KATE BUSH WELCOME

KATE BUSH FANS HAVE ALWAYS, SOMEWHAT CONTRARILY, BEEN USED TO SURPRISES. FROM THE UNDULATING CONTOURS OF HER DEBUT SINGLE WUTHERING HEIGHTS, THAT HOOKED US ALL IN IN THE FIRST PLACE, TO RETURNING, OUT OF NOWHERE, TO THE LONDON STAGE FOR THE BEFORE THE DAWN SHOWS IN 2014. WHETHER DISPENSING WITH THE RULEBOOK AT THE CONTROLS FOR THE DREAMING WHILE STILL IN HER TWENTIES OR VIA HER MANY PLAYFUL TURNS WITH AESTHETICS, KATE BUSH HAS PROVED HERSELF TO BE, QUITE LITERALLY, SOMETHING ELSE. BUT EVEN SHE COULDN’T HAVE PREDICTED THE LATEST IN THE LINE OF SURPRISES… BACK AT NO.1 IN 2022.

ROLLING THE BALL TO ME

KATE BUSH IS ONE OF POP’S MOST GROUNDBREAKING PERFORMERS. HER SONGWRITING, HER ECLECTICISM, HER THEATRICAL FLAIR AND HER UNIQUE VOICE INSPIRED A GENERATION OF SONGWRITERS AND PERFORMERS, FROM TORI AMOS TO BJÖRK TO FLORENCE + THE MACHINE. THROUGH HELP AND HARD WORK, THE YOUNG GIRL FROM KENT AVOIDED THE TRAPS THAT BEFALL MANY MUSICAL PRODIGIES…

ALL THE WORLD’S A STAGE: THE EARLY VIDEOS

WITH HER MIME AND DANCE SKILLS, DRAMATIC PERFORMANCES, SAUCER EYES AND QUIRKY INVENTIVENESS, KATE WAS ONE OF THE FIRST STARS OF THE VIDEO AGE. FROM 1978 TO 1980 HER PROMOS USED DIRECTOR ‘KEEF’, THE PHOTOGRAPHER/SLEEVE DESIGNER WHO BEGAN HIS CAREER IN THE 60S AND WENT ON TO WORK WITH BOWIE, BLONDIE, QUO, CULTURE CLUB AND MOTÖRHEAD…

METHOD AND MADNESS

AFTER TWO DECENT-SELLING ALBUMS AND FOUR CHARTING SINGLES, SOME ARTISTS MIGHT HAVE TAKEN THEIR HANDS OFF THE WHEEL. NOT KATE BUSH, WHOSE NEXT TWO PROJECTS, NEVER FOR EVER AND THE DREAMING, REVEALED AN ARTIST GROWING STEADILY MORE SELF-RELIANT AND INCREASINGLY INTENT ON STEERING HER SHIP TOWARDS DEEPER AND MORE CHALLENGING WATERS…

THE GIRL IN THE BUBBLE: THE VIDEOS 1980-1981

AS BUSH’S WORK WITH KEEF MACMILLAN DREW TO A CLOSE WITH WHAT SHE CONSIDERED HER MOST IMAGINATIVE AND SUCCESSFUL VISUAL PROMO TO DATE, SHE EMBARKED ON SEVERAL SHORT-LIVED COLLABORATIONS WITH OTHER DIRECTORS. AS FOR TAKING CHARGE OF HER OWN VIDEOS, THAT WAS STILL TO COME…

KEY RECORDINGS – THE DREAMING

Bush’s third album Never For Ever was a

CROSSING THE LINE

IN A DECADE THAT SAW HER BESET BY BEREAVEMENTS, A BREAK-UP AND LIVING UP TO HER OWN IMPOSSIBLY HIGH STANDARDS, KATE’S PERSONAL PROBLEMS TOOK THEIR TOLL ON HER CREATIVE OUTPUT, LEADING HER TO SERIOUS DELIBERATION AS TO WHETHER SHE WOULD CONTINUE TO MAKE MUSIC AT ALL…

A BRAND NEW DAWN

THE LENGTHY PAUSES BETWEEN PROJECTS WERE ALMOST SUFFOCATING, BUT WHILE THE PACE HAS SLOWED – THIS YEAR’S STRANGER THINGS BOOST ASIDE – KATE BUSH’S IMAGINATION WAS ALWAYS SOARING. THE 21ST CENTURY HAS YIELDED SOME OF HER MOST INTERESTING WORK TO DATE, PLUS THE MOST UNEXPECTED GIFT OF ALL – ARETURN TO THE LIVE STAGE FOR A RECORD-BREAKING RESIDENCY IN LONDON…

THE HALL OF FAME GAME

The revelation that, no, Kate Bush still hasn’t

DEEPER INTO STORIES – THE VIDEOS 2000-PRESENT

KATE BUSH HAS NEVER BEEN ONE TO FOLLOW THE TYPICAL PROMOTIONAL TRAIL, AND WHILE THE ARTIST HAS FADED FROM THE FOREGROUND IN HER VISUAL WORK HER NARRATIVES BECOME, IF ANYTHING, STRANGER, STRONGER AND MORE POIGNANT…

THE KICK INSIDE

FOR KATE BUSH, HER DEBUT ALBUM CHANGED EVERYTHING. IT BECAME THE NINTH-LARGEST SELLING LP OF 1978, WENT PLATINUM, AND INCLUDED WUTHERING HEIGHTS – THE FIRST SELF-COMPOSED SONG BY A FEMALE VOCALIST TO TOP THE UK SINGLES CHARTS…

A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH

THE 1979 TOUR – LATER DUBBED THE TOUR OF LIFE – WAS SPECTACULAR AND INTENSIVELY PLANNED. THOUGH TOUCHED BY TRAGEDY, IT WOULD LEAVE AN INDELIBLE IMPRESSION ON THE LUCKY CONCERT-GOERS…

"YOU CAN'T DESTROY THAT MAGIC"

IT’S MARCH 1979, AND KATE BUSH IS SITTING IN A HOTEL ROOM IN GATESHEAD WHILE ON THE PROMO TRAIL FOR HER SECOND ALBUM LIONHEART, WILLING TO FIELD QUERIES ABOUT GROWING UP, HER CAREER… AND THAT CONTROVERSIAL PHOTOGRAPH

NEVER FOR EVER

KATE BUSH’S STARTLING AND EMOTIONAL THIRD ALBUM WAS ABOUT FREEDOM, TELLING STORIES, TRANSIENCE, AND ALSO ALL ABOUT TAKING CONTROL OF HER OWN SOUND THANKS TO MUSICAL FRIENDS AND THE SOUND-MUNCHING, WAVEFORM-CRUNCHING TECHNOLOGICAL WONDER THEY CALLED THE FAIRLIGHT…

HER SENSUAL WORLD

THE HALF-DECADE THAT GAVE US KATE BUSH’S FIFTH AND SIXTH ALBUMS WOULD DISPLAY A TRULY FULLY-FORMED ARTIST WITH A FAR LIGHTER YET MORE COMPLEX TOUCH: IT WOULD BEGIN WITH A WHOPPING GREAT HIT AND CULMINATE WITH UNEQUIVOCAL STATESIDE APPROVAL. THIS, HOWEVER, WAS AN INTENSE BLIZZARD OF WORK THAT WAS PERHAPS PREPARING US FOR A LONG, LONG RETREAT…

DRAMATIC LICENSE: THE VIDEOS 1985-1989

KATE BUSH’S VIDEO OUTPUT IN THE SECOND HALF OF THE DECADE TOOK ON NEW, DEEPER TWISTS AS SHE BEGAN TO PAY NEARLY AS MUCH ATTENTION TO STORYBOARDING THESE ALMOST MINI-FILMS AS SHE DID OVERDUBBING HER INCREASINGLY SUBTLE AND COMPLEX MUSIC. SHE ALSO MINED THE THEATRICAL, CINEMATIC AND COMEDIC WORLDS FOR SOME UNLIKELY AND VERY SKILLED TALENT…

ALBUM

HOUNDS OF LOVE

ALBUM THE RED SHOES

FEELING THE PRESSURE OF FOLLOWING UP SOME OF HER BEST WORK AND ALSO BESET BY PERSONAL PROBLEMS, KATE FOUND THE RED SHOES A DIFFICULT AND DEEPLY UNFULFILLING RECORD TO MAKE. SURE, IT SOLD PLENTY… BUT THAT WASN’T THE POINT. WOULD SHE FIND THE INNER STRENGTH TO MAKE ANOTHER RECORD AT ALL?

ALBUM AERIAL

THEY SAY THAT TIMING IS EVERYTHING, AND IF THE LONG, SUSPENSEFUL BUILD AHEAD OF DOUBLE-ALBUM AERIAL CREATED FEVERISH ANTICIPATION, THEN ITS MELLOW, NUANCED CHARM ENDED UP FEELING ENTIRELY OF THE MOMENT. CRITICAL AND COMMERCIAL ACCLAIM GREETED THIS AMBITIOUS BUT STILL-SUBTLE RECORD THAT MANY SAY IS THE SINGER-SONGWRITER’S STRONGEST OF THIS CENTURY…

THE APOLLO MISSION

IT WAS THE NEWS THAT FANS HAD BEEN PRAYING FOR: KATE BUSH WAS TO PLAY LIVE ONCE MORE. AND SHE WOULD DO IT IN THE VENUE IN WHICH SHE LAST PERFORMED, OVER 30 YEARS EARLIER…

KATE BUSH TRACKS

GREATEST

STRANGE PHENOMENA

NEARLY 40 YEARS ON, RUNNING UP THAT HILL IS THE GIFT THAT KEEPS ON GIVING. WE TRACK KATE BUSH’S METEORIC AND RECORD-BREAKING RENAISSANCE AS A RESULT OF THE NETFLIX SMASH, STRANGER THINGS.

CLASSIC POP

BACK EAST Getty © Getty Images June 1978,

CLASSIC POP

PRIZED MELODY © Alamy Kate and Boomtown Rats

CLASSIC POP

BEAR FRUIT © Alamy Bush pictured wearing

CLASSIC POP

PIANO FORTE © Getty Kate sits behind the

CLASSIC POP

AFTER A FASHION © Koh Hasebe/Shinko Music/Getty Images

INTO ANOTHER MOMENT

“WITH A KISS I PASS THE KEY, AND FEEL YOUR TOUCH TEASING AND REVEALING…” FOR SOMEONE WHO’S SEEN AS AN ISOLATIONIST, CLASSIC POP ARGUES THAT SOME OF KATE BUSH’S MOST TREASURED WORK AND PERFORMANCES HAVE COME FROM COLLABORATIONS…

KATE CLUB

SEÁN TWOMEY HAS BEEN RUNNING THE KATE BUSH NEWS & INFORMATION WEBSITE SINCE 1998. IN 2011 THE SITE TEAMED UP WITH HOMEGROUND MAGAZINE, A FANZINE FIRST PUBLISHED NEARLY 30 YEARS EARLIER, TO BECOME THE ESSENTIAL ONLINE PLATFORM FOR ALL THINGS KATE…

CHANGING WITH THE LIGHT

GUIDO HARARI’S 2016 BOOK OF REMARKABLE PHOTOGRAPHS GATHERS SOME OF THE SINGER’S MOST STRIKING MOMENTS. PLUS, ON PAGE 122, WE ROUND UP 10 OF THE MOST ESSENTIAL REFERENCE WORKS FOR FANS…

ALL WE EVER LOOK FOR...

MYSTERIOUS, ALLUSIVE, POETIC – JUST A FEW WORDS THAT MIGHT APPLY TO KATE BUSH’S LYRICS. IN THIS FEATURE THE FOUNDER OF THE KATEBUSHNEWS.COM SITE REFLECTS ON THE MEANINGS THAT LIE BELOW THE SURFACE OF JUST A FEW OF THE ARTIST’S SONGS…

KATE ON VINYL

REISSUES AND BEYOND