Who Is Kate Bush? Singer's Track Tops Charts After Stranger Things Episode

Wuthering Heights singer, Kate Bush’s 37-year-old song Running Up That Hill has re-entered music charts around the world due to it appearing in an episode of Stranger Things.

Sharing her excitement, the English Singer-Songwriter said in her statement, “You might’ve heard that the first part of the fantastic, gripping new series of Stranger Things has recently been released on Netflix. It features the song, ‘Running Up That Hill’ which is being given a whole new lease of life by the young fans who love the show, I love it too!”

Who Is Kate Bush?

In 1978, she outshined the UK Singles Chart for four weeks with her debut single "Wuthering Heights", and became known as the first female artist to achieve a UK number one with a self-written ">song.

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While attending St Joseph's Convent Grammar School, a Catholic girls' school in nearby Abbey Wood, her family produced a demo tape with over 50 of her compositions, which was turned down by record labels. Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour received the demo from Ricky Hopper, a mutual friend of Gilmour and the Bush family. Gilmour helped the 16-year-old Bush record a more professional demo tape which later, was produced by Gilmour's friend Andrew Powell. 

Beginning writing songs at 11, she was signed by EMI Records after English rock band Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour helped produce a demo tape. Her debut album, The Kick Inside, was released in 1978. Bush gradually accumulated creative autonomy in album production. She produced all her studio albums since The Dreaming (1982).

She took a break between her seventh and eighth albums, The Red Shoes (1993) and Aerial (2005) respectively. Drawing attention again in 2014 with her concert residency Before the Dawn, it was her first show since 1979's The Tour of Life.

Speaking to Melody Maker magazine in 1977, she said,  "Every female you see at a piano is either Lynsey de Paul or Carole King. And most male music – not all of it but the good stuff – really lays it on you. It really puts you against the wall and that's what I like to do. I'd like my music to intrude. Not many females succeed with that." 

Known for her eclectic and experimental musical style, and unconventional lyrics, Kate’s performances and literary themes have influenced a multifarious range of artists. She has been nominated for 13 British Phonographic Industry accolades and won the award for Best British Female Artist in 1987.  Also nominated for three Grammy Awards, in 2002, Bush was recognised with an Ivor Novello Award for Outstanding Contribution to British Music. She has been nominated three times, in 2018, 2021 and 2022, for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Feature Image Credit: The Guardian.