*** Famous Kate Bush Fans ****

[rhill@netrun.cts.com (ronald hill)]

FAMOUS KATE BUSH FANS

        by Ed Suranyi, Ron Hill, Andrew Marvick (IED), Julian West, Doug 
Alan, D. Mark Ouellette, Anthony Kosky, and Dirk Kastens.

        Compiled and edited by Ed Suranyi and Ron Hill


        See also the article on cover versions of Kate's songs, the 
article on Kate's session work, and the book Cloudbusting, under the 
names of people who know Kate.

        Peter Gabriel -- he asked Kate to sing with him several times.
        Midge Ure (formerly of Ultravox) -- asked Kate to sing on his 
album, and praised her in interviews
        Nigel Kennedy -- Knows Kate and has praised Kate in interviews.  
Calls her "Bush Baby".   In the Oct. 28, 1989 issue of _Melody Maker_ he 
said "She's just a great musician, so inspired in her attitude to music.  
I think she's one of the greatest composers of the century in my opinion. 
 That's another type of music that relates to my way of thinking.  You 
can call it classical, whatever, it just takes in influences from all 
over.  The main song I played on was "The Fog", where I played the 
counter melody to her vocal.  I also did chord
banks on another song -- "Heads We're Dancing".  We did it in her own 
48-track studio.  It was all acoustic.  I think it's about the best 
studio sound I've ever had -- her boyfriend Del is a great engineer."
        John Hughes -- asked Kate to sing for his movie
        Nicolas Roeg -- asked Kate to sing for his movie.
        Suzanne Vega -- In an Oct. 1990 issue of _Rolling Stone_, Suzanne 
lists _The Dreaming_ as one of her favorite albums of the eighties.
        Dave Gilmour -- discovered Kate
        Pat Benatar -- covered W. Heights, which she said was a 
"beautiful song"
        Donny Osmond -- called "Don't Give Up" his "theme song"
        Natalie Cole -- covered "The Man With..." several times
        Ozzy Osbourne -- TSW one of his favorite albums of the year
        Robert Smith (of the Cure) -- TSW one of his favorite albums of 
the year
        Paul Kantner (of Jefferson Airplane) -- TSW on his Christmas wish 
list
        Simon Le Bon and Nick Rhodes (of Duran Duran) -- played the video 
for Sat in Your Lap when they were guest DJs on MTV. In a 1985 issue of 
"No. 1", Simon Le Bon revealed that his favorite female singer is Kate 
Bush.  And that he thinks the album Hounds Of Love is great.
        Colin Moulding (of XTC) -- said he was a Kate fan in the XTC 
fanzine.  (Jon Drukman can probably provide the exact quote).
        Roy Harper -- asked Kate to sing on his album, twice.
        Sarah McLachlan -- said she'd been influenced by Kate
        Mick Karn -- Whose more recent expression of his respect for 
Kate's work postdates and presumably supplants earlier, less favourable 
assessments by members of his ex-group Japan--himself included--back in 
1982, when they jointly asserted that the Japanese singer-songwriter 
Akiko Yano did what Kate "tried to do" better than she did
        Fish (of Marillion) -- why?
        Dave Gahan (of Depeche Mode) -- In one of those *Star Hits* star 
polls in 1986, he voted for Kate Bush as "Most desirable human being" (he 
also voted for her for best song and best female singer....).
        John Cale - In an awful article on Kate Bush in Sounds in 1986 he 
says that Kate Bush's videos are the only creative work in the field.
        Iron Maiden - The band members have all said they are Kate Bush 
fans in various interviews.  They also used the Kate Bush symbol on the 
cover of the album "Somewhere In Time", although that might be because 
it's also the Knights Templars symbol.
        Paula Abdul (POSSIBLY) - Video "Blowing Kisses In The Wind" very 
simular to a Kate video.
        Brian Eno (POSSIBLY) - At a "Conversations with Brian Eno" panel 
discussion in 1990, one of the critics asked Brian if there were any 
artists he had not worked with that he would like to work with.  Someone 
in the audience (not me!) yelled out "Kate Bush" and there were quite a 
few "Yeahs" "Yays" and lots of clapping. Brian said that he'd prefer NOT 
to work with artists who are in the same area of music that he's in and 
that "She's too close" to work with.
        Enya (POSSIBLY) - She did the soundtrack for a BBC television 
series called _The_Celts_. That soundtrack has been released in the U.S., 
and is even available on CD domestically. It is sometimes simply called 
_Enya_. Also, although Enya loves to claim that she never listens to 
anyone's music and has no influences at all (which is absurd), the cover 
of _The_Celts_ is extremely similar to Kate's cover for _Hounds_of_Love_. 
It shows Enya kneeling, with two wolves flanking her. Those who remember 
Kate's and John Carder Bush's descriptions of the difficult sessions they 
had with Bonnie and Clyde (the
Weimeraners on the cover of _HoL_) will understand why Enya's wolves are 
stuffed rather than live. But no-one will ever convince IED that _HoL_'s 
cover didn't directly influence Enya's. The photo is even placed in the 
center of a blank white field, as in _HoL_.
        Prince (POSSIBLY) - Thanks Kate in the linear notes to "Diamonds 
And Pearls".  Rumours that they were to work together.
        Metalica - Have said in interviews that they are fans.
        Judas Priest - Ker-rang! had a "What we want for Christmas" piece 
and Judas Priest said "Kate Bush videos".
        Donal Lunny and Liam O'Flynn, Irish musicians, who have worked 
with Kate on several occasions and who, upon being asked about the 
experience by IED a couple of years back, were _very_ animated in their 
praise of her talent and character. 
        Slash", of "Guns 'n' Roses" is rumoured to sport a large tattoo 
of
Kate on his right shoulder. It's a head-and-shoulders likeness, and even 
has her name at the bottom.
        Big Country - Stuart says he's been a Kate fan for a long time. 
Invited Kate to sing on the song "The Seer".
        Sinead O'Connor's - when her debut album, _The Lion and the 
Cobra_, came out, there were a lot of people comparing her to Kate.  Not 
because she sounds like Kate (she doesn't), but because "she uses her 
voice in bizarre ways to create interesting effects" (_L.A. Times_), or 
because they're both "women shattering the boundaries of pop music" 
(_Rolling Stone_).  
        She was interviewed in the _L.A. Times_ around 1988, and here's 
what she had to say about this:
     "I like Kate Bush, so it's kind of flattering [to be compared with
her].  I'd rather be compared with her than with someone I really 
detested. . .like Suzanne Vega, Joni Mitchell."
        Six months earlier she had told a fan that she hated to be 
compared to Kate because everybody did it and the combined effect was to 
deny the originality of her music.

        Tori Amos - Frequently compared to Kate and has praised her 
several times: 

>From interview in Keyboard Review, Feb 1992:

        By now you'll have gathered that Tori Amos is her own woman
        with a distinctive style. However writers and critics still
        want to pigeonhole her, likening her to Kate Bush
        (particularly the vocal style), Laura Nyro and Joni Mitchel.

        But she's not intimidated or angry. "I have great respect for
        the people I'm compared with, and find it really fun. I love
        what Kate Bush does but we're very different people. I've been
        hearing comparisons with Kate for 10 years --- before I'd
        heard her work. But people don't say I sound like many guys
        and I've been influenced by more men than woman. It's an
        energy --- people are missing the energy. We all compare
        people to sonics instead of vibes. I don't get compared much
        to Elton John of Ray Charles," she laughs. "As a woman you do
        get compared to other women and I feel that's not the whole
        picture because I'm sure that a lot of women and men are
        inspired by the opposite sex".


>From a Tower Records magazine (Top, Febuary 1992):

        Having done the apples and tea, Tori now begins the vigorous
        production of an omletter. Clearly she dislikes inactivity.
        Certain songs on the new album, for example "Crucify" the
        first track, have led people to compare Tori to Kate Bush, as
        previously mentioned. Does she mind this?

        "I don't mind at all. The truth is that I think there's maybe
        a quality, an energy that people sense that we have in
        common.In fact, if you put our songs back to back, they're as
        alike as night and day. I'm a huge fan of hers, of course, but
        this comparison was first made ten years ago in a club and at
        that time I hadn't heard any of her work. When I did hear her
        work, I loved it, but I made it a rule not to get _every_
        record she made because I didn't want to cop (sic). Let's face
        it, when you're compared to somebody that you like, it doesn't
        get much better than that".

The June 1992 issue of the German KEYBOARDS magazine:

Tori: "It doesn't depend on how many chords you can place in a song, but
       on what you create out of every single chord. One of the best
       songs of this kind that I've heard during the last years and that
       has absolutely no example is 'Running Up That Hill'."

Keyb: "Many critics did compare you to Kate Bush."

Tori: "Yes, but I think that is nothing to do with my songs but with
       my singing. They hear these high tones and remember Kate Bush."

Keyb: "But the conceptions of your songs are completely different."

Tori: "Yes, she works with different structures. But her songs are very
       original and that is what matters."



---
rhill@netrun.cts.com (ronald hill)
NetRunner's Paradise BBS, San Diego CA