] Bush herself carried out relatively little publicity for the album, only conducting a handful of magazine and radio interviews. Aerial earned Bush two nominations at the 2006 BRIT Awards, for Best British Female Solo Artist and Best British Album.[62]
In late 2007, Bush composed and recorded a new song, "Lyra", for the soundtrack to the fantasy film The Golden Compass.[63]
[edit] Director's Cut and 50 Words for Snow
On 16 May 2011, Bush released the album Director's Cut. The album, which Bush has described as an entirely new project rather than a collection of mere remixes, contains 11 tracks of substantially reworked material from her earlier albums The Sensual World and The Red Shoes, all of which have been recorded using analogue, rather than digital, equipment to create "a warmer sound". All the tracks have new lead vocals, new drums, and radically reworked instrumentation. Some of them have been transposed to a lower key to accommodate her lowering voice. Three of the songs, including "This Woman's Work", have been completely re-recorded, with lyrics often changed in places.[64] The album has been met with a wide range of reviews with most reviewers a bit confused about the concept of the album itself, while responding with varying degrees of enthusiasm about its revamped tracks. Of particular note is the warmer, more intimate tone of the songs and the richer, more mature sound of her voice.[65][66] This is the first album on her new label, Fish People, a division of EMI Records, with whom she's had a relationship since she started recording. In addition to the album Director's Cut in both its single CD form and in a box-set with The Sensual World and the analogue re-mastered The Red Shoes, Fish People will be releasing re-mastered editions of The Hounds of Love and The Dreaming.[67] The album debuted at number 2 on the United Kingdom chart.[68]
The song "The Sensual World" has been renamed "Flower of the Mountain" and contains a passage of Molly Bloom's famous soliloquy from James Joyce's novel Ulysses. Bush said, "Originally when I wrote the song "The Sensual World", I had used text from the end of Ulysses. When I asked for permission to use the text I was refused, which was disappointing. I then wrote my own lyrics for the song, although I felt that the original idea had been more interesting. Well, I'm not James Joyce am I? When I came to work on this project I thought I would ask for permission again and this time they said yes."[69]
The first single released from the album was "Deeper Understanding" and contains a new chorus featuring computerised vocals from Bush's son, Albert. A video for the song, directed by Bush, has been released through her channel on YouTube. It features Robbie Coltrane as a man consumed by his relationship with his computer (voiced by Bush's son). Frances Barber plays the man's wife, and Noel Fielding also appears.
Bush's next studio album, 50 Words for Snow, was released on 21 November 2011. The album contains seven new songs "set against a backdrop of falling snow," with a total running time of 65 minutes.[70][71] A radio edit of the first single, "Wild Man," was played on BBC Radio 2's 'Ken Bruce' show on 10 October.[72] and was released as a digital download on 11 October.[73] The album will be distributed in the United States by Anti-Records.
On 14 November 2011, NPR played 50 Words for Snow in its entirety for the first time.[74] Australia's ABC Radio National declared 50 Words for Snow album of the week of 12 November 2011.[75]
The album's songs are built around Bush's quietly jazzy piano and Steve Gadd's drums, and utilise both sung and spoken word vocals in what Classic Rock's Stephen Dalton calls "a...supple and experimental affair, with a comtemporary chamber pop sound grounded in crisp piano, minimal percussion and light-touch electronics...billowing jazz-rock soundscapes, interwoven with fragmentary narratives delivered in a range of voices from shrill to Laurie Anderson-style cooing."[76] Bassist Danny Thompson appears on the album, which also features performances by Elton John and actor Stephen Fry.
On the first track, "Snowflake," in a song written specifically to use his still high choir-boy voice,[77] Bush's son Albert (Bertie) sings the role of a falling snowflake in a song expressing the hope of a noisy world soon being hushed by snowfall. "Snowflake" drifts into "Lake Tahoe", where choral singer Stefan Roberts and Bush sing about a rarely seen ghost: a woman who appears in a Victorian gown to call to her dog, Snowflake. Bush explained to fellow musician Jamie Cullum in an interview on Dutch Radio[78] that she wished to explore using high male voices in contrast to her own, deeper, voice. "Misty" is about a snowman lover who melts away after a night of passion, while "Wild Man" tells the story of a group of climbers in the Himalayas who, upon finding evidence of a nearby Yeti, erase all traces of it to protect it from discovery. Elton John and Bush as eternally divided lovers trade vocals on "Snowed In at Wheeler Street", while Stephen Fry recites the "50 Words for Snow". The quiet "Among Angels" finishes the album.[79]
50 Words For Snow received general acclaim from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 88, based on 26 reviews, which indicates "universal acclaim".[80] She was nominated for a Brit Award in the "Best Female Artist" category[81], and the album was nominated in 2012 in the Best Album category of both the South Bank Arts and Ivor Novello Awards.[82]
On 1 May 2012, Bush won the South Bank Arts Award.[5]
Bush's music is eclectic, using various styles of music even within the same album. Her songs have spanned genres as diverse as rock, pop, alternative and art rock.[1] Even in her earliest works where the piano was a primary instrument, she wove together many diverse influences, melding classical music, rock, and a wide range of ethnic and folk sources, and this has continued throughout her career.
In an interview with Melody Maker magazine in 1977, she revealed that male artists had more influence on her work than females, stating: "Every female you see at a piano is either Lynsey De Paul, or Carole King. And most male music—not all of it but the good stuff—really lays it on you. It really puts you against the wall and that's what I like to do. I'd like my music to intrude. Not many females succeed with that."[11]
The experimental nature of her music has led it to be described as a later, more technological, and more accessible manifestation of the British progressive rock movement.[2][15] Southern England was the home to the most influential and successful acts of the progressive rock movement and,[2] like other artists in this genre, Bush rejects the classic American style of making pop music, which was adopted by most UK pop artists. Bush's vocals contain elements of British, Anglo-Irish and most prominently (southern) English accents and, in its utilisation of musical instruments from many periods and cultures, her music has differed from American pop norms.[2] Elements of Bush's lyrics tend to be more unusual and less clichéd than American-style pop lyrics, often employing historical or literary references and avoiding autobiographical lyrics. She considers herself a storyteller who embodies the character singing the song and strenuously rejects efforts by others to insist that her songs are autobiographical.[2][83][84]
Reviewers have used the term "surreal" to describe her music.[85] Many of her songs have a melodramatic emotional and musical surrealism that defies easy categorisation.[86] It has been observed that even the more joyous pieces are often tinged with traces of melancholy, and even the most sorrowful pieces have elements of vitality struggling against all that would oppress them.[87]
Bush is not afraid to tackle sensitive and taboo subjects.[88] "The Kick Inside" is based on a traditional English folk song (The Ballad of Lucy Wan) about an incestuous pregnancy and a resulting suicide.[89] "Kashka from Baghdad" is a song about a homosexual male couple;[90] Out magazine listed two of her albums in their Top 100 Greatest Gayest albums list.[91][92] "The Infant Kiss" is a song about a haunted, unstable woman's almost paedophile infatuation with a young boy in her care (inspired by Jack Clayton's film The Innocents (1961), which had been based on Henry James's famous novella The Turn of the Screw);[93] and "Breathing" explores the results of nuclear fallout from the perspective of an unborn child in the womb.[94] Her lyrics have referenced a wide array of subject matter, often relatively obscure, as in "Cloudbusting", which was inspired by Peter Reich's autobiography, "Book of Dreams", about his relationship with his father, Wilhelm Reich, and G. I. Gurdjieff in "Them Heavy People", while "Deeper Understanding", from The Sensual World, portrays a person who stays indoors, obsessively talking to a computer and shunning human contact.
Comedy is also a big influence on her and is a significant component of her work. She has cited Woody Allen,[95] Monty Python, Fawlty Towers, and The Young Ones[96] as particular favourites. Horror movies are another interest of Bush's and have influenced the gothic nature of several of her songs, such as "Hounds of Love", inspired by the 1957 horror movie Night of the Demon.[97] Her songs have occasionally combined comedy and horror to form dark humour, such as murder by poisoning in "Coffee Homeground", an alcoholic mother in "Ran Tan Waltz" and the upbeat "The Wedding List", a song inspired by François Truffaut's 1967 film of Cornell Woolrich's The Bride Wore Black about the death of a groom and the bride's subsequent revenge against the killer.[98]
The length of time in between album releases has led to rumours in the media concerning her health or appearance.[96] In the past, stories of weight gain or mental instability have been disproved by Bush's periodic reappearance.[99] In 2011 Bush told BBC Radio 4 that the amount of time between album releases is extremely stressful noting: "It's very frustrating the albums take as long as they do...I wish there weren't such big gaps between them." In the same interview Bush denied she was a perfectionist in the studio, saying: "I think it's important that things are flawed...That's what makes a piece of art interesting sometimes – the bit that's wrong or the mistake you've made that's led onto an idea you wouldn't have had otherwise," and reiterated her prioritisation of her family life.[83]
Bush's only tour took place 2 April – 13 May 1979, after which she gave only the occasional live performance. Several reasons have been suggested as to why she abandoned touring, among them her reputed need to be in total control of the final product, which is incompatible with live stage performance, a rumour of a crippling fear of flying,[100] and the suggestion that the death of 21-year-old Bill Duffield severely affected her. Duffield, her lighting director, was killed in an accident during her 2 April 1979 concert at Poole Arts Centre. Bush held a benefit concert on 12 May 1979, with Peter Gabriel and Steve Harley at London's Hammersmith Odeon for his family. Duffield would be honoured in two later songs: "Blow Away" on Never for Ever and "Moments of Pleasure" on The Red Shoes. Bush explained in a BBC Radio 2 interview with Mark Radcliffe that she actually enjoyed the tour but was consumed with producing her subsequent records. A BBC film crew followed the preparation for the tour which was shown on the BBC Nationwide program as a 30 minute special.
During the same period as her tour, she made numerous television appearances around the world, including Top of the Pops in the United Kingdom, Bios Bahnhof in Germany, and Saturday Night Live in the United States (with Paul Shaffer on piano).[101] On 28 December 1979, BBC TV aired the Kate Bush Christmas Special. It was recorded in October 1979 at the BBC Studios in Birmingham, England; choreography by Anthony Van Laast.[102] As well as playing songs from her first two albums, she played "December Will Be Magic Again", and "Violin" from her forthcoming album, Never for Ever. Peter Gabriel made a guest appearance to play "Here Comes the Flood", and a duet of Roy Harper's "Another Day" with Bush.[103]
After the Tour of Life Bush desired to make two more albums before touring again. At that point she got involved with production techniques and sound experimentation that took up a lot of time and prevented her from touring. Later on there were a couple of instances where she came close to touring again.[104]
In 1982, Bush participated in the first benefit concert in aid of The Prince's Trust alongside artists such as Madness, Midge Ure, Phil Collins, Mick Karn and Pete Townshend. On 25 April 1986 Bush performed live for British charity event Comic Relief, singing "Do Bears... ?", a humorous duet with Rowan Atkinson, and a rendition of "Breathing". Later in the year on 28 June 1986, she made a guest appearance to duet with Peter Gabriel on "Don't Give Up" at Earl's Court, London as part of his "So" tour. In March 1987, Bush sang "Running Up that Hill" at The Secret Policeman's Third Ball.
On 17 January 2002, Bush appeared with her long-time champion, David Gilmour, singing the part of the doctor in "Comfortably Numb" at the Royal Festival Hall in London.
In 2011 Bush told Classic Rock Magazine "I do hope that some time I get a chance to do some shows. Maybe not a tour, but something"[104]
In 1979 Bush's one live show, The Tour of Life, was recorded for the BBC and for release on VHS as Kate Bush Live at Hammersmith Odeon.[105]
Bush has appeared in innovative music videos designed to accompany her singles releases. Among the best known are those for "Running Up that Hill", "Babooshka", "Breathing", "Wuthering Heights", and "The Man with the Child in His Eyes", and "Cloudbusting", featuring actor Donald Sutherland, who made time during the filming of another project to take part in the video.[106] EMI has released collections of her videos, including The Single File, Hair of the Hound, The Whole Story, a career video overview released in conjunction with the 1986 compilation album of the same title,[105] and The Sensual World.
In 1993, she directed and starred in the short film, The Line, the Cross & the Curve, a musical co-starring Miranda Richardson, featuring music from Bush's album The Red Shoes, which was inspired by the classic movie of the same name. It was released on VHS in the UK in 1994 and also received a small number of cinema screenings around the world. In recent interviews, Bush has said that she considers it a failure, and stated in 2001: "I'm very pleased with four minutes of it, but I'm very disappointed with the rest."[107] In a 2005 interview, she described the film as "A load of bollocks."[108]
In 1994, Bush provided the music used in a series of psychedelic-themed television commercials for the soft drink Fruitopia that appeared in the United States. The same company aired the ads in the United Kingdom, but the British version featured Elizabeth Fraser of Cocteau Twins instead of Bush.[109]
In late 2006, a DVD documentary titled Kate Bush Under Review was released by Sexy Intellectual, which included archival interviews with Bush, along with interviews with a selection of music historians and journalists (including Phil Sutcliffe, Nigel Williamson, and Morris Pert). The DVD also includes clips from several of Bush's music videos.[110]
On 2 December 2008, the DVD collection of the fourth season of Saturday Night Live, including her performances, was released.[111] A three DVD set of The Secret Policeman's Balls benefit concerts that includes Bush's performance was released on 27 January 2009.[112].
Bush has released four short videos for the album 50 Words for Snow. One is an advertisement for the album. Two stop-motion "Animation Segments" were posted on the Kate Bush Official website and YouTube, one to accompany a 2 minute 25 second section of "Misty", called "Mistraldespair", the other to accompany a 2 minute 33 second section of "Wild Man". "Mistraldespair" was directed by Bush and animated by Gary Pureton,[113] while the "Wild Man" segment was created by Finn and Patrick at Brandt Animation.[114] On 24 January 2012, a third piece called "Eider Falls at Lake Tahoe", was premiered on her website and on YouTube. Running at 5:01, the piece is a sepia tone shadow puppet animation. Directed by Bush and photographed by award-winning British cinematographer Roger Pratt, the shadow puppets were designed by Robert Allsopp.[115] Bush stated that "Eider Falls at Lake Tahoe" is intended to be a "self contained piece" separate from the song "Lake Tahoe".[116]
In 1990, Bush starred in the black comedy film Les Dogs, produced by The Comic Strip for BBC television. Aired on 8 March 1990, Bush plays the bride Angela at a wedding set in a post-apocalyptic version of Britain. While Bush's is a silent presence in a wedding dress throughout most of the film, she does have several lines of dialogue with Peter Richardson in two dream sequences. In another Comic Strip Presents film, GLC, she produced the theme song "Ken", which includes a vocal performance by Bush. The song was written about Ken Livingstone, the leader of the Greater London Council, who would later be elected as mayor of London and at the time was working with musicians to help the Labour Party garner the youth vote.[117]
She also produced all the incidental music, which is synthesiser based. Bush wrote and performed the song "The Magician", in a fairground-like arrangement, for Menahem Golan's 1979 film The Magician of Lublin.[118] In 1985, Bush contributed a darkly melancholic version of the Ary Barroso song "Brazil" to the soundtrack of the Terry Gilliam film Brazil. The track was scored and arranged by Michael Kamen. In 1986, she wrote and recorded "Be Kind To My Mistakes" for the Nicolas Roeg film Castaway. An edited version of this track was used as the B side to her 1989 single "This Woman's Work". In 1988, the song "This Woman's Work" was featured in the John Hughes film She's Having a Baby, and a slightly remixed version appeared on Bush's album The Sensual World.[119] The song has since appeared on numerous television shows, and in 2005 reached number eight on the UK download chart after featuring in a British television advertisement for the charity NSPCC.[120]
In 1999, Bush wrote and recorded a song for the Disney film Dinosaur, but the track was ultimately not included on the soundtrack. According to the winter 1999 issue of HomeGround, a Bush fanzine, it was scrapped when Disney asked her to rewrite the song and she refused. Also in 1999, Bush's song "The Sensual World" was featured prominently in Canadian filmmaker Atom Egoyan's film "Felicia's Journey".[121] "The Man with the Child in His Eyes" is on the soundtrack for the 2007 British romantic comedy film Starter for 10.[122]
In 2007, Bush was asked to write a song for The Golden Compass soundtrack which made reference to the lead character, Lyra Belacqua. The song, "Lyra", was used in the closing credits of the film, reached number 187 in the UK Singles Chart[123] and was nominated for the International Press Academy's Satellite Award for original song in a motion picture.[124][125]
According to Del Palmer, Bush was asked to compose the song on very short notice and the whole project was completed in 10 days.[126] The song was produced and recorded by Bush in her own studio, and features the Magdalen College, Oxford choir.
Bush provided vocals on two of Peter Gabriel's albums, including the hits "Games Without Frontiers" and "Don't Give Up", as well as "No Self-Control". Gabriel appeared on Bush's 1979 television special, where they sang a duet of Roy Harper's "Another Day". She has sung on two Roy Harper tracks, "You", on his 1979 album, "The Unknown Soldier", and "Once", the title track of his 1990 album. She has also sung on the title song of the 1986 Big Country album The Seer, the Midge Ure song "Sister and Brother" from his 1988 album Answers to Nothing, Go West's 1987 single "The King Is Dead" and two songs with Prince – "Why Should I Love You?", from her 1993 album The Red Shoes, and in 1996, the song "My Computer" from Prince's album Emancipation. In 1987, she sang a verse on the charity single "Let It Be" by Ferry Aid. She sang a line on the charity single "Spirit of the Forest" by Spirit of the Forest in 1989. 1990 saw Kate producing, for the only time in her career, one song for another artist, Alan Stivell's "Kimiad", on his album Again. Stivell had appeared on The Sensual World. In 1995, Bush covered George Gershwin's "The Man I Love" for the tribute album The Glory of Gershwin. In 1996, Bush contributed a version of "Mná na hÉireann" (Irish for Women of Ireland) for the Anglo-Irish folk-rock compilation project Common Ground: The Voices of Modern Irish Music. Bush had to sing the song in Irish, which she learned to do phonetically.[127] Artists who have contributed to Bush's own albums include Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, David Gilmour, Nigel Kennedy, Gary Brooker, and Prince. Bush provided backing vocals for a song that was recorded during the 1990s titled Wouldn't Change a Thing by Lionel Azulay, the drummer with the original band that was later to become the KT Bush Band. The song, which was engineered and produced by Del Palmer, is available for download and will be on Azulay’s upcoming CD.[128][129]
Bush declined a request by Erasure to produce one of their albums because "she didn’t feel that that was her area".[130]
In 2010, Bush provided vocals for Rolf Harris's cover of the traditional Irish song "She Moves Through the Fair". Harris, who described the collaboration the "best thing I’ve done," is unsure of how to release the track.[131]
Bush's most recent collaborations, including duets with Elton John and Stephen Fry, took place on her 2012 album, 50 Words for Snow.
Kate has always been reluctant to tour and has always cited the reason is she finds it exhausting. She has said by the time she's completed the album, videos and promotional work "there's nothing left of me". [13] She said it would be impossible for her to tour the way she works.
She did do some shows in 1979 and the one at the Hammersmith Odeon was released on video. She said she "really enjoyed it" and that it was a "tremendous, fabulous experience". However, she also found it "incredibly exhausting and a total commitment. I don't think people understand the level of involvement I get into when I do a project."[13]
The Hammersmith video shows an elaborate set complete with mime, magicians and theatrics.
Upon the release of The Director's Cut, she said she wouldn't rule out the possibility of shows in the future: "Maybe I will do some shows some day. I'd like to think so, before I get too ancient - turn up with my Zimmer frame."[132]
From the 1980s onward, it has become almost standard for individualistic female singer-songwriters to be compared to Bush by the media. She has been noted as an influence on female artists such as Tori Amos, Björk,[133] Alison Goldfrapp,[134][135] Nerina Pallot,[136] KT Tunstall,[137] Happy Rhodes,[138] Lily Allen,[139] PJ Harvey,[36][140] Little Boots,[141][142][143] and Florence Welch,[144][145] in addition to acts as diverse as Muse,[137] OutKast,[140] and Bloc Party.[146] Paula Cole named Bush as an influence while accepting the Best New Artist Grammy in 1996. Ariel Pink wrote a tribute song for her titled "For Kate I Wait" on the album The Doldrums. The trip-hop artist Tricky has said about Bush, "I don't believe in God, but if I did, her music would be my bible".[18] Punk rocker John Lydon, better known as Johnny Rotten of the Sex Pistols, declared her work to be "beauty beyond belief",[147] "fucking brilliant" and labelled her "a true original". Rotten once wrote a song for her, titled "Bird in Hand" (about exploitation of parrots) that Bush rejected. Rotten theorised that Bush thought the song contained insulting references aimed at her.[148][149] Marc Almond chose "Moments of Pleasure" as one of his 10 favourite songs on Radio 2 in June 2007, saying that the song had a profound influence on him when he was combating drug addiction in New York in the 1990s. In November 2006, the singer Rufus Wainwright named Bush as one of his top ten gay icons.[150] Outside music, Bush has been an inspiration to several fashion designers, most notably Hussein Chalayan.[151]
Many artists around the world have recorded cover versions of Bush songs, including Charlotte Church, The Futureheads (who had a UK top ten hit with a cover of "Hounds of Love"), Placebo (whose cover of "Running Up that Hill" has featured in many TV series and films), Pat Benatar, Faith and the Muse, Hayley Westenra, Jane Birkin, Natalie Cole, Ra Ra Riot,[152][153] Maxwell,[154] The Church[155] and Nada Surf.[156] The British dance act Utah Saints sampled a line from "Cloudbusting" for their single, "Something Good". Artists such as Tori Amos, Nolwenn Leroy, Patrick Wolf and Happy Rhodes (whose upper vocal range has been compared with the one of Kate Bush)[157] have covered her songs in live performances. Coldplay said their track "Speed of Sound" was originally an attempt to re-create "Running Up that Hill". Suede front-man Brett Anderson has stated that "Wuthering Heights" was the first single he ever bought and mentioned "And Dream of Sheep" in Suede's song "These are the Sad Songs".[158] British folk singer Jim Moray also references "And Dream of Sheep" in his self-penned track "Longing for Lucy".[159] Progressive death metal act Novembre also covered "Cloudbusting" on their album Novembrine Waltz. In 2009, John Forté released a hip hop version of "Running Up that Hill".[160]
In 2010, composer and vocalist Theo Bleckmann released an album of Kate Bush covers, titled Hello Earth! – The Music of Kate Bush which includes his interpretation of fourteen Bush classics,[161] which he also performs live around the world. In an interview with Hungarian online music magazine Kortár's Blog, Bleckmann explained his choice to explore Bush's work: "The music of Kate Bush has been a saviour throughout my teenage years when I lived in a small town in Germany...To come back to her music fresh...and to discover more depths and beauty in it, became an overwhelming confirmation of the endurance of great music regardless of genre and time."[162][163]
Kate Bush is married to guitarist Dan McIntosh and the couple have a son, Albert.[164] She resides in Devon and until late-2011 had another residence near Theale, West Berkshire.
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- Vermorel, Fred and Judy, Kate Bush: Princess of Suburbia (1980) Target Books
- Vermorel, Fred, The Secret History of Kate Bush and the Strange Art of Pop (1983) Omnibus Press ISBN 0.7119.0152.X
- Cann, Kevin and Mayes, Sean, Kate Bush: A Visual Documentary (1988) Omnibus Press ISBN 0-7119-1039-1
- Muskens, Helena; Racké, Quirine, Come Back Kate. Snow White Films. Involved TV Channel: NPS. 2007
- 'I'm not some weirdo recluse' (The Guardian, 28 October 2005)
- This Bush's mission finally gets accomplished (National Post, 22 December 2005)
- Two Musicians who have worked with Bush describe her working style and non work personality
- The Illustrated Collector's Guide to Kate Bush, 2nd Edition, published by Collector's Guide Publishing. A complete guide to everything Kate Bush. Includes albums, CDs, DVDs, books and other collectibles. It's complete up to Aerial.
- Withers, Debroah Adventures in Kate Bush and Theory . Hammeron Press, 1 March 2010. ISBN 0-9564507-0-9.
- Thompson, Graeme Kate Bush: Under the Ivy. Omnibus Press, 1 May 2010 ISBN 1-84772-930-4
- Gracey, James 'It's Coming For Me Through The Trees' – The Influence of Horror Cinema on the Music of Kate Bush Behind the Couch, 18 August 2010
Media related to Kate Bush at Wikimedia Commons
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Kate Bush
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Live albums
and compilations |
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| Singles |
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| Persondata |
| Name |
Bush, Kate |
| Alternative names |
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| Short description |
English singer, songwriter, musician and record producer |
| Date of birth |
30 July 1958 |
| Place of birth |
Bexleyheath, Kent, England |
| Date of death |
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| Place of death |
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