The Bush is Back!

1. Kate Bush was born in 1958 in southeast London and grew up in a family surrounded by music, art and literature.
2. She learnt to play the violin at the age of 11 but didn’t enjoy it, so took up piano to accompany her brother’s fiddle playing.
3. Kate’s father was a doctor and played the piano; Kate’s mother was a nurse and competed as a folk dancer in her native Ireland.
4. An early nickname for Kate was ‘Ee-ee’ because of her squeaky kiai – battle cry – when practising karate.
5. She had poetry published in her school magazine.
6. Kate almost gave up on her musical ambitions in her teens, considering a career in psychiatry instead.
7. Ricky Hopper, a music-business friend of Kate’s family, approached major record companies in 1972 with demo tapes that Kate had made, but none of them were interested. 
8. Hopper then gave Kate’s music to Dave Gilmour of Pink Floyd, who liked what he heard and agreed to help develop her songs. 
9. It wasn’t until July 1975 that record company EMI started negotiations to sign Kate.
10. She spent much of her advance money from EMI on mime training and interpretive dance lessons with David Bowie’s former teacher, Lindsay Kemp.
11. In 1977, Kate’s brother Paddy formed a band with three friends and Kate was asked to be the vocalist. Calling themselves KT Bush Band, they toured London pubs and clubs.
12. Kate’s birthday is on 30 July. It is known as Katemas and is celebrated all over the world by her fans. She shares it with Emily Brontë. Kate’s debut single, Wuthering Heights, is based on Brontë’s novel. The song quickly went to No1 in the charts. 
13. She doesn’t wear fur and is a vegetarian, but occasionally eats fish.
14. Kate was the first woman to have a UK No1 with a self-written song.
15. Kate’s only appearance in the US was on Saturday Night Live with guest host Eric Idle.
16. She turned down the offer to sing the theme tune for the James Bond film Moonraker, which Shirley Bassey went on to perform.
17. Her 1979 tour was the only tour she ever did – this year’s will be her second.
18. In 1980, Kate appeared on Delia Smith’s cookery programme and showed off some of her favourite dishes, including Waldorf salad. 
19. Kate’s music video Experiment IV featured Dawn French and Hugh Laurie in a disused military hospital in south London. 
20. The dialogue from the opening sequence of Hounds Of Love – ‘It’s in the trees! It’s coming!’ – is taken from the 1957 British horror film Night Of The Demon.
21. Her father, Dr Bush, performed surgery in flowered smocks and the family had the ghost of a Victorian service maid exorcised from their house. 
22. She took part in the recording of the Ferry Aid charity single, Let It Be, after the tragic capsizing of the ferry Herald Of Free Enterprise. 
23. James Joyce’s Ulysses inspired her song The Sensual World.
24. The song Heads We’re Dancing is about a woman who discovers the charming man she danced the night away with is Adolf Hitler. 
25. She thinks Nicolas Roeg’s Don’t Look Now is one of the best films ever made. 
26. Kate wrote, produced and acted in the 1993 short film The Line, The Cross And The Curve. 
27. Her first double album, Aerial, entered the UK charts at No3 in 2005, selling more than 90,000 copies in the first week. 
28. Kate is married to guitarist Dan McIntosh and has a son Albert, known as Bertie. 
29. Her neighbours in Berkshire say she lives so quietly they often assume she has moved out.
30. Kate once called herself the ‘shyest megalomaniac you’re ever likely to meet’.
31. She turned down an invitation to perform at the closing ceremony of the London 2012 Olympics. 
32. Elton John and Stephen Fry appeared on Kate’s last album, 50 Words For Snow. 
33. Kate received a South Bank Sky Arts Award for Pop in 2012 for her album 50 Words For Snow, beating other nominees Adele and PJ Harvey. 
34. Her current net worth is estimated at £30m. 
35. Kate’s forthcoming tour sold out all 22 dates in 15 minutes.

Research by Anna Price