Kate
Bush
Kate Bush (born Catherine Bush on July 30, 1958
in Bexleyheath, Kent, England) is a British singer-songwriter who
has acquired a large number of extremely devoted fans since her
debut in 1978 with the surprise hit "Wuthering Heights,"
which was number 1 in the British music charts for 4 weeks.
David Gilmour of Pink Floyd was largely responsible for bringing
her to prominence, funding her first demo sessions and attracting
the interest of the Floyd's record company, EMI. They have since
worked together on occasional projects and in concert.
While her range of styles does not appeal to everyone, Bush is nevertheless
widely respected by many musicians, and has been noted as an influence
and inspiration by artists as diverse as Jewel, Tori Amos, Björk,
Paula Cole, Sinead O'Connor, Pat Benatar, Happy Rhodes, The Utah
Saints, Andre 3000 of OutKast and others. The trip hop artist Tricky
has stated her work has been a significant influence on him and
that she should be treasured more than the Beatles. Though many
outside of Europe remain unfamiliar with her work and its profound
intensity, others in her profession are also unreluctant to declare
her works as those of great genius. Even the iconoclastic punk rocker
John Lydon (Johnny Rotten of the Sex Pistols) has declared her work
to be "fucking brilliant" and has labelled her "a
true original".
Even in her earliest works where the piano was a primary instrument,
she weaved together many diverse influences, melding classical music,
rock, and a wide range of ethnic and folk sources, to produce a
uniquely impressive amalgalm, and this has continued throughout
her career. More than one reviewer has used the term surreal to
describe much of her music, for many of the songs have a melodramatic
emotional and musical surrealism that defies easy categorization.
It has been observed that even the more joyous of the pieces is
often tinged with traces of melancholy, and even the most sorrowful
have elements of a unique vitality struggling against all that would
oppress it. The unapologetic use of her voice as an instrument to
convey a broad range of emotional intensity and subtlety is one
thing that characterizes nearly all that she does.
Kate Bush has tackled sensitive and taboo subjects long before it
has become fashionable to do so. Moving discusses female orgasm;
Kashka From Baghdad is a song about a happy gay male couple oblivious
to the world's prejudice around them; Breathing explores the results
of nuclear fallout.
She has worked with Peter Gabriel on two of his albums, most notably
on the hits Games Without Frontiers and Don't Give Up, (the latter
a duet); and his appearance on her 1979 television special. Their
duet of Roy Harper's Another Day was discussed for release as a
single, but this never came to pass. Harper is another frequent
collaborator, appearing on her song Breathing and her on his albums
HQ and Once (both also featuring Gilmour).
She has appeared in duets with Midge Ure, Big Country and others
on their albums. A wide diversity of respected artists have worked
with her on some of her more recent albums ranging from the rock
guitarist Jeff Beck, the classical guitarist John Williams, the
folk artists The Trio Bulgarka, and Prince.
Bush's only tour took place in early 1979 (April 3 - May 10 see
details below), after which she she gave only the occasional live
performance. A number of reasons have been suggested as to why she
abandoned touring among them a rumour of a crippling fear of flying,
and the suggestion that the death of 21 year old Bill Duffield,
severely affected her. Duffield, her lighting director, was killed
in a accident during her April 20 concert at The London Palladium
when he fell twenty feet through an open trap door on the stage.
Bush held a benefit concert on 12 May, with Peter Gabriel and Steve
Harley at London’s Hammersmith Odeon for his family. It was this
benefit that was recorded and is the only record of Bush's live
performance.
In 1993, Bush directed and starred in the short film, The Line,
The Cross and The Curve, a musical co-starring Miranda Richardson
and featuring music from Bush's album The Red Shoes (which in turn
was inspired by the classic movie The Red Shoes.
Bush dropped out of the public eye in the late 1990s, though her
name occasionally cropped up in the media in connection with rumours
of a new album release. There were also reports that she had suffered
a nervous breakdown and that she had had a child (the latter was
confirmed by her in a recent interview).
She has confirmed that she is at work on a new album, with the title
of one track "How to be Invisible" having been discussed
on at least one of her fan Web sites. She was reportedly recording
tracks as recently as November 2003 at Abbey Road Studios, but as
of fall 2004 no release date for a new album has been announced,
more than a decade after her last recordings were released.
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"Kate Bush" is also a character in Victory Gundam, one
of the five (of the six) original members of the Shrike Team who
were named in homage to famous 20th century female singers.
Discography
Studio albums
The Kick Inside (1978)
Lionheart (1978)
Never For Ever (1980)
The Dreaming (1982)
Hounds of Love (1985)
The Sensual World (1989)
The Red Shoes (1993)
Compilations
The Whole Story (1986) (includes a new rendition of "Wuthering
Heights")
This Woman's Work 1978-1990 (1990, rereleased in 1998) (a boxed
set of her six albums to date, also including two discs of rare
b-sides)
Videos
Live at the Hammersmith Odeon (1981)
The Single File (1983)
Hair of the Hound (1986)
The Whole Story (1986)
The Sensual World (1989)
The Line, the Cross and the Curve (1994)
Live albums
Live at the Hammersmith Odeon (1989)
The
Lionheart Tour 1979
Empire, Liverpool, UK (3 April)
Hippodrome, Birmingham, UK (4 April)
Hippodrome, Birmingham, UK (5 April)
New Theatre Oxford, UK (6 April)
Gaumont Southampton, UK (7 April)
Hippodrome, Bristol, UK (9 April)
Apollo Theatre, Manchester, UK (10 April)
Apollo Theatre, Manchester, UK (11 April)
Empire Theatre, Sunderland, UK (12 April)
Usher Hall, Edinburgh, UK (13 April)
The Palladium, London, UK (16 April - 20 April)
Concert House, Stockholm, Sweden (24 April)
Falkoneer Theatre, Copenhagen, Denmark (26 April)
Congress Centrum, Hamburg, Germany (28 April)
Carre Theatre, Amsterdam, Holland (29 April)
Leiderhalle, Stuttgart, Germany (2 May)
Circuskrone, Munich, Germany (3 May)
Guerzenich, Cologne, Germany (4 May)
Theatre de Champs Elysees, Paris, France (6 May)
Rosengarten, Mannheim, Germany (8 May)
Jarhunderthalle, Frankfurt, Germany (10 May)
Hammersmith Odeon, London, UK (May 12) Benefit concert. Recorded
as Live at the Hammersmith Odeon
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