Kate (Catherine) Bush is an English singer, songwriter and record producer. At age 19, Bush became the first female artist to achieve a number one with a self written song when she topped the charts with her debut single “Wuthering Heights.” Bush has since released 25 UK Top 40 singles and ten studio albums. She is the first female British solo artist to enter the album chart at number one.
Bush was born in Bexleyheath, Kent into an artistic background. Her mother was an amateur traditional Irish dancer and her father was a pianist. Her family’s musical influence inspired Bush to teach herself the piano. She also played the organ, studied the violin and began composing her own songs at age 11.
Bush signed a record contract after Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour helped produce a demo tape. Bush released her debut album, The Kick Inside in 1978 at age nineteen. The album sold more than a million copies and its single “Wuthering Heights,” became an international hit. Bush was the first female artist in pop history to have written every track on a million-selling debut album.
Bush’s musical aesthetic is eclectic and is known to employ varied influences and meld disparate styles, often within a single song or over the course of an album. Even in her earliest works, with piano the primary instrument, she wove together diverse influences, drawing on classical music, glam rock and a wide range of ethnic and folk sources. She is often compared to the other “arty” British pop acts Roxy Music and Peter Gabriel.
Bush’s stage shows often combine music, dance, poetry, mime, burlesque, magic and theater. Bush involves herself in every aspect of the production, choreography, set design, costume design and hiring. Her shows are noted for her dancing, complex lighting and her numerous costume changes.
Bush’s 1985 album Hounds of Love topped the UK charts and took advantage of the vinyl and cassette formats with two very different sides. Side one contained five “accessible” pop songs, including four singles “Running Up that Hill,” “Cloudbusting,” “Hounds of Love,” and “The Big Sky.” Side two The Ninth Wave, takes its name from Tennyson’s poem, “Idylls of the King,” about the legendary King Arthur’s reign, and is seven interconnecting songs joined in one continuous piece of music. That same year, Bush and Peter Gabriel united for his So What album and had a top ten UK hit with the duet “Don’t Give Up.” Bush’s next album The Sensual World went on to become her biggest selling album in the U.S. selling more than 500,000 copies.
In 1993 Bush released her album The Red Shoes. Featuring contributions from Eric Clapton, Gary Booker, Prince and Jeff Beck it provided her with her highest chart position in the U.S. reaching within the top thirty. The album would also be Bush’s last release for twelve years.
Bush’s next album would not be until 2011’s 50 Words of Snow. Featuring a duet with Elton John on “Snowed in at Wheeler Street,” the album contained seven new songs “set against a backdrop of falling snow.” The album’s songs are built around Bush’s quietly jazzy piano and drums, and utilize both sung and spoken word vocals. 50 Words for Snow received general acclaim from music critics.
In March 2014, Bush announced her first live concerts in decades a 22-night residency in London. Tickets sold out in 15 minutes with the shows receiving positive reviews. Apart from these these concerts she has given only occasional live performances. In that same year bolstered by the concerts Bush became the first female performer to have eight albums in the UK Top 40 Albums Chart simultaneously.
In November 2018 Bush released box set remasters of her studio albums.
Reference – http://katebush.com/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kate_Bush
Kate Bush discography
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)
Aerial (2005)
Director’s Cut (2011)
50 Words for Snow (2011)
Sacramento’s K-ZAP 93.3 FM plays Kate Bush. All part of 50 years of Rock, Blues and More, 24-7 on our station’s stream at K-ZAP.ORG/LISTEN/
Check out Kate Bush’s single “How To Be Invisible.”