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Date: Fri, 22 Mar 91 14:29:58 EST
From: Andrew B Marvick <abm4@cunixa.cc.columbia.edu>
Subject: Interview by James Johnson 1980
IED unfortunately cannot identify the publication from which the following interview originates--it appeared in issue 12 of CKI (now known as Never Forever ), the Welsh Kate Bush fanzine. Edited by Andrew Marvick.
-- James Johnson talks to pop star Kate Bush --
Music is my life, says 'lucky' Kate
Kate Bush would be less than human if she did not sometimes marvel at the attention she has received over the past three years.
She says: "Sometimes I see myself in the paper and it's hard to associate with the name of Kate Bush. She is this well-known person who has almost become like a brand name, like Maxwell House coffee or something. Meanwhile I'm just working on my music and my life."
Somehow she remains an awkward personality to categorize. One newspaper has described her as Britain's top pop sexpot while a new, unauthorized hagiography about her life opted for the title Suburban Princess.
Even now she comes over in person as part pop star and part ordinary girl from the South London commuter belt, while her conversation ranges between traditional popworld cliches and perceptive comment.
"I often think people are looking for something in my life that they can't find," she comments. "A number of performers I suppose came from working-class families, or their parents were divorced. Perhaps that gives them the urge to go out and struggle for something.
"But basically I have always had a normal, very happy life with my family. I never went out and beat up old ladies or became an alcoholic at school."
THEMES
"I think the public have become conditioned to want to know who is sleeping with who, or how many marriages somebody has had, but as far as I'm concerned it's totally irrelevant. I'm really very normal and there is nothing sensational to uncover. I wouldn't talk about some private things to my mother, so why should I to anybody else?"
Nevertheless one still feels impelled to broach the subject of sex, especially as many of her songs seem to incorporate underlying sexual themes.
According to Kate: " I think music and love are very similar. They're both natural basic energies, they have the same kind of all-embracing freedom, the elation.
"The communication of music is very like making love. If you play a piano, for example, you're so united it's really a beautiful thing."
Now twenty-two years old, the singer has accomplished almost everything the popworld has to offer except in the United States as yet. She has performed at the Palladium, made frequent appearance in the charts, and been given almost every major award available.
A new album due out next week < Never For Ever : this interview dates from 1980--IED> has been held back for three months by EMI, since they regard it with such importance <sic> that they did not want its appearance to clash with their other major releases this year by Paul McCartney and the Rolling Stones.
BUFFER
While she remarks that she has felt more grown up of late, she has always appeared untouched by the pressures and difficulties that can accompany fame and fortune.
"I can see why people do have nervous breakdowns and so on, but it all depends on the person rather than what you happen to be doing.
"Sometimes I have felt that I'm losing control and that it's all running away with me, but all I have to do then is to say to myself: 'Well leave, then. Give it all up.' And I know I never would, because my life is really music, and I love it so much.
"I would like to survive, like people like Cliff Richard or Paul McCartney. If you look at them, they're so strong and solid and happy. They'll be able to go on for as long again as they have already."
One particular buffer against the outside world would seem to be the Bush family. Her father, a former family doctor, and her three brothers <sic: Kate has only two brothers, John Carder Bush and Paddy Bush--IED> are involved in different levels of her career.
One brother, Paddy, plays an assortment of instruments on her new album, while Novercia, Ltd., the company that has been formed to look after her interests, has five Bush family members as directors.
"I'm lucky to have a family I love who can give me advice when I need it. I like to think of myself as director of the force, but I'm not a businesswoman, for example, and when it comes to legal jargon I need some help.
"My parents weren't keen on the giving up of school at the beginning to go into singing and dancing, but once they saw I was serious about it, they gave support.
"I was quite stubborn about my decision, and in the end they realized it was for the best."
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"The pull and the push of it all..." - Kate Bush
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