THE GARDEN

A Chronology of
Kate Bush's Career
(to April 1990)

|| 1958-1972 || 1972-1977 ||
|| 1977 || 1978 || 1979 ||
|| 1980 || 1981 || 1982 ||
|| 1983 || 1984 || 1985 ||
|| 1986 || 1987 || 1988 ||
|| 1989 || 1990 ||

Back to The Garden Table of Contents

[This chronology is basically a revised and slightly enlarged version of a chronology by Peter FitzGerald-Morris, the editor of Homeground, the International Kate Bush Fanzine. Peter's chronology was included in a book of sixty-six of Kate's songs entitled Kate Bush Complete.

That book is an absolutely essential part of any serious fan's collection. It may be more valuable for its chronology than for its transcriptions of the music. The latter, unfortunately, are not an improvement over earlier publications, offering only the basic melodies notated in drastically simplified form and punctuated at intervals by shorthand chord indications. Kate Bush Complete, however, also presents an edition of the songs' lyrics, and it marks an improvement over earlier available printed versions.

The book was originally edited by Cecil Bolton and published by EMI Music Publishing, but it is widely understood that virtually all of the research for the chronology and the lyrics was undertaken by Peter FitzGerald-Morris. Much of the information which appeared in Peter's Kate Bush Complete chronology had appeared in installments over a period of five years, in issues 1 through 25 of the fanzine Homeground. In Kate Bush Complete the chronology was entitled Retracing All the Scenes: An Outline of Kate's Career To Date. The following version, which draws from several sources in addition to the FitzGerald-Morris chronology, is by Andrew Marvick.]

July 30, 1958

Catherine Bush born at Bexleyheath Maternity Hospital, South East London.

1958-1969

Kate has an ordinary childhood in a loving and supportive family, immersed in music, art and literature. [This statement, sweet but almost comically uninformative, is the first of many conservative and protective remarks in FitzGerald-Morris's chronology, which seems -- quite understandably -- to have been designed at least partly with an eye to defending Kate against various kinds of criticism in the past.]

ca. 1964

[The Bush family visit New Zealand and Australia for a few months. Kate is aged six.]

September 1969

Kate starts at St. Joseph's Senior School, Bexley. She is obliged to take up the violin, as all pupils have to learn an instrument. She plays well, but does not enjoy it. Also at about this time she begins to set her poems to her own chord formulations. By 1971 embryonic versions of songs such as The Man With the Child in His Eyes and Saxophone Song begin to emerge.

1970

Kate's brother Paddy needs someone on piano to accompany his violin playing. Kate's father shows her the C Major chord and she begins to play.

Kate follows her elder brother John and begins to develop her poetry. Her piano playing is an outlet for her frustration. She is heavily influenced by an interest in Greek mythology.

1972

At the suggestion of Kate's family, Ricky Hopper, a friend with music business connections, tries to place "demo tapes" of Kate's songs with a record company, with a publishing deal in mind. At this stage Kate considers herself more of a writer than a singer. These original tapes have over thirty songs on each. [An unfortunate wording, since it may mean that there was one collection of thirty songs which was duplicated, and of which one copy was sent to each publisher; or that there were actually several different thirty-song collections.] All the major companies are approached. None accepts. Kate's songs are described as "morbid", "boring" and "uncommercial".

Kate feels that she cannot pursue a career in music and considers the alternatives: psychiatry or social work.

Unable to help further, Ricky Hopper makes contact with Dave Gilmour of Pink Floyd, whom he knew at Cambridge University. Gilmour, who at this time is spotting for talent that he can assist, is persuaded to listen to the demos and then to hear Kate perform. He is impressed, and agrees to help.

1973

Kate records at Gilmour's home studio. The backing band is comprised of Gilmour himself on guitar, and Peter Perrier and Pat Martin of Unicorn on drums and bass, respectively. The songs recorded at this stage include Passing Through Air (later to surface on the b-side of the 1980 single Army Dreamers) and a song now known as Maybe.

[Again, a bit more detail would have been welcome here. There is no mention of how many songs were recorded during these recording sessions. Incidentally, an excerpt of this version of the so-called Maybe, which presumably first appeared on Kate's original demos, was played by Kate during a radio programme called Personal Call. It should not be confused with the presumably more professional version of the recording which was made the following year (see below) but which has never been heard by fans.]

The new demos are again circulated to record companies with no result.

1974

With no progress in her musical ambitions, Kate seriously considers a career in psychiatry.

Kate takes her "O Level" examination and obtains ten "Pass" grades, with best results in English, music and Latin.

1975

Gilmour decides that the only way to interest the record companies in Kate's talent is to make a short three-song demo to full professional standards. He puts up the money.

June 1975

Kate goes into Air Studios in London's West End, with Gilmour as producer, Andrew Powell as arranger, Geoff Emerick as engineer. The three songs recorded are Saxophone Song (also known at this stage as Berlin), The Man With the Child in His Eyes, and a song which fans refer to as Maybe.

July 1975

Kate takes her "mock A Level" examinations.

While Pink Floyd are at Abbey Road Studios recording Wish You Were Here, Gilmour plays the three-track demo to Bob Mercer, then General Manager of EMI's pop division. Mercer is impressed and negotiations are opened.

The deal takes some time to conclude. It is much discussed at meetings between Kate, her family, Gilmour and EMI.

1976

Kate gets a small inheritance, and decides to leave school to concentrate on preparing herself for a career in music. She buys an old honky-tonk piano for 200 Pounds and begins screeching into existence her unmistakable voice.

[This statement implies that the twenty-two demo-recordings which are now circulating among fans date from no earlier than 1976. I do not know what the basis is for Peter's assumption, however.]

The EMI deal begins to take shape. A publishing contract is settled first.

March 1976

Kate takes her driving test and fails.

July 1976

Kate finally settles a recording deal with EMI. The contract is for four years, with options at the end of the second and third year. Kate receives a 3,000-Pound advance [and 500 Pounds for publication rights]. EMI are content for Kate to take time to write songs, sharpen her lyrics, train her voice and generally have time to "grow up".

Kate pursues her dancing, first at the Elephant and Castle, South London. But after seeing Lindsay Kemp perform in Flowers, she attends his classes at the Dance Centre in Covent Garden. After Kemp goes to Australia, Kate trains with Arlene Phillips, choreographer of Hot Gossip. [It is probably at this time that Kate's association with Gary Hurst and Stewart Avon-Arnold, her longtime dancing partners, begins.]

August 1976

Kate takes her driving test again and passes.

1977

During the first year of the contract Kate makes two further demo tapes. [Very possibly these include the twenty-two recordings now making the rounds among fans.] She resists EMI's attempts to "commercialize" her songs. She pursues her dancing. She moves away from home and into a flat in a house owned by her father in Lewisham, Southeast London, with her brothers as neighbours.

March 1977

Wuthering Heights is written at the full moon.

April 1977

Kate's brother Paddy forms a band with his friends Del Palmer, Brian Bath and Charlie Morgan. Kate is asked to be the vocalist, and the band adopts the title of the KT Bush Band. Starting at the Rose of Lee public house in Lewisham, and then in pubs and clubs in and around London and the Home Counties over a three-month period, the band perform a varying set consisting mostly of rock-and-roll standards (Honky Tonk Women, Heard It Through the Grapevine, Come Together, Sweet Soul Music, Satisfaction, etc.), although latterly Kate sings Saxophone Song and James and the Cold Gun from her own repertoire.

August 1977

Kate is finally called in to record material for an album. The producer chosen is Andrew Powell, and the backing band are half of Pilot and half of Cockney Rebel. Though the songs recorded are all Kate's own material, her role is confined to vocals, some piano-playing and some simple piano arrangements. It is decided to use eleven songs from this session and two from the 1975 Gilmour demo on the album.

September 1977

EMI want to release James and the Cold Gun as the first single. Kate wants Wuthering Heights, and she gets her way.

November 4, 1977

The original release date for Wuthering Heights. At a late stage Kate asks EMI to change the artwork on the picture-sleeve from the "pink top" photo to Del Palmer's photo-concept of Kite. She gets her way, and all the campaign materials are altered. By the time the new campaign material is ready, Christmas is approaching and EMI are unwilling to launch their new artist into the pre-Christmas maelstrom. The release date is put back until the new year. Many demos [i.e., promos] of the single have already been sent out to radio producers. EMI tries to retrieve them to prevent premature airplay. Eddie Puma, producer of London commercial station Capital Radio's Late Show, and Tony Myatt, the presenter, admire the record so much that they decide to play it, and continue to play it throughout November and December. Other radio stations follow. Wuthering Heights is an airplay hit two months before release.

January 1978

At a three-day sales conference for EMI International delegates, Kate sings live [song or songs unidentified], and Bob Mercer predicts that she will be one of the major talents of the future.

January 20, 1978

Wuthering Heights is finally released. Kate does her first live radio interview on Tony Myatt's Late Show.

Airplay for the single rapidly builds on British commercial radio, on Radio Luxemburg, and on BBC Radio 1.

February 7, 1978

Wuthering Heights enters the "official" BMRB chart at number 42.

February 9, 1978

Kate makes her first-ever television appearance in a disused tram depot in West Germany, for the famous Bio's Bahnhof on WDR-TV. She sings Kite live, backed effectively by the KT Bush Band, and Wuthering Heights to a backing tape. The backdrop, which is supposed to represent the Yorkshire moors, includes a volcano. Following her performance the host, Dr. Alfred Biolek, carries on an entirely one-sided onstage conversation with Kate--in German.

February 14, 1978

The single moves up to number 27. Having cracked the magic "top forty", the gates open and Kate appears on...

February 16, 1978

Top of the Pops. She performs in high heels and slacks. Kate says later, "It was like watching myself die...a bloody awful performance."

February 17, 1978

Kate's first album, The Kick Inside, is released, and a huge promotional campaign is unleashed.

February 21, 1978

The single moves up to number 13.

February 25, 1978

Kate performs live on BBC TV's Saturday Nights at the Mill, singing Moving and Them Heavy People and giving a brief interview. She also appears on the programme Magpie.

The first major interviews appear in the music press, and Kate is the subject of intense media attention. She begins preparing for a live tour, projected for mid-year.

February 28, 1978

The single moves up to number 5. Kate is said to be the most photographed woman in the U.K.

March 2, 1978

The Keith ("Keef") MacMillan-directed video for Wuthering Heights is shown on Top of the Pops. It is the second video for the song. The first, made by Rockflix in an [unidentified] outdoor setting, is rejected for British promotional use, although it is used in other territories.

March 7, 1978

Wuthering Heights is number 1 on the British singles chart, displacing Abba. The press turn it into a nationalistic celebration. EMI celebrate with a champagne reception for Kate, and dinner in Paris. She celebrates by buying a 7,000-Pound Steinway piano. The single celebrates by going silver in the U.K. (250,000 sales).

The single remains at number 1 for four weeks.

March 16, 1978

On the same evening as her second "number 1" appearance on Top of the Pops, Kate is interviewed on the BBC TV current-affairs programme, Tonight.

Mickie Most asks Kate to appear in the pilot edition of his new pop-rock television programme Revolver. She is introduced by Peter Cook and sings Them Heavy People (which EMI want to release as the follow-up single) live. The programme is screened on May 20, 1978. [This is not the performance included in the video compilation The Single File.]

March 25, 1978

Kate starts a four-day promotional trip to Eire, appearing on the top show in the Irish ratings, The Late Late Show.

[The Kick Inside is released in the U.S.A., unchanged except for an inappropriate U.S.- and Canada-only front-cover design, not authorized by Kate. This is sometimes known as the "mirror" cover. To this day the cover continues to be used by Harvest, EMI's distributor for Kate's recordings in Canada, but it was discontinued in the U.S. in July 1978 when Kate's contract was transferred to the newly launched EMI-America label.]

The album's reception in the U.S. is somewhat quieter than in Europe and England. [To put it mildly!] Capitol-EMI wait for FM radio-play to determine a likely single.

April 4, 1978

Wuthering Heights moves down to number 3. The Kick Inside reaches its chart peak at number 3.

Kate is off to Europe to promote single and album in the Netherlands, West Germany (a second time) and France. In The Netherlands, Kate makes a 25-minute promotional film of six tracks [Peter inexplicably writes "seven", though only six tracks were filmed] at De Efteling is in Kaatsheuvel, a gothic horror theme-park. Her visit is commemorated by a new gravestone. She performs on the Voor De Vuist Weg television programme. In Germany Kate appears on the television programmes Scene '78 and Top Pop, performing Wuthering Heights on both shows. Other guests on the former programme include Dr. Feelgood and The Boomtown Rats.

During this month Kate also makes a brief trip to the United States for promotional purposes, arriving back in the U.K. by April 21st.

Tour plans are put back to the end of the year.

May, 1978

Kate makes her first promotional trip to the U.S.A. and Canada (although she gives no performances and makes no U.S. television appearances), and then takes a short holiday. [This must be the same trip which is mentioned immediately above, for April. The U.S.-made interview album Self Portrait may have been cut during this trip.]

Wuthering Heights goes gold in the U.K. (500,000 sales). Kate presents the disk to Tony Myatt. For four years it hangs in the foyer of Capitol Radio's London base.

EMI allow Kate to have her way over the choice of the follow-up single in the U.K. It is to be The Man With the Child in His Eyes, which Kate had always wanted to be a single, as she felt it showcased her real songwriting talent. It is less of a novelty, and more of a standard. Dave Gilmour (executive producer on the track, which actually dates from the June, 1975 demo-sessions) is also pleased. In Japan, the U.S. and elsewhere the follow-up later in the year will be EMI's first choice, Them Heavy People.

May 28, 1978

The second single is released in the U.K. Airplay and sales are very good.

June, 1978

Kate goes to Japan to participate in the 7th Tokyo Song Festival. On June 18 she performs Moving (which is the debut single in Japan) live before an audience of 11,000 at the Nippon Budokan. The television audience is nearer 35 million. The single is boosted on its way to number 1 in the Japanese chart. Kate wins the Silver Prize jointly with American group The Emotions [!].

During her visit, on June 23, Kate performs abridged versions of two Beatles songs, The Long and Winding Road and She's Leaving Home, on the Japanese television programme Sound in S, taped at Tokyo's TBS G Studio.

Also during her visit to Japan Kate makes her only television advertisement, and her only endorsement for a commercial product--a spot for Seiko watches.

On her return to Britain Kate has under four weeks to get material together for her second album. She does not like being under such pressure. In the time available, three new songs are written, and a number of old ones are revamped. These songs, making up the basic material for Lionheart, are demoed in a studio designed by Paddy Bush and built out of the royalties from Wuthering Heights.

July 1978

Kate is the best selling female albums artist in the U.K. for the first quarter of 1978. Wuthering Heights has been number 1 in the Netherlands, Belgium, New Zealand (five weeks), and Australia; and "top-ten" in Germany, France, Brazil, Argentina, South Africa, Denmark, Sweden and Finland.

July 4, 1978

The Man With the Child in His Eyes reaches its chart peak in the U.K. at number 6.

The Kick Inside is re-released in the U.S.A. on a new label--EMI-America [and with a different but equally inappropriate cover, now sometimes referred to as the "country-western" or "Tammy Wynette" cover.] Wuthering Heights is finally released as a single in the U.S. There are some good notices, but Kate is considered by radio programmers to be "too bizarre" for the American market.

July 7, 1978

Kate travels to Superbear Studios in Nice, France to record her second album. She had had good reports of this studio from Dave Gilmour, who recorded his first solo album there. The recording is a much-needed break for Kate. In the sunshine and the mountain air she recovers from almost six months of solid promotion, and pursues her real vocation, making music.

August, 1978

It takes ten weeks at Superbear to record twelve tracks, of which ten are used for the new album. [These two unreleased tracks have never been identified.] Kate has definite aims for this album. She sees her first album as having affected the senses. Lionheart is to be aimed at the guts. In this she comes into some conflict with Andrew Powell, who is again acting as producer. She is allowed more of her own way in the studio, and after applying some pressure, she is able to bring the KT Bush Band in to play on some of the tracks. Kate is credited as assistant producer, but Lionheart is the end of the road for the Bush-Powell partnership.

September 5, 1978

Kate debuts one of the tracks from Lionheart on a U.K. children's television programme, Ask Aspel. She later explains that she wanted to sing In the Warm Room, but felt that it was too risque for a children's show. She sings Kashka From Baghdad, a song about two gay lovers, instead.

As the album takes longer than expected, Kate is recalled to London by EMI to do some prior promotion. At her own request, Kate is interviewed by a diverse collection of publications ranging from The Sun, to Vegetarian and Vogue (the last featuring Kate in photographs by David Bailey).

October 11, 1978

From completing the final mix of the album, Kate is straight on a plane for Australia, where she is to preside with that month's teen pop sensation Leif Garrett over the Tenth annual TV Week King of Pop Awards before a live audience of 1,000 in a circus tent, and a television audience of two million on the Nine Network.

The next day Kate also performs live on the television programme Countdown, debuting the routine for Hammer Horror, devised in her hotel room. Hammer Horror is planned as the first single from the new album.

October 17, 1978

Kate moves on to New Zealand, specifically Christchurch, for a television special. There she again performs Hammer Horror.

The live tour is put back to February 1979.

November, 1978

Julie Covington, who has known Kate and her family for many years, releases an album including her own cover version of The Kick Inside.

Kate promotes Lionheart in the Netherlands, German and France [although I have no record of any television appearances dating from the trip].

November 7, 1978

Hammer Horror enters the British singles chart at the unexpectedly low place of number 73. [Contrary to usual record-company theory, saturation of the market place with new, rushed product nearly immediately after the success of a debut album is more often than not a poor business move, and usually does as much damage as good to the artist's budding popularity. The commercially mediocre sales of Lionheart should not have surprised anyone.]

Lionheart has its international launch at the 14th-century Ammersoyen Castel, two hours' drive from Amsterdam. 120 guests, from EMI Europe, Canada and the UK, and including disk jockeys Tony Myatt and Kenny Everett, as well as Dr. and Mrs. Bush, attend the reception. After dinner, in the grounds of the castle, Leo Bouderwijas, the President of the Association of Dutch Phonographical Industries, presents Kate with the prestigious Edison Award for the best single of 1978. Kate is also presented with a platinum disc for sales of the album in Holland.

November 8, 1978

Kate flies back to the U.K. for a private buffet at The Venue for the presentation of the Melody Maker 1978 Poll Awards. In the first year of her public career Kate has been voted Best Female Vocalist and Brightest Hope of 1978.

November 10, 1978

The international release of Lionheart.

November 17, 1978

Kate performs Don't Push Your Foot on the Heartbrake on The Leo Sayer Show, on BBC TV. She is off on a personal appearance tour of British record shops.

November 21, 1978

Hammer Horror reaches its chart peak, number 44. Lionheart enters the album chart at number 36.

December, 1978

Kate is off to promote in the U.S.A. for the release there of The Man With the Child in His Eyes.

December 9, 1978

Most importantly, she performs two songs on the U.S. NBC-TV programme, Saturday Night Live. [This is the only live entertainment programme on U.S. television, and is the most influential programme for the pop music market, as well the most important American showcase for "alternative" music. Kate performs The Man With the Child in His Eyes, seated on a piano, to the accompaniment of veteran rock keyboardist Paul Shaffer; and Them Heavy People, in a raincoat and Fedora hat. Nothing remotely like it has ever been seen on American television before.]

She is invited by Eric Idle, who is host of that edition; and she is visited by Mick Jagger. Paul Simon drops in to watch her performance.

Kate does press and radio promotion and moves on to Canada for more of the same. She is known to have made no other North American television appearances during this trip, however.

Back in England the Kate Bush Club, the official fan club, is formed.

January 6, 1979

Kate is voted Best New Artist of 1978 in the Record Mirror annual poll.

Kate is guest of honour at the San Remo Song Festival in Italy. This is screened in most of Europe, but not in the U.K.

Preparations for the live tour begin in earnest. Kate's own concept is to combine poetry, music, songs and dance in an entirely new way. Her dance ideas and training will be supervised by Antony Van Laast, of the London Contemporary Dance Company (who had appeared with Kate in the video for Hammer Horror). Kate will be backed by a seven-piece band, the core of which will be Paddy Bush (mandolin, backing vocals), Del Palmer (bass), and Brian Bath (rhythm guitar) of the KT Bush Band, supplemented by Alan Murphy (lead guitar), Kevin McAlea (keyboards, saxophone), Ben Barson (keyboards), and Preston Heyman (drums).

January 20, 1979

Kate appears on The Multi-Coloured Swap Shop on BBC TV, and is interviewed by Noel Edmonds and via a phone-in by the viewers.

February, 1979

Kate records the song The Magician (music by Maurice Jarre, lyrics by Paul Webster) for the film The Magician of Lublin. [The song has never been released, and is virtually inaudible in the film--a shameful waste of talent.]

Penny Allan, a women's-column feminist for The Guardian, lambasts Kate for "cultivating a childlike voice and encouraging her audience to act like voyeurs."

February 17, 1979

The Man With the Child in His Eyes enters the U.S. Billboard Hot One Hundred, the first of Kate's singles so to do. It remains there for four weeks, peaking at number 85.

February 18, 1979

Kate travels to Leysin [Lausanne?], Switzerland, to take part in a mammoth European television co-production. The results are carved up into three television shows, and it is planned that Kate will appear in two. For the first, an Easter Abba Special, she records a routine for Wow. At the rehearsals the cameramen and journalists break into spontaneous applause, and the press coverage verges on the hysterical. For the second programme, a Christmas programme to be called The Winter Snowtime Special, she records a version of Wuthering Heights barefoot in the snow of the Swiss Alps. [The latter film was never aired, though photos appeared in the U.K. press.]

On her return to Britain Kate goes into Air Studios in London with Jon Kelly, the engineer on The Kick Inside and Lionheart, to determine the possibilities of working as a co-production team on Kate's next album. [This statement implies that some music was recorded at this time, but if so it has never been identified.]

The video for Wow, the next single, is made at Wilton's Music Hall in East London, directed by Keef MacMillan.

February 27, 1979

Kate takes part in BBC Radio 1's first-ever phone-in programme, Personal Call, answering listeners' calls for 60 minutes and jamming the Broadcasting House switchboards.

March, 1979

The tour rehearsals switch from Covent Garden and WoodWharf Studios, South London, to a film soundstage at Shepperton Film Studios, so that the dancing and the music can be put together.

March 4, 1979

Kate attends the Capital Radio Annual Awards dinner at the Grosvenor House Hotel to receive the accolade for Best British Newcomer and Best British Female Vocalist.

March 5, 1979

The video for Wow is shown on television for the first time on The Kenny Everett Video Show. The tickets for the tour go on sale the same day (except for certain venues, which are to cause much embarrassment by jumping the gun).

March 6, 1979

Kate is interviewed on the Thames-TV programme Thames at Six about the upcoming tour and the new single.

March 7, 1979

As part of a new Arts programme on BBC-2 TV called Musical Chairs, a documentary recording the making of the Wow video is shown.

March 9, 1979

Wow, Kate's fourth single, and the second from Lionheart, is finally released.

Kate is training to the pitch of an Olympic athlete for a tour that will last a month and a half, with Kate on stage almost continually for two and a half hours for most evenings during that period. (Only the Copenhagen, Hamburg and Amsterdam dates would be shortened, due to illness.)

March 20, 1979

The tour is now completely sold out. Extra dates are announced at the London Palladium, the Birmingham Hippodrome, and the Manchester Apollo. These are also sold out in days.

Kate is meanwhile maintaining absolute secrecy on the style and content of the show.

March 22, 1979

The chart position of Wow is such that it is listed to be shown on Top of the Pops. Kate has no time to record an appearance, and the BBC refuse to screen the video, a certain section of which they consider unsuitable for their younger viewers. Kate records another performance and leaves it to the BBC to cover up the offending gesture. They do, and the clip is shown.

London's Rainbow Theatre is taken over for the final dress rehearsal before the commencement of the tour. Despite very tight security, a free-lance photographer obtains entry and takes photos of the performance. He is discovered before he can escape. He is ticked off by Kate, and his film is confiscated.

April 2, 1979

The tour playdate at Pool Arts Centre in Dorset. The performance is a total success, but is marred by the death of lighting engineer Bill Duffield, who falls from the lighting galley as the show is being packed up.

April 3, 1979

The Liverpool Empire date, the first official date of the tour.

"Kate Bush is a love affair, a poignant exposition of the bridges of dreams that link the adulated and the adoring." (Andrew Morgan, Liverpool Post.)

Kate holds press conferences at each tour date, and is interviewed by the local press and radio.

BBC TV screen a short documentary film as part of the Nationwide series, on the preparation and rehearsal for the tour.

April 4, 1979

The first Birmingham Hippodrome date.

April 5, 1979

The second Birmingham Hippodrome date.

"Kate Bush's eerie dance and mime works twice as well on stage as on Top of the Pops." (Kate Faunce, Birmingham Evening Echo.)

"The most magnificent spectacle I've ever encountered in the world of rock...Kate Bush is the sort of performer for whom the word 'superstar' is belittling." (Mike Davies, Melody Maker.)

"Kate's dream-machine techniques are by far the best I've ever encountered on a British rock-and-roll (sic) tour." (Sandy Roberts, Sounds.)

April 6, 1979

The Oxford New Theatre date.

"Yeah, Kate Bush...you're amazing." (MVB, Oxford Times)

April 7, 1979

The Southampton Gaumont date.

"There is no doubt that such a performance merited nothing less than the five-minute standing ovation it received." (Steve Keenan, Southern Daily Echo.)

Wow falls in the singles chart from number 23 to number 27.

April 9, 1979

The Bristol Hippodrome date.

"A major artist by any standards...Each aspect was perfect in itself...Spectacular entertainment." (David Harrison, Bristol Evening Post.)

April 10, 1979

The first Manchester Apollo Theatre date.

"Oh yes, Kate Bush is amazing...Her stage performance evaporates all doubts and adds a totally new theatrical dimension to the rock medium." (Roy Kay, Manchester Evening News.)

At her hotel in Manchester, Kate is photographed with the Prime Minister, James Callaghan, who, fighting Mrs. Thatcher in the 1979 election campaign, is looking for all the support he can get.

April 11, 1979

The second Manchester Apollo Theatre date.

Kate takes a short break from the tour to attend the presentation of the Nationwide Radio 1- and Daily Mirror- sponsored British Rock and Pop Awards for 1978. She is presented with the award for Best Female Vocalist.

April 12, 1979

The Sunderland Empire date.

"Wow, wow, wow, Kate Bush is really unbelievable...A sensational performance which threw out of the window all previous ideas of how a rock show should be presented...The most revolutionary visual concert I've ever seen." (Newcastle Sunday Sun.)

April 13, 1979

The Edinburgh Usher Hall date.

"Sexual, stunning, startling, beautiful, breathtaking." (Billy Sloan, Clyde Guide.)

April 14, 1979

Wow moves up to number 14 in the singles chart, where it remains for three weeks.

April 16, 1979

The first London Palladium date.

After Kate's first London date the morning press conference is a media event.

"A dazzling testimony to a remarkable talent." (John Coldstream, Daily Telegraph.)

"Kate Bush live for the first time was very impressive." (Robin Denselow, The Guardian.)

"Kate Bush lines up all the old stereotypes, mows them down, and hammers them into a coffin with a show that is -- quite literally -- stunning." (Thorsen Prentice, Daily Mail.)

"A triumph of energy, imagination, music and dance." (Susan Hill, Melody Maker.)

"The best welding of rock and theatrical presentation that we're ever likely to see." (John Shearlaw, Record Mirror.)

April 17, 1979

The second London Palladium date.

April 18, 1979

The third London Palladium date.

April 19, 1979

The fourth London Palladium date.

April 20, 1979

The fifth London Palladium date.

April 21, 1979

The Abba Special is aired on BBC TV, including the routine for Wow.

Kate announces that she will play a special benefit gig for the family of Bill Duffield when she returns from the European leg of the tour. Her special guests will be Peter Gabriel and Steve Harley, with whom Bill Duffield had worked in the past.

Further extra dates are announced, including one at which the entire performance will be videotaped by the Keef MacMillan organization.

April 24, 1979

The European tour commences at Stockholm Concert House.

Kate contracts a throat problem, and the next three dates are cut short.

April 26, 1979

The Copenhagen Falkoneer Theater date.

April 28, 1979

The Hamburg Congress Centrum date.

[Excerpts from this performance are filmed, and included in a German documentary on Kate and the tour called Kate Bush in Concert.]

April 29, 1979

The Amsterdam Carre Theater date.

Kate is nominated for three Ivor Novello awards for Best Song Musically and Lyrically (Wuthering Heights), Best Pop Song and Best British Lyric (The Man With the Child in His Eyes). She wins in the first category.

May 2, 1979

The Stuttgart Leiderhalle date, now restored to full length.

May 3, 1979

The Munich Circus Krone date.

May 4, 1979

The Cologne Guerzerich date.

May 6, 1979

The Paris Theatre des Champs-Elysees date.

May 8, 1979

The Mannheim Rosengarten date.

[Excerpts from this performance are filmed, and included in a German documentary on Kate and the tour called Kate Bush in Concert.]

May 10, 1979

The Frankfurt Jahrhunderthalle date.

At her London Palladium concerts Dusty Springfield includes a cover of The Man With the Child in His Eyes.

May 12, 1979

The first Hammersmith Odeon date.

This is the date of the Bill Duffield benefit gig with Peter Gabriel and Steve Harley.

May 13, 1979

The second Hammersmith Odeon date.

This is the concert which was video-taped and recorded for both the video release and (in a different mix) the On Stage EP.

May 14, 1979

The third Hammersmith Odeon date, and the final date of the tour.

Kate declines the offer to sing the theme song to the James Bond film Moonraker, saying that although it was a good song, it wasn't right for her.

Following the tour, Kate takes some time to recover from what amounts to physical and mental exhaustion.

June, 1979

The Kick Inside reaches British platinum status (300,000 sales for an album).

Kate begins writing songs for her third album.

August, 1979

Kate and Jon Kelly mix the live tapes from the May 13, 1979 concert date to produce the four-track EP, On Stage. This is such a success that Kate decides to produce her third album with Jon Kelly, and she moves into Air Studios to begin a three-and-a-half-month stint.

September 3, 1979

Release of Kate Bush Live On Stage, with Them Heavy People as the leading track.

November 18, 1979

Kate participates in the concert to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the London Symphony Orchestra, with Cliff Richard. Kate gives the first (and to date the only) public performance of Blow Away, the song she dedicated to Bill Duffield.

"Miss Bush was in breathtaking form...She emerged as the only star." (Simon Kinnersly, Daily Mail.)

November 28, 1979

Kate attends the Melody Maker Annual Poll Awards dinner at the Waldorf Hotel. For the second year running she is presented with the Best Female Singer award.

During November Kate records a track called December Will Be Magic Again, which she wants to release as a Christmas single. [For undisclosed reasons the release is postponed.]

November 30, 1979

A new recording of Lesley Duncan's Sing, Children, Sing is released, with Kate, Pete Townsend, Joe Brown and Vicki Brown on backing vocals. (Kate's voice is indistinguishable.) All profits from the single are to go to the U.N. Year of the Child fund.

December 21, 1979

The Winter Snowtime Special is aired on BBC TV. This is the second of two films for which Kate had contributed performances on February 18, 1979. However, the original film of Kate singing Wuthering Heights while walking barefoot in the snow is not included. Instead, a hastily filmed video for December Will Be Magic Again is aired on the programme.

December 28, 1979

Kate, a forty-five-minute television special, is screened on BBC TV, featuring songs old and new. Some of these were filmed during live television-studio performances, others were videos prepared in advance and featuring studio recordings in more or less the same form as their album counterparts. Among the songs performed are Violin, Egypt, and Ran Tan Waltz (which would emerge as the b-side of Babooshka in 1980). In addition, one or two small pieces of incidental music are recorded specifically for the programme, which includes a guest appearance by Peter Gabriel, and a duet by Gabriel and Kate of Roy Harper's song, Another Day.

January, 1980

Kate goes into Studio Two at Abbey Road for the five-month recording session which will complete her third album, Never For Ever.

January 12, 1980

Kate is voted Best Female Artist of 1979 in the Record Mirror poll.

January 19, 1980

Kate is voted Best Female Singer of 1979 in the New Musical Express poll.

Kate breaks off from recording her own album to do some session work for Peter Gabriel, on his third solo album. She does backing vocals on two tracks: Games Without Frontiers and No Self Control, which will be released as singles, and encounters the Gabriel method of working with rhythm boxes and the Fairlight CMI.

February, 1980

Kate breaks off again from recording her own album to do some session work for Roy Harper on his Unknown Soldier LP. She duets with Harper on the track You (The Game Part III).

February 12, 1980

At the Music Week Annual Awards Gala at the Dorchester Hotel, Kate is presented with the award for Top Female Artist of 1979.

February 27, 1980

At the British Rock and Pop Awards ceremony (this would eventually become known as the BPI Awards) at the Cafe Royal Kate is presented with the Top Female Singer of 1979.

March 1, 1980

Kate is voted Best Female Singer of 1979 in the Sounds poll.

March 3, 1980

At the Capital Radio Awards ceremony at the Grosvenor House Hotel, Kate is presented with the award for Best Female Vocalist of 1979.

March 20, 1980

Kate records two visual presentations (Babooshka and Delius) for a Dr. Hook special to be screened on BBC TV the following month.

April 11, 1980

Breathing receives its world debut on the BBC Radio 1 review programme Round Table. The reviewers are literally stunned.

April 14, 1980

Breathing is released. The video, which includes a scene of a nuclear explosion, is controversial enough for the BBC to disallow it from being screened in its entirety on Top of the Pops. (Note: This is PFM's interpretation. More likely they just felt that it was too long and slow for that programme's format.--)

Kate tapes a long interview for German television for use in a forty-five minute documentary comprised of discussions of Kate's career with her family and excerpts from the Hamburg and Mannheim live shows, to be called Kate Bush in Concert.

April 25, 1980

Kate appears on the BBC TV programme Nationwide to be interviewed about her "protest" song. The controversial part of the video is screened for the only time on British television. (Again, this may be misleading: Nationwide simply played the video, for a programme devoted to the subject of nuclear disarmament.--)

May, 1980

Edited parts of the Breathing video are shown twice on Top of the Pops.

May 10, 1980

The Kate Bush Club holds its first convention at the Empire Ball Room, Leicester Square in London. Kate attends. The edited version of Keef MacMillan's recording of the May 13th concert is given its first public showing.

After working twenty or more hours a day, Kate finishes Never For Ever. Its release is put back, however, until September. Kate takes a badly needed holiday.

June 23, 1980

Babooshka is released. Because the technicians at the BBC are on strike, the video cannot be shown. Babooshka, however, is Kate's most successful single since Wuthering Heights.

Kate takes a few weeks out to rest from her exertions on the album.

August, 1980

Kate puts down the first ideas for a new album, beginning the two-year project that would produce The Dreaming [which remains to this day the single greatest piece of music of the twentieth century (OK, so this chronology was transcribed by a Kate fanatic. Surprised?)].

September 8, 1980

Never For Ever is released. Kate undertakes a very heavy promotional schedule.

September 11, 1980

The album's head is wetted at a huge party for dealers in Birmingham. Kate is meanwhile engaged in a personal appearance tour, signing albums in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Newcastle, Liverpool, Manchester (where she kisses over 600 fans), Birmingham and London (where the queue awaiting her stretches over 100 yards outside the record shop and down Oxford Street).

September 16, 1980

The album enters the official chart at number 1. Kate is the first British solo female artist ever to reach the number 1 position on the British album charts.

September 1980

During this same month, Kate promotes the forthcoming album (Never For Ever) in Germany and France. First, in Germany, she performs the famous "Mrs. Mopp" version of Army Dreamers, one of at least three quite different visual presentations that Kate has prepared for the song, on RockPop, along with a solo performance of Babooshka. Then she visits Venice, Italy, to perform a new version of Babooshka with her dancing partner Gary Hurst for a live broadcast which also features Peter Gabriel. After that, she returns to England to film the official video for Army Dreamers. While in England she polishes the final mix of Warm and Soothing.

Army Dreamers, the third single from Never For Ever, is released.

Back in London again at the end of the month, Kate attends a concert by Stevie Wonder. The energy of the event has a profound effect on Kate, and on the following day she puts down the first full demo version of Sat In Your Lap, the key to her next album, The Dreaming.

October, 1980

Kate resumes writing and making demos for the next album. She returns to Europe for more promotion in Austria (interviews only), Holland (the same routine for Babooshka that was performed in Germany, and a new version of Army Dreamers), Germany (Hamburg and Munich for more print and radio interviews), and France (for still another performance of Babooshka).

October 4, 1980

Kate is voted Best Female Singer in the Melody Maker poll for the third consecutive year.

November, 1980

Kate writes an article for the magazine Woman's World, entitled How Can You Eat Dead Animals?

Meanwhile she returns to the studio to record the single version of December Will Be Magic Again.

November 17, 1980

December Will Be Magic Again is released. No promotional video is made for this single.

Kate is working with Peter Gabriel. They record a new version of Roy Harper's song Another Day, for a projected single. They also attempt to co-write a song for the b-side, and a song called Ibiza results. (Note: PFM spells this "Ibizza", but this is probably an error. "Ibiza" is the spelling for the Spanish coastal resort island.) They are not satisfied with it, however, and the project is shelved.

November 25, 1980

Kate appears on the BBC TV chat programme The Russell Harty Show for an edition dedicated to the composer Frederick Delius. She is interviewed with the cellist Julian Lloyd Webber and Delius's assistant and collaborator Eric Fenby. Following a screening of part of Kate's Dr. Hook video of Delius, Fenby suggests that the composer would have seen it as "a very gracious tribute."

December, 1980

Babooshka, which, outside the UK, has been the lead single from Never For Ever, is an international hit, reaching "top ten" status in most countries in Europe, as well as Australia and Canada. Kate's music has still made little impact in the United States, however. Her second and third albums have not even been released there, although a small but fiercely devoted cult following cause a vigorous trade in imports.

Meanwhile Kate tapes an extensive interview at her home for a Canadian television production company which is preparing a series of programmes entitled Profiles in Rock, with interviewer Doug Pringle, to be aired on CITY-TV, Toronto.

December 30, 1980

The first of two special forty-five minute programmes is broadcast on BBC Radio 1, in which Kate plays and discusses with DJ Paul Gambaccini some of her favourite music by other artists. This programme is devoted to traditional and classical favourites.

December 31, 1980

The second forty-five minute programme is aired over BBC Radio 1, this one including some of Kate's favourite tracks by "popular" artists.

January 1, 1981

Kate is voted Best Female Artist for the third consecutive year in Capital Radio's listeners poll.

Kate takes two months off from everything to "recharge her batteries.".

At the first MIDEM Video Awards Keef MacMillan wins the Best International Production Award, and Kate wins the Best International Performance by an Artist Award, both for the Babooshka video.

February 1981

Kate's childhood home, East Wickham Farm, which has at its core a 14th-century hall, is listed as a building of special historic interest.

Kate does some session work on a cover version of her song Them Heavy People by new EMI artist Ray Shell.

February 21, 1981

Kate is voted Best Female Singer of 1980 in the Sounds poll.

March, 1981

Kate is making demo tapes of the material for her next album at her own demo studio.

April 1981

In a special Sunday Telegraph opinion poll Kate is voted "most liked" and "least liked" British Female Singer.

May 1981

Kate goes into Townhouse Studio with Hugh Padgham as engineer to begin the recording work of The Dreaming album. The backing tracks for three songs are put down before Nick Launay takes over as engineer. In a session that lasts until the end of June more backing tracks are laid.

Kate is tempted by the offer for her to play the Wicked Witch in the Children's TV series Worzel Gummidge, but she is already too far involved in the album and has to turn down the offer.

June 1981

The video for Sat In Your Lap is made at Abbey Road.

June 21, 1981

Sat In Your Lap is released. A pivotal point in Kate's career.

July 1981

Kate goes into Abbey Road studios with Haydn Bendall as engineer to complete the backing tracks.

Kate goes to Dublin to record the track Night of the Swallow with members of Planxty and The Chieftains.

July 14, 1981

Kate appears on the children's programme Razzmatazz to explain how the Sat In Your Lap video was made.

August 1981

Kate goes into Odyssey Studios with Paul Hardiman as engineer to record the overdubs on all tracks in a four-and-a-half month session.

August 6, 1981

Kate appears on the BBC TV programme Looking Good, Feeling Fit.

October 1981

Kate is working to exhaustion again on the album, and decides to take a short break, to visit Loch Ness.

The edited version of Keef MacMillan's video recording of Kate's live show is released on video-cassette.

November 12, 1981

Kate attends a party at Abbey Road Studios to celebrate the studios' 50 years of operation. She cuts the celebration cake with Helen Shapiro.

November 21, 1981

Kate appears on the commercial TV programme Friday Night Saturday Morning, a new chat show, at the invitation of the host, zoologist Dr. Desmond Morris, to talk about her music and expressive dance.

December 22, 1981

Kate takes a break from recording to tighten melodies and lyrics.

January 1982

Kate goes into Advision Studios with Paul Hardiman as engineer to complete the final overdubs on the album. The session is to last for three months.

Kate turns down an offer to play a leading role in the West End production of The Pirates of Penzance.

March 1982

Kate finishes the overdubs and goes into the final mixing of the album. This session lasts two months.

April 1982

Kate's projected book Leaving My Tracks is shelved until early 1983.

The album's release date is put back to September for marketing reasons.

May 1982

The Dreaming album is completed, after a combined work period of more than sixteen months. Kate goes off to Jamaica for a holiday.

June 1982

Kate does some session work for Zaine Griff, who with her had attended Lindsay Kemp's mime classes back in 1976. She does backing vocals on a track dedicated to Kemp, called Flowers.

The release of the single The Dreaming is delayed.

The first issue of Homeground is prepared. 25 copies are run off on an office photocopier.

July 21, 1982

At 48 hours' notice Kate is asked to take David Bowie's place in a Royal Rock Gala before HRH The Prince of Wales in aid of The Prince's Trust. She performs Wedding List live, backed by Pete Townsend and Midge Ure on guitars, Mick Karn on bass, Gary Brooker on keyboards and Phil Collins on drums.

"The best moment by far was Kate Bush's number, a storming success..." (Sunie, Record Mirror)

July 27, 1982

The single The Dreaming is finally released, to excellent music press reviews saluting Kate's creative courage. The single is stifled, however, by the radio producers and presenters, particularly on BBC Radio 1, who will not play it. The plans for a twelve-inch version are aborted.

August 1982

Despite no daytime airplay on Radio 1, The Dreaming enters the singles chart, but peaks at number 48.

September 10, 1982

Kate appears live at a special Radio 1 Roadshow from Covent Garden Piazza to be interviewed briefly about her new album.

September 13, 1982

The album The Dreaming is released. Written, arranged and produced by Kate around the rhythm box and the Fairlight CMI. The radio programmers and most of the British reviewers are mystified. The album demands more of them than they can give.

September 14, 1982

Kate makes a personal appearance at the Virgin Megastore in London's Oxford Street. The queue again exceeds 100 yards in length.

Kate proceeds by train to Manchester, using a specially cleared goods car to rehearse for a video for the next single. In Manchester Kate records an interview for the BBC TV programme The Old Grey Whistle Test for use on the 17th, when the video for The Dreaming single is shown for the first time on British TV.

September 21, 1982

Kate makes an appearance on the commercial TV programme Razzmatazz, performing There Goes a Tenner, which is to be the next single.

The album enters the charts at number 3.

Kate goes on to Europe to promote the new album. In Munich she performs The Dreaming single [on Na Sowas -- the so-called "giant iguana" version] and is presented with a Gold Record for German sales of Never For Ever during the same television appearance.

The next stop is Milan, where Kate gives the first of four performances of The Dreaming single [on the Italian television programmes Happy Magic, Zim Zum Zam, Riva del Garda, and Disco-Ring.

[She may also have visited Spain during this trip, but I have no confirmation.]

October 1, 1982

Kate appears on the BBC TV programme Saturday Superstore to be interviewed about the new album.

Kate makes personal appearances in Glasgow, Newcastle and Birmingham. The album goes Gold.

October 8, 1982

While in Birmingham, Kate records an appearance on the BBC TV programme Pebble Mill at One, being interviewed by Paul Gambaccini about the new album. The interview is screened on October 29th, and part of the video for There Goes a Tenner is shown; the only time that this video is aired on British TV.

Kate is off again to France for more TV promotion of the album [including a lip-synch performance of Suspended in Gaffa, which is released as a single in Europe; and an in-depth interview for French TV station France-Inter]

November 1982

Kate is in Germany promoting album and single. [She gives a lip-synch performance of Suspended in Gaffa, known as the "puppets" or "marionettes" version.]

November 2, 1982

There Goes a Tenner is released in the U.K., and Suspended in Gaffa is released in all other territories. There Goes a Tenner is the "lost single". It is not promoted and gains no airplay on radio. It is the only single of Kate's not to enter the official chart. Suspended in Gaffa is, however, a great success, going top ten in most European countries and in Canada [? Top ten?] and Australia.

November 13, 1982

EMI-America releases The Dreaming album, which enters the Billboard Top 200, the first of Kate's albums to do so. The album begins to get a crop of very good U.S. reviews praising its creativity. The album is pushed by spots on U.S. college radio, and towards the end of the year airplay begins to pick up. Kate begins to expand her small cult following in the U.S. to attract a wider audience.

January 1983

The Dreaming is in the top ten of "U.S. progressive radio stations" for 1982.

Kate is under great pressure to tour to make up for the lack of obvious single success in the U.K. A tour is in fact very seriously considered, but finally not pursued. Kate decides that she will, after some time off, press on with another album.

May 1983

Kate's book Leaving My Tracks is shelved indefinitely.

June 15, 1983

EMI-America releases an eponymous mini-album of five tracks (six in Canada) to continue the momentum in the U.S.A. At the last moment a scheduled promotional tour by Kate of the U.S. is cancelled, due to engine failure on the Queen Elizabeth II.

Realisation of a long-planned project begins with the construction of Kate's own full standard studio, initially equipped with 24 tracks, then expanded to 48. Construction and equipping is to take six months.

July 1983

The U.S. mini-album enters the Billboard Top 200.

Ne T'enfuis pas (coupled with Un Baiser d'enfant) is released in France and Canada.

August 1983

Attempt by Conifer, a leading record importer, to release Ne T'enfuis pas in the U.K. This is prevented by EMI, but leads to ill-founded speculation that Kate is to be dropped by the company.

September 1983

Kate begins some writing and demoing for the next album.

November 1983

To continue the buzz in the U.S., EMI conceive the idea of touring the Live at Hammersmith Odeon video around the American colleges. 32 venues are set up, with a competition for the college radio programmers for the best presentation. The prize will be a trip to the U.K. to interview Kate. One college hires an art gallery and combines the event with a wine tasting. Another invites 700 guests, including the local state Senator, and the then Speaker of the House of Representatives "Tip" O'Neil. The debut date of the tour is held on the fourth floor of the Danceteria in New York, where the College Media Society are meeting.

November 21, 1983

Night of the Swallow is released as a single in Eire.

December 1983

The Single File video compilation is released. Kate makes personal appearances in Kingston and Holborn.

January 1984

The new studio being more or less ready, Kate begins work on her fifth album, directly demoing the songs and building on the original demo rather than re-recording.

January 16, 1984

Kate helps launch the Sky Channel, the first satellite TV station in the U.K.

January 23, 1984

The Single File box set of singles is released, further fuelling rumours that Kate is to leave EMI.

EMI-America release Lionheart and Never For Ever, begin a heavy back-catalogue promotion under the theme Looking Back to See Ahead.

February 1984

The Single File video is the best selling music video in the U.K. for two weeks.

March 1984

Lionheart enters the Billboard Top 200 in the U.S.

June 1984

Kate begins overdubs--which have become the biggest job in Kate's recording process--on the new album. This time overdubs and mixing will last nearly 12 months.

June 1985

Kate's fifth album Hounds of Love is completed.

August 1985

Kate appears on the BBC TV programme Wogan to perform Running Up That Hill. The single is released the same day, two years and ten months after the flop of There Goes a Tenner. Media attention and airplay is immediate. A twelve-inch version of the single is released--Kate's first use of that format.

In the U.S. EMI-America organise a large convention of regional sales representatives in New Orleans to prepare for their largest attempt to break Kate in the American market.

August 13, 1985

Running Up That Hill enters the British singles chart at number 9. It garners enormous airplay and critical acclaim. It peaks at number 3 and is Kate's biggest single success since Wuthering Heights, far exceeding Babooshka in sales.

In the U.S. the cable music channel MTV shy away from using the promotional video for Running Up That Hill, considering it to be too erotic. [This is certainly not the reason. MTV probably didn't like it because Kate didn't do any lip-synching and because it wasn't garish enough for their horrid, smarmy, miserable format. But too erotic for MTV? Hah.] Instead they use the Wogan performance. It remains on moderate rotation for two months.

August 22, 1985

Kate appears on Top of the Pops for the first time since 1978, performing Running Up That Hill.

August 30, 1985

Kate goes to the Berlin Music Festival. While in the city she appears on the prestigious TV programme The Before Eight O'Clock Show [Show Vor Acht], performing Running Up That Hill and Cloudbusting.

September 1985

Running Up That Hill enters the U.S. Billboard chart at number 95. The twelve-inch version enters the Billboard twelve-inch sales chart.

Running Up That Hill goes silver in the U.K.

September 9, 1985

Kate's fifth album, Hounds of Love, is launched at a massive party at the London Laserium, at which the whole album is played and accompanied by a dramatic laser light show. Kate appears for the first time in public in the company of her boyfriend of seven years, the bassist and engineer Del Palmer.

Running Up That Hill is a huge international hit, being top ten in most of Europe, Australia and Canada.

September 16, 1985

The Hounds of Love album is released to very good reviews.

Kate promotes in Germany and France, appearing on the French television programme Rockline for an interview; and performing lip-synchs of Running Up That Hill on the French programme Demain c'est Dimanche, and of Running Up That Hill and The Big Sky on the German TV programme Peter's Pop Show (later re-broadcast on French TV, as well).

September 20, 1985

Hounds of Love enters the official album chart at number 1.

The Cloudbusting video is made partly on location in the Vale of the White Horse in Oxfordshire. It features Donald Sutherland as Wilhelm Reich, with the design of the cloudbusting machine itself undertaken by the artist H. R. Giger [constructed by Ken Hill].

The second single, Cloudbusting, is released in seven- and twelve-inch formats.

October 4, 1985

Hounds of Love enters the U.S. Billboard album chart at number 74.

November 17, 1985

Kate flies on the Concorde to New York (via Washington, D.C.) to promote the album and single. She makes a personal appearance at the Tower Record Store in Greenwich Village for which the queue extends for hundreds of yards around the block. She appears on the local New York news programme Live at Five, and tapes an interview for later airing on the cable programmes Night Flight, Heartlight City and Radio 1990. She also visits the MTV studios to tape a brace of short interviews. She is also interviewed by Love-Hound Doug Alan.

A track from the new album, Hello Earth, is featured as background music for a scene in the then-top-rated U.S. TV series Miami Vice.

From New York, Kate travels to Toronto where she tapes at least five more interviews (all from the same studios). These will appear on various Canadian programmes, including the national evening news, Much Music, The New Music, Good Rockin' Tonite, and various local news reports.

November 30, 1985

Running Up That Hill peaks at number 30 in the U.S. Billboard chart.

Meanwhile Kate goes straight from Canada to Holland (taping an interview for Count Down), France, and Germany (where she gives a lip-synch performance of Running Up That Hill on the programme Extratour), and still manages to return to England in time to attend the first Convention organised jointly by the Kate Bush Club and Homeground. This is held at the Dolphin Centre in Romford. Approximately 400 fans attend. At the convention Kate is presented with a Platinum Record for the U.K. sales of Hounds of Love. [All of Kate's family and Del Palmer are present, as well.]

December 14, 1985

Hounds of Love reaches its peak position of number 30 the U.S. Billboard album chart.

December 23, 1985

In the annual Record Mirror poll Hounds of Love is voted Best Album, and Running Up That Hill is voted Best Single.

January 11, 1986

In the annual Sounds poll Kate is voted Best Female Vocalist of 1985.

February 10, 1986

Kate performs Hounds of Love live at the British Phonographic Industry Awards presentation. She is nominated for (but does not win) three awards: Best Album, Best Single and Best Female Singer.

February 17, 1986

The third single, Hounds of Love, is released in seven- and twelve-inch formats.

Kate records a duet with Peter Gabriel for his fifth solo album. The track is called Don't Give Up.

Kate abandons the plan to make a film version of The Ninth Wave side of the new album.

March 6, 1986

Kate appears on Top of the Pops to perform Hounds of Love.

March 19, 1986

For the making of the video for The Big Sky Kate assembles over one hundred fans on the sound stage of Elstree Studios.

Kate records a live performance of Under the Ivy at Abbey Road Studios for the 100th edition of the Tyne Tees TV programme The Tube.

April 4, 1986

Kate participates in the first of three Comic Relief shows at the Shaftesbury Theatre. She performs Breathing live and performs a duet of Do Bears Sh... in the Woods? with Rowan Atkinson.

April 5, 1986

The second Comic Relief show.

April 6, 1986

The third Comic Relief show.

May 25, 1986

Kate joins in the Sport Aid mini-marathon at Blackheath, South London, along with many other celebrities.

May 1986

The fourth single, The Big Sky, is released.

Kate does some session work for Big Country on the title track of their album The Seer.

June 16, 1986

The videos for the four Hounds of Love singles are released as a video EP under the title Hair of the Hound. It goes straight to the number 1 spot on the music video chart.

Hounds of Love passes the double platinum mark in the U.K.

October 20, 1986

Don't Give Up, the duet with Peter Gabriel of his song, is released as a single.

October 23, 1986

Kate participates in a personal appearance of the Comic Relief stars at the Claude Gill Book Shop, Oxford Street for the launch of the publication of the Comic Relief Book.

October 27, 1986

A new single, Experiment IV, is released in seven- and twelve-inch formats.

October 31, 1986

Kate appears on the BBC TV programme Wogan for the second time, giving a lip-synch performance of Experiment IV [with violinist Nigel Kennedy].

November 1986

Kate directs the video for Experiment IV, which is made on location at a disused military hospital in South East London and a street in the East End. The film features the Comic Strip regulars Dawn French and Hugh Laurie.

November 9, 1986

Kate interrupts the shooting of the Experiment IV video to attend a party at the Video Cafe organised by the Kate Bush Club and Homeground.

November 10, 1986

The Whole Story, the first Kate Bush compilation album, is released. It is promoted by the most expensive TV advertising campaign EMI has ever mounted. Sales are massive.

1987

Despite reservations by Kate herself, EMI resolves to release a video compilation of The Whole Story. Again, sales are enormous. The worldwide commercial success of the album is greater than that of any of her earlier albums.

Meanwhile, Kate dives into the recording of a new studio album.

To date, the main part of Kate's creative activity since the middle of 1986 remains a mystery.

February 1987

Kate appears at the 1987 British Phonographic Industry Awards, and this time wins the competition for Best Female Singer, despite the fact that the album for which she won was released more than a year earlier.

Kate also wins in the same category of the U.S. College Music Awards, and accepts the award in a brief comic film shot at her home in England.

Kate records an original song for the Nicholas Roeg film Castaway, called Be Kind to My Mistakes.

March 28/29, 1987

Kate performs Running Up That Hill and Let It Be live with David Gilmour at Amnesty International's Secret Policeman's Third Ball concerts.

March 1987

Kate does some session work for the second album by Go West, called Dancing on the Couch: she sings backing vocals on the track The Kind is Dead. She also contributes vocals to a single release of Let It Be, the proceeds from which are targeted for the families of the victims of the Zeebrugge ferry disaster.

Kate also writes and records a song called This Woman's Work for the John Hughes film She's Having a Baby, which is finally released in February 1988.

late 1987

Kate agrees to lend her name to a new vegetarian campaign launched by the Vegetarian Society to publicise excessive cruelties within specific areas of the meat trade.

1988

Publication of The Kate Bush Club Newsletter is suspended pending the release of Kate's still-unfinished sixth studio album.

Kate attends a concert by Davy Spillane, an Irish musician formerly of the band Moving Hearts, who contributes uillean pipes tracks to Kate's new album. She also attends concerts by the Momentary Lapse of Reason incarnation of Pink Floyd, and by violinist Nigel Kennedy.

April 1, 1988

A report is printed in The Guardian that Kate has taken on a lead role in the longrunning television series Dr. Who. The date of the report is overlooked by some fans.

July 30, 1988

Kate celebrates her thirtieth birthday by participating in an AIDS charity project involving some 200 celebrities. She serves as a shopkeeper for the day at Blazer's boutique.

August 22, 1988

Kate comments on London for a BBC2 television programme, Rough Guide to Europe.

September 1988

Midge Ure releases a new album, which features a guest duet vocal with Kate on the track Sister and Brother.

Fall 1988

After making contact with Joe Boyd, co-producer of the Balkana compilation album of traditional Bulgarian vocal music, Kate travels to Bulgaria to meet with Yanka Rupkina, Eva Georgieva and Stoyanka Boneva, nationally famous soloists who perform and record together under the group name Trio Bulgarka. Meeting again with the Bulgarians in England, Kate records three vocal tracks with Trio Bulgarka for the sixth album, and makes an appearance with the Bulgarian vocalists for a video-taped segment of the BBC series Rhythms of the World, which is broadcast in the spring of 1989.

Summer 1989

Kate appears briefly in a video for a worldwide television programme about ecological issues called Our Common Future. She is seen in a London studio with many other artists, singing two lines from a song written for the programme (not by Kate). The song is called Spirit of the Forest. The programme, with the pre-recorded video, is aired on June 4, 1989.

There is also a report that Kate appeared at the United Nations with Peter Gabriel and other artists in support of the campaign to save the rain forests; but as of presstime this report had not been confirmed.

Kate's sixth studio album is finally finished at the end of May.

Fall 1989

Kate's new single, The Sensual World, is released on September 18th, and her sixth studio album, The Sensual World, is released at last on October 16th. The video for the first single is debuted during the week of September 15th. Meanwhile Kate's new U.S. label, Columbia Records, decides to release Love and Anger as their first Kate Bush single, and Kate, apparently trusting the company's knowledge of the American market, must rush to produce an accompanying video.

Back in England, the new single debuts at number 12 in the Music Week/Gallup chart, sinking to number 15 its second week; but the BMIRC chart tells a quite different story, listing the single's chart debut as number 16, but placing the record at number 10 the second week.

The album does rather poorly in England, mainly for two reasons: the radio stations' refusal to play the music, and Kate's unwillingness to offer any more than minimal support for the record. She makes no personal signing appearances, and makes only a few brief television appearances.

At the end of the year Kate's longtime electric guitarist Alan Murphy dies prematurely, and she attends his funeral in England.

1990

In the U.S., the single Love and Anger has considerable college and alternative-market success, and its accompanying video is aired often by MTV. Unfortunately Kate's new U.S. label, Columbia Records, fails to offer more than nominal support for the album, and as a result its phenomenal commercial potential--indicated in dozens of alternative rock charts throughout the nation--is completely wasted, and the album never becomes known to the general record-buying public. It is unable to crack the top forty, but it does have a remarkable longevity, remaining in the Billboard Top 200 for a total of six full months. A golden opportunity has been squandered by Columbia.

In response to the unusual college interest, in January Kate finally does make a brief trip to New York in support of the album, but she does not schedule nearly as many interviews as she had done in 1985, and she makes no personal appearances. As a result, she is seen only extremely briefly on U.S. national news, and in five or six ten-second (that's right, ten-second!) interview "sound-bites" on MTV in January and February. (She also gives a twenty-minute phone-in interview, in which a large number of radio disc jockeys joined in for a conference call and ask a large number of too-familiar questions.)

Meanwhile, the second British single, This Woman's Work, is released. Kate does perform a lip-synch of the song on The Wogan Show, but the record has only a very slight success.

About this time Kate's longtime dance partner Gary Hurst dies from complications arising from AIDS.

Kate also goes into the studio with Roy Harper in the first half of 1990 to record the title track of Harper's forthcoming album, Once.

The third UK single, Love and Anger, released in February, is no more successful than its predecessor. It contains three of the six pieces of music which Kate recorded as a soundtrack for an episode of the British comedy series The Comic Strip. (The episode is called GLC). Also in February/March, Kate appears in an acting role on a different edition of the same series. (That episode is called Les Dogs.)

April 1990

On April 10, Kate is in France to work on producing two tracks of Alain Stivell's new album. While there she does do a little belated promotion, giving several television interviews, including one for the Eight O'Clock News on La Cinq (Channel Five); but apparently she does not perform any music.

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The Garden
©1990 Andy Marvick