Since emerging in 1978 with her smash hit debut single, ‘Wuthering Heights’, Kate Bush has not only been one of the most beloved musicians on the planet, but also one of the most fascinating.
Here are 15 Kate Bush facts even the most devoted of her fans may have missed…
15 Kate Bush facts
1. She was at David Bowie's final Ziggy Stardust gig (and never looked back)
Kate Bush learned from the best. Shortly before her 15th birthday she attended one of the most notorious gigs of all time – the 3 July 1973 show that saw David Bowie ‘kill off’ his Ziggy Stardust character.
The evening obviously had a lasting effect on her, after Bowie’s death in 2016, Bush told The Guardian: “He created such staggeringly brilliant work, yes, but so much of it and it was so good. There are great people who make great work but who else has left a mark like his? No one like him.”
2. She was the 70s' answer to The Karate Kid
Kate’s eldest brother, John, was an instructor at Goldsmiths College Karate Club, and the young singer practiced the martial art in between writing scores of songs and poetry for the school magazine.
At the club she earned the nickname ‘Ee-ee’ because of her squeaky kiai – the battle cry shouted by combatants when performing an attacking move.
3. James Bond producers asked her to sing the theme to Moonraker
The theme tune for Moonraker, the 11th film in the James Bond franchise, had a bumpy ride to the big screen. Firstly, Frank Sinatra was considered to sing it, before crooner Johnny Mathis signed up.
When Mathis became unhappy with the song, producers turned to Kate Bush – the hottest property in pop after the release of ‘Wuthering Heights’. But her record label said she was too busy to do the honours. Bond veteran Shirley Bassey eventually recorded it and the song became a Bond classic.
4. She interviewed herself for fan club newsletters
In the 20th and 21st issues of the Kate Bush Club magazine, both published in 1987, Kate was interviewed by two fictitious characters – her aunt Hetty and cousin Zwort Finkle. Well, why not?
When ‘Zwort’ asked Kate why she didn’t do many interviews, her answer was revealing: "I find it very difficult to express myself in interviews," she said. "Often people have so many preconceptions that I spend most of the interview trying to defend myself from the image that was created by the media eight years ago."
5. Fleetwood Mac asked her to support them on their 'Rumours' tour
In 1978, Fleetwood Mac were the biggest act in the world, thanks to the runaway success of their 11th album, Rumours. They approached Bush and asked her to support them on their massive US tour in support of the album, but Kate declined, preferring to concentrate on developing her own shows.
In a 2011 interview with BBC Radio 2, Stevie Nicks picked the Hounds Of Love single ‘Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God)’ as one of her own favourite songs, saying, "That song I really loved because, what a great writer she is, and 'Running Up That Hill' was one of those songs that, when I first heard it, I went, 'Oh I wanna record that song someday.'"
6. She pioneered the use of wireless mic headsets
While wireless mics had been used in concert from the mid-70s by acts including The Rolling Stones and Todd Rundgren, Kate Bush was the first artist to have a headset made with a wireless mic included.
The technology meant that Bush was free to perform the expressive dance routines she’d envisaged for her 1979 Tour Of Life shows without missing a note. The mics went on to become commonplace in pop shows.
7. She once told her fans she'd seen a UFO in Scotland
Writing in the Christmas 1981 issue of the Kate Bush Club magazine, Kate described a recent trip to Loch Ness, where she believed she’d seen a UFO. "I noticed three lights in the sky, descending in a diagonal line. Then they formed a horizontal line and remained static just below a layer of cloud.
"There were huge circular orange lights; and we set off in the car in hot pursuit. We thought maybe they were some kind of stadium lights, but they were too near to the clouds; and we had never seen aircraft with such big lights, nor that colour."
8. She got more than she bargained for when she worked with Prince
While the pair had admired each other’s work for many years, Bush and Prince only met for the first time backstage during the latter’s 1990 run of shows at London’s Wembley Arena – part of the Nude Tour, staged in support of his latest album, Graffiti Bridge. The meeting went well enough for Kate to ask Prince to provide backing vocals for ‘Why Should I Love You’, a near-complete song she’d been working on.
Prince went one better, totally reimagining the song, adding keys, guitar solos and bass. Apparently taken aback by the results, Kate then worked further on the song, blending her work with Prince’s before releasing it on her 1994 album, The Red Shoes.
When Prince died in 2016, Bush paid tribute writing: "I am so sad and shocked to hear the tragic news about Prince. He was the most incredibly talented artist. A man in complete control of his work from writer and musician to producer and director. He was the most inventive and extraordinary live act I’ve seen. The world has lost someone truly magical. Goodnight dear Prince."
9. The Simpsons used her music to soundtrack an episode
When the team behind The Simpsons looked to soundtrack Mathlete’s Feet, a 2015 episode in which rival schools’ maths teams competed against one another, they turned to Bush’s music. The song ‘π’, from her 2005 album, Aerial, in which she describes a man’s obsession with numbers by reciting the first 137 numbers of the mathematical constant π (or Pi), soundtracks a competition montage.
While Bush doesn’t correctly sing all of the digits and misses others out – leading to fan speculation over her intentions – Bart and Lisa Simpson’s maths team eventually prevail, despite a rocky start.
10. Some fans have a secret message from her
For the 2023 reprint of her selected lyrics, How To Be Invisible, it was revealed that Kate had lined up a typically mischievous treat for fans. A limited number of the books were signed by the artist, with a few even including a handwritten message from Kate.
The catch? The message was written in invisible ink, so the note could only be seen under an ultraviolet light. While it’s not confirmed, a Reddit user posted their copy of the book with the playful message ‘Boo!’, apparently written by Bush herself.
11. She sang with Joni Mitchell and Debbie Harry
Well, sort of. The 1989 charity single ‘Spirit Of The Forest’ featured a star-studded cast, all giving up their time to promote the Earth Love Fund Rainforest Appeal. All proceeds from the record, songwriting, publishing and video were donated to programmes dedicated to saving the rainforests of the world.
There were two versions of the song put together – the one featuring vocals from Bush also featured Joni Mitchell, Debbie Harry, Brian Wilson, Ringo Starr, David Gilmour, XTC and Belinda Carlisle, among many more, recorded over three sessions in London, Los Angeles and New York and stitched together by the production team Gentlemen Without Weapons.
12. She embarrassed herself in front of the Queen... and Prince Charles
In 2005, Bush told her son Bertie – who was roughly seven at the time – that she’d been invited to a music industry reception at Buckingham Palace and Queen Elizabeth II would be in attendance. When Bertie expressed disbelief, she decided she’d bring him back him proof of the evening.
"I made a complete arsehole of myself," Bush told Tom Doyle of MOJO later that year. "I’m ashamed to say that when I told Bertie that I was going to meet the Queen, he said, 'Mummy, no, you're not, you’ve got it wrong' and I said, 'But I am!' So rather stupidly I thought I’d get her to sign my programme. She was very sweet…
"The thing is I would do anything for Bertie and making an arsehole of myself in front of a whole roomful of people and the Queen, I mean... I don’t have a very good track record with royalty. My dress fell off in front of Prince Charles at the Prince’s Trust, so I'm just living up to my reputation."
13. Her first performance was at a furniture design school
Two years before ‘Wuthering Heights’, Bush made her live performance debut with a typically unconventional show. Her elder brother, Paddy, had been studying for three years to become a musical instrument technologist at the London College of Furniture, Shoreditch, specialising in medieval musical instruments.
As part of his final-year show in 1976, Bush helped her brother out by performing. Paddy’s old schoolfriend – and future member of Kate’s first band, The KT Band – Brian Bath recalled in Graeme Thomson’s biography Under The Ivy, that she was, "wearing some woollen type suit with a big trumpet thing coming out of her head. You couldn’t actually see her. Paddy had some wacky ideas, he really did."
14. Johnny Rotten wrote her a song about parrots
Though his tabloid image was of a brash, snotty cartoon punk, Sex Pistols and Public Image Ltd frontman John Lydon has never been shy to talk about his eclectic musical tastes, often singing the praises of dub, prog and techno in interviews. Lydon has also spoken many times of his admiration for Bush’s artistry.
But in 2009, interviewed for the BBC documentary Queens Of Pop, Lydon went further, revealing he’d written a song with her in mind… and Bush had rejected it. "I love and adore Kate Bush," he said.
"I’ve always been a fan of hers. I almost worked with her once. I was obviously just a tad too on the crazy side. She asked me to put some song ideas together.
"I did and it was about rescuing parrots from the parrot trade in Brazil. I called it 'Bird In Hand'. She said, 'Um, not what I had in mind, John!’ I think she was looking for a ballad. The right idea but the wrong time, maybe."
15. She once recorded a series of trippy adverts for a fizzy drink
It’s never easy to second guess Bush’s next move and in 1994 she shocked fans when she wrote and recorded nine brief pieces of music for adverts for the launch of Coca-Cola’s new fruit drink Fruitopia.
Bush’s experimental pieces, which took in tribal percussion, Japanese and new age influences, soundtracked short, trippy and kaleidoscopic films featuring all manner of bright, rotating fruits with titles such as ‘Pink Lemonade Euphoria’, Fruitopia might not have lasted, but the ad campaign gave us an intriguing left-turn in Bush’s amazing career.
All photos Getty Images
Top image Kate Bush posed at her family home, 1978
