Interviews & Articles
1985
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Record Mirror
"Bushwhacked"
by
Robin Smith
August 31, 1985
To
the Reaching Out (Interviews) Table of Contents
Watch as we peel off those layers of mystique from the Kate Bush legend.
Robin Smith checks his clippings for those intimate facts that got away...
- Kate was bom in Bexleyheath, Kent, on July 30, 1958. She's the
daughter of a doctor and a former staff nurse.
- Apart from being ace with a stethoscope, Kate's dad is also very
musical. When he was a young man he wrote songs and once even sold one
to buy an engagement ring for Kate's mum. He taught Kate basic piano.
- Kate wrote the original version of 'Man With The Child In His
Eyes' before she was 14. Her songs were so good her teachers didn't believe
they were her own work.
- Kate says she's a lonely person. When she was at school she spent
her weekends and evenings scribbling down songs in her bedroom.
- Kate left school at 16 with 10 O-levels. Pink Floyd's guitarist
Dave Gilmour discovered her and paid for Kate to record some demo tapes.
EMI paid her £3,000 for a couple of years so she could
concentrate on writing songs.
- Other record companies turned Kate down because they thought her
voice was boring.
- Kate shares her birthday with Emily Bronte who wrote 'Wuthering
Heights', the book that inspired Kate's first hit single. Kate is convinced
the spirit of Emily watches over her. "I believe she was pleased
someone was promoting her book in a commercial way," she says.
- Kate is five feet three Inches tall and weighs seven and a half
stone.
- She has hazel eyes and red-brown hair. She puts henna on her
tumbling locks to keep them shiny.
- Kate is a vegetarian. Her favourite food is a nut cutlet and raw
vegetables or a chunk of cheese. She admits to being a chocolate addict,
though.
- Kate's single 'Wow' was all about. failed homosexual actor and a
starlet who sleeps her way to the top.
- Kate's stage show for her one British tour cost £150,000.
Kate a dazzling variety of costume changes, including wearing a flying
helmet and dressing up like Humphrey Bogart. The climax of the show was a
cowboys and Indians shootout.
- Kate says her dance routines are not meant to be sexy (what does she
do when she does feel a bit fruity, I wonder?) "Some people may
interpret something sexual in my movements but they are not intended
to be," she claims.
- One of Kate's best friends is a telephonist who she's known since
schooldays.
- For a while Kate wanted to be a social worker or a psychiatrist. "I
really wanted to be able to help people," she says.
- Kate prefers shopping in second-hand shops to big stores. She has
a weakness for earrings and collects them wherever she goes. One of her
favourite pairs is in the shape of two miniature theatrical masks.
- Hugh Cornwall of the Stranglers was smitten with Kate. They met
when she went backstage after a Stranglers concert at the Rainbow in
London. David 'Kid' Jensen has also succumbed to her charms. "She's my
type of girl," he said. "Her physical appeal is the sort of
sophisticated gypsy look."
- Kate has received several proposals of marriage from fans, but
she always writes kind, but firm, letters back.
- One fan even offered to skin himself and roll in salt in exchange
for a gift from her.
- Kate likes doing her own housework and can't write songs unless
the place is tidy. "I can't sit down at the piano when there's a
sinkful of washing up in the kitchen," she says.
- Kate has been offered roles in a couple of vampire films. She was
also offered the chance of singing the theme for the James Bond film
'Moonraker', but she was too busy.
- Among Kate's favourite musicians are David Bowie, the Beatles,
Stevie Wonder, Roxy Music, Frank Zappa and Donovan.
- Kate was featured on Peter Gabrlel's single 'Jeux Sans Frontieres'
and on the pre Band-Aid charity record 'Sing Sing Sing'. Proceeds from
this single went to UNICEF.
- Kate likes the night-time best and she's usually at her most
creative then "I can sleep all day and then around midnight I feel
fine." she says.
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
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