Kate Bush

Kate Bush (born Catherine Bush on July 30, 1958 in Bexleyheath, Kent, England and attended school in Welling) 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.

Contents

Biography

Missing image
Kate_Bush_The_Dreaming_Cover.jpg
With a kiss
I'd pass the key
And feel your tongue
Teasing and receiving
"Houdini" from The Dreaming

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 Liv Kristine, Jewel, Tori Amos, Björk, Suede, Paula Cole, Sinéad O'Connor, Pat Benatar, Happy Rhodes, The Utah Saints, Big Boi 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 willing 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". Suede front-man Brett Anderson has stated that "Wuthering Heights" was the first single he ever bought.

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, 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; Kashka From Baghdad is a song about a gay male couple; Breathing explores the results of nuclear fallout. Her lyrics are highly literate and reference a wide array of subject matter, often relatively obscure, such as Wilhelm Reich in Cloudbusting, or G. I. Gurdjieff in Them Heavy People.

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, Once (both also featuring Gilmour) and The Unknown Soldier.

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 legendary guitarist Ian Bairnson, jazz/rock drummer Stuart Elliot, the classical guitarist John Williams, the folk artists The Trio Bulgarka, and Prince.

Her first television appearances were in Germany: Bio's Bahnhof on February 9, 1978; in the United Kingdom: Top of the Pops on February 16, 1978; in the United States: Saturday Night Live on December 9, 1978.

Bush's only tour took place in early 1979 (April 3 - May 10 see details below), after which she gave only the occasional live performance. A number of 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, 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 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.

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 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 unconfirmed reports that she had suffered a nervous breakdown. In 1999, she gave birth to a baby boy, Bertie, fathered by guitarist Danny MacIntosh.

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 had been announced, more than a decade after her last recordings were released. In December 2004, she wrote a Christmas letter to her fans announcing an album release in 2005. As of June 16 however, no release had yet been announced.

Discography

Studio albums

  1. The Kick Inside (1977, UK #3)
  2. Lionheart (1978)
  3. Never For Ever (1980)
  4. The Dreaming (1982, UK #3, US #148)
  5. Hounds of Love (1985)
  6. The Sensual World (1989, UK #2, US #43)
  7. The Red Shoes (1993)
  8. Title TBA (tentative release 2005) - in December 2004 Bush announced a new album was planned for 2005 release

Compilations

  1. The Whole Story (1986) (includes a new rendition of "Wuthering Heights")
  2. 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

  1. Live at the Hammersmith Odeon (1981)
  2. The Single File (1983)
  3. Hair of the Hound (1986)
  4. The Whole Story (1986)
  5. The Sensual World (1989)
  6. The Line, the Cross and the Curve (1994)

Live albums and Extended plays

  1. Live at the Hammersmith Odeon (1989)
  2. On Stage - 4 Live Tracks ( EP ) (1979)

The Lionheart Tour 1979

  • Concert House, Stockholm, Sweden (24 April)
  • Falkoneer Theatre, Copenhagen, Denmark (26 April)
  • Congress Centrum, Hamburg, Germany (28 April)
  • Carré Theatre, Amsterdam, The Netherlands (29 April)
  • Liederhalle, 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

Vocal Profile

  • Voice type: Lyric Soprano
  • Highest note: D6 ("Violin" live)
  • Lowest note: D3
  • Vocal range: 3 octaves

External links

Template:Wikiquote


Kate Bush is also a character in the Japanese anime television series, Victory Gundam, one of the five (of the six) original members of the program's Shrike Team who were named in homage to famous 20th century female singers.de:Kate Bush ja:ケイト・ブッシュ nl:Kate Bush

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