To the Reaching Out (Interviews) Table of Contents
To
the Reaching Out (Interviews) Table of Contents
If only Emily Bronte were alive today to hear "Wuthering Heights" put to verse in a three minute, plus hit single by Kate Bush.
A contralto, the 19-year-old London lass is nothing less than striking in her beauty, but her voice is best described as remarkable.
Although it took three years to record her first album, including the hit-single "Wuthering Heights," it took only 12 weeks to turn both into highly acclaimed hit records in Britain.
Now she is looking toward North America, "a goal of every artist," she said.
On a recent promotional junket to meet North American press and radio people Kate Bush visited Toronto to talk about herself, her album, The Kick Inside, and about coping with her sudden success.
"I felt that to actually get your name anywhere, you've got to do something unusual, not more of the same. I chose 'Wuthering Heights' as a vehicle and because the book moved me."
Her first mentor was Pink Floyd's guitarist Dave Gilmour, who steered her toward Harvest Records, one of the most noteworthy of all U.K. pop labels today.
That union made, the songstress battled with inhibitions, vocal control and psychological duress until the takes started to come naturally, with "feeling" in the vocal expression.
Musically, she said her leanings are toward Steely Dan, David Bowie and Bryan Ferry during his days with Roxy Music and Eno.
The album's only attempt at an all-out rock number (and its only flaw) is "James and the Cold Gun," in which she tries a Patti Smith vocal posture and suffers at the hand of a weak song.
With a record contract at age 15, she studied mime with Lindsay Kemp and learned basics in karate, dance and vocal control. Now that she has won Britain and is a known name on this continent. Bush said her plans won't change much. "I still want to progress in my dancing...just develop the arts."
With no immediate plans for touring, she must write another album's worth of songs. "Have you read 'Jane Eyre'?" one is forced to ask. "No," she laughed, "no more Emily Bronte."
To
the Reaching Out (Interviews) Table of Contents
"The pull and the push of it all..." - Kate Bush
Reaching Out
is a
Marvick - Hill
Willker -
Mapes
Fitzgerald-Morris
Grepel - Love-Hounds
Presentation