Who Knew? #3: Kate Bush

by Mari Stauffer

While listening to a great cover of Kate Bush’s “Cloudbusting” (performed by a new favorite band of mine, Wild Nothing), I was inspired to revisit some of her work, and while reading about her, I learned some interesting information.

From a young age, Kate Bush was active in the creative arts….dancing, singing, and songwriting. Her debut album was released in 1978, when she was only 19 years old. What’s impressive beyond her young age is that she wrote and composed all the songs herself, some when she was only 13. Her voice sounds young, yes, but there is a unique maturity and confidence with self expression through song that is rare at that age.

She was able to convince EMI records to use “Wuthering Heights” as the single, when they were pushing for another track, “James and the Cold Gun.” That was a good call on her part, because “Wuthering Heights” shot to the top of the UK Singles chart and stayed there for weeks. This resulted in Bush becoming the first woman to have a UK number one with a self-written song. She was inspired to write the song, not from Emily Bronte’s novel of the same name, but by the television adaptation. She did, however, read the novel later.

Among those involved in the album, lending their various musical and production talents, were Duncan Mackay, Ian Bairnson, David Paton, Andrew Powell, Stuart Elliott, and David Gilmour.

At the young age of 19, Kate Bush had made an unforgettable mark in the musical world, and that was only the beginning. She’s since released nine more studio albums, the latest one, 50 Words For Snow, released in 2011. Last year also saw the release of Director’s Cut, the second time (the first was in 1978) she released two albums in one year. Now that is one prolific artist!

Wuthering Heights video (US version)