Is this what a “Pop icon” is?
Kate Bush burst onto the scene in 1978 with Wuthering Heights, a wildly unlikely and ethereal single. The record industry and radio DJs were bemused, but the record-listening public were instantly smitten. I loved it, but I thought it had ‘one-hit wonder’ written all over it. I was spectacularly wrong. (I have form in that department. I also tagged Sultans of Swing by Dire Straits as a one-hit wonder.)
Kate Bush has had a remarkable career, increasingly on her own terms, and earned the highest respect of her peers and the adoration of her fans. She was anxious when she released her eight studio album, Aerial, that it had been twelve years since The Red Shoes. Might the world have forgotten her? She had nothing to worry about. It was the most eagerly anticipated album of the decade.
Tom Doyle is a distinguished music journalist with a real knack for earning the trust of notoriously private rock stars. Among many career highlights, he conducted the longest in-depth interview Kate Bush ever granted (to promote Aerial). Running Up That Hill is his superb and idiosyncratic biography of the superstar.
Tom Doyle – Nine Eight Books – £10.99
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