Kate Bush was born Catherine Bush
at Bexley maternity hospital in Erith, Kent, Gt Britain, on Wednesday July
30th 1958. She grew up in Welling, Kent and attended the nearby St. Joseph's
Convent School at Abbey Wood. Her main creative influences as a child came
from her two brothers, John Carder Bush (Jay), who was a successful poet
in the late sixties, and Paddy Bush, an accomplished musician, who still
collects and plays unusual and obscure instruments from around the world.
Kate Bush
began playing piano at a young age, and by her mid-teens she had composed
over 200 songs. Her talent caught the notice of David Gilmour (Pink Floyd)
who assisted in arranging her contract with EMI. The first song she released,
Wuthering
Heights, soared to #1 in England in 1979. Since then Kate has achieved
a notable career as a singer and musician. Kate began producing her own
albums and videos early on. Her growing interest in film was highly evident
in the 1985 video for her song Cloudbusting, which starred Donald
Sutherland, which is a mini-film in itself. Another 1985 video,
Hounds
of Love, is a tribute to Hitchcock. Following the release of her 1993
album The Red Shoes, influenced by filmmaker Michael Powell, Kate
produced the short film The Line, the Cross & the Curve,
using
five songs from the album as a basis for the film in a mysterious, mythical
retelling of the tale of The Red Shoes.
By the age
of 14 Kate had already written many songs including The Saxophone Song
and The Man with the Child in his Eyes, which would later be the
second single released from the album The Kick Inside, and reach
number 5 in the British singles chart. Kate made demo tapes containing
60 or more songs which she sent to the main record companies through a
friend of the family, Ricky Hopper. Ricky played one of these tapes to
his friend Dave Gilmour, singer and guitarist with Pink Floyd, who was
so impressed that he helped Kate record a demo tape at his home studio
and helped Kate to record a professional demo tape at AIR studios produced
by Andrew Powell which he gave to Bob Mercer a general manager at EMI.
One year later in 1976 she was signed to EMI. Her 1989 hit This Women's
Work was written to express her grief over her mother's death.
Kate's first
single Wuthering Heights was released by EMI on 20th January 1978.
To be followed on the 17th of February by her brilliant debut album The
Kick Inside. On March 7th Wuthering Heights went to number one
in the British singles chart. In November of the same year Kate released
her second album Lionheart. This was followed in April 1979 by her
first tour. In September of 1980 Kate released her third album Never
for Ever. On the previous two albums Kate had used the piano has her
main instrument, hence the comparisons made between Tori Amos and Kate
now. But by the release of Never for Ever Kate had started to use
the Fairlight CMI and drum machines which she had been introduced to by
Peter Gabriel.
It was two
years later that her fourth album The Dreaming was released on which
she had Dave Gilmour doing backing vocals on Pull Out The Pin and
Rolf Harris playing the didgeridoo on the title track. It was three years
to the release of Kate's next album Hounds of Love. Side 2 was the
'concept' side title The Ninth Wave, seven tracks related to the
experiences of a woman lost in the sea at night. The first track on Side
1 and the first single of the album Running up that Hill was originally
going to be entitled 'A Deal with God' but because it would not have got
airplay in some countries because it had the word 'God' in the title it
was retitled.
HOUNDS
OF LOVE - Kate's strongest album to date marked her breakthrough into
the American charts and yielded a set of dazzling videos. The material
ranges from the sensual (Hounds of Love, Running Up That Hill
- the latter being one of the most sensual recordings ever made) to the
mystical (Hello Earth, The Morning Fog). This was also the
first album produced by Kate entirely at her own home studio, and the results
are spellbinding. The British edition of this and her earlier albums all
have significantly better quality of sound than their American counterparts.
On the 10th
November 1986 The Whole Story compilation album was released, including
the new vocal version of Wuthering Heights and the single Experiment
IV.
It was 1989
when the next album, The Sensual World was released on which Dave
Gilmour played guitar, Mick Karn, ex-Japan, played bass and The Trio
Bulgarka add vocals. One Year later a limited edition box set This Woman's
Work was released it contained all the albums up to The Sensual
World excepting The Whole Story plus two additional CDs. In
addition to this there was a glossy booklet and some stickers. Kate's most
recent album to date The Red Shoes was released in 1993, with Jeff
Beck, Eric Clapton, Prince, Lenny Henry, Nigel Kennedy and The Trio
Bulgarka contributing. Kate also did a short film to go with it which was
shown in cinemas. It is also worth mentioning that in 1994 EMI re-released
the Live at the Hammersmith Odeon video with the concert CD included.