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Take-over at the top:
By David Wigg
Kate Bush, with her first record, has reached dizzy heights.
Her haunting "Wuthering Heights" is now at the top of the charts. It knocked Swedish group Abba from the No. 1 spot.
Yesterday, by way of celebration, the 19-year-old doctor's daughter treated herself to a £7,000 Steinway baby grand piano.
Kate's song -- which she wrote -- has also collected a silver disc for selling more than £250,000 copies in Britain.
Her recording company, EMI, celebrated her reaching No. 1 (I tipped her for the top last month) with champagne. Then the singer flew from London's Heathrow to have dinner in Paris.
It was after reading Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights that she was inspired to write a song about the tormented heroine Cathy, calling for the soul of Heathcliff so they could be together.
"I really try to project myself into the role of Cathy and so, as she is a ghost, I gave her a high-pitched, wailing voice," explained Kate.
EMI recognised Kate's potential as a songwriter at 16, when they put her under contract and gave her an advance of £3,000 to live on.
They felt she was too young to become a star then and did not even bother to release a recording. Instead, they sent her away to concentrate on writing more songs and develop her singing style.
She bought a honky-tonk piano for £200 and spent most nights composing her songs on it.
"I've always dreamed of having a grand piano," said Kate, a delicately attractive girl with large amber eyes and long auburn hair. "Now I can afford one."
She grew up at Welling, Kent, but now lives in a Lewisham flat with two cats, Zoodle and Pyewacket. Her two brothers keep a protective watch over her, as they live in the same house. Twenty-five-year-old Paddy Bush plays mandolin and is a member of the five-piece group she has formed to back her on concert tours.
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"The pull and the push of it all..." - Kate Bush
Reaching Out
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Marvick - Hill
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Mapes
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Grepel - Love-Hounds
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