November 27th: A new Australian film, Soft Fruit, about how a flawed family copes with the death of a mother, features a rather funny scene in which one of the daughters lip synchs to Wuthering Heights. The dance routine is the same as Kate performs in the red dress version of the Wuthering Heights video. The song is also featured on the soundtrack to the film. (thanks to Brian Parker in Melbourne)

Kate Hard At Work On New Album!

November 22nd: HomeGround fanzine's latest issue not only celebrates 20 years since The Tour Of Life, but confirms some solid news regarding progress on Kate's album. 

"Kate began writing and demoing songs for a new album earlier this year. She has had her recording studio serviced and upgraded and recording is expected to begin before Christmas. Kate is happy and full of energy and our former wild guess that there may be a new album by Autumn 2000 still remains a distinct possibility." 

As revealed earlier on this web-site the fanzine have already confirmed that Kate has recorded a song for the Disney film Dinosaur. "Disney sought out Kate to provide the soundtrack song that would be at the emotional turning point of the film. It appears, however, that Kate has had some problem agreeing the lyrics of the song with the Disney production team. Kate has however created the perfect song for the point in the film, just like in She's Having a Baby and Disney have the problem of taking or leaving it!" If you still haven't subscribed to HomeGround, well, what are you waiting for?! All details are contained on their web pages which I proudly host here.

November 21st: The major Dutch music magazine OOR has issued its list of the 100 most influential female artists of the last 100 years. The list was put together by critics and pop journalists. Kate ranks at number 3, with Aretha Franklin (2) and Madonna (1). An accompanying article mentions her "rich imagination" with "albums full of divine songs". Chrissie Hynde was interviewed by OOR for this special poll and when asked about Kate's very high showing she commented "I love Kate. I know she has influenced a lot of female singers, but not me. I like her, as a person, a lot." (thanks to Marcel Nahapiet)

New Kate Dance Remix: Look out for a 12" Single by 'Beyond', called 'Still Dream', a dance re-mix of Cloudbusting featuring Kate's vocal. It has apparently already been played on BBC Radio 1. White label promo only - available in "good dance record stores". (thanks to Sebastian who posted this on the guestbook)

Music Of The Millennium Poll - Kate Rides High

November 14th: Music Of The Millennium was a poll conducted throughout the UK & Ireland in association with Channel 4, HMV and Classic FM, and tonights live TV broadcast was the climax to "the biggest and most comprehensive survey on popular music ever undertaken". Over the past 12 months, the public has taken part by calling special phone lines, visiting the Channel 4 and Classic FM websites and by filling out voting forms in HMV stores, being asked to make crucial decisions about the best music ever made across ten categories; Best Band Of All Time, Best Album, Best Female Singer, Best Male Singer, Best Song, Best Songwriter, Most Influential Musician Of The Millennium, Best Jazz Musician, Best Piece of Classical Music, Best Classical Composer. The poll revealed the results after over 600,000(!) votes had been counted.

In the Best Female Singer category Kate shot into the top ten of the millennium at Number 9. Other top ten females included Ella Fitzgerald, Alanis Morrisette, Aretha Franklin and Bjork. Madonna topped the female singer poll.

Kate's influence was also felt in other categories; Best Album (Hounds Of Love - Number 47), Best Song (Wuthering Heights - Number 84), Best Songwriter (Number 66), and she was placed Number 61 in the Most Influential Musician Of The Millennium category. Wuthering Heights features on the tie-in double CD release. Read the complete poll results at the Music Of The Millennium web-site.

Kate records song for new Disney Movie - Dinosaur

September 23rd: The editors of HomeGround fanzine have confirmed for me that Kate has recorded a song for the upcoming Disney computer animated blockbuster Dinosaur, which is scheduled for US cinema release on Memorial Day, May 2000. This follows rumours posted on the famous "movie geek" web-site Aint It Cool News. Dinosaur has been a hugely anticipated project which will apparently set new boundaries for animation, and it has been rumoured to be one of the most expensive films ever made. The animated dinosaurs will be voiced (including Joan Plowright, Juliana Marguiles and Kiefer Sutherland) but the film is expected to have strong dramatic elements and is not a musical comedy. The plot is said to centre around an Iguanadon raised by lemurs who tries to survive the end of the Mesozoic era. As Peter Fitzgerald Morris of HomeGround has told me, Kate's track is "...apparently for the emotional turning point of the film.....shades of the death of Bambi's mother??!!" Peter also adds the traditional Kate news story disclaimer: "...not absolutely certain whether it'll be used at this point". We'll keep you posted on all developments. (see update March 17th 2000).

New UK tribute album in shops now...

September 17th: Tribute Album Update: Now read an interview with singer Jemma Price at the Irgendwo In Der Tiefe web-site. (thanks to Beate Meiswinkel at the German fanzine)

August 14th: Issued on Dressed to Kill Records Catalogue DOP152 - Titled "A Tribute To Kate Bush - The Child In Her Eyes"  tracks performed by E-Clypse featuring Jemma Price. It's a 19 track double CD selling for £4.99 at HMV I've been told. CD1 Tracklisting: Wow, Wuthering Heights, The Man With The Child In His Eyes, Breathing, The Kick Inside, Army Dreamers, Lionheart, In The Warm Room, Babooshka. CD2 Tracklisting: The Sensual World, Reaching Out, This Woman's Work, The Red Shoes, Running Up That Hill, Mother Stands For Comfort, Cloudbusting, Never Be Mine, Moments Of Pleasure, Under The Ivy. You may be able to find more info at the record company's web-site (thanks to Beate Meiswinkel and Mark Binmore for these updates)

August 13th: Newsbits: According to US music channel VH1, of the 100 most influential women in rock music, Kate ranks at number 46.........Máire Brennan of Clannad has recorded a new version of Don't Give Up with Michael McDonald dueting on a new album Streams, see this web-site......the latest issue of the academic journal Popular Music, (vol. 18/2), has Kate on the cover and an analysis of "Wuthering Heights" by Dr. Nicky Losseff of York University, UK. Her article is titled, "Cathy's homecoming and the other world: Kate Bush's 'Wuthering Heights." (Newsbit thanks to Greg Gilligan, Keith DeWeese and Scott Silzer)

July 8th: The new edition of Q magazine once again compiles a reader based survey, this time compiling the list of "The 100 Greatest Stars of the 20th Century". Kate is placed at number 33, with Q commenting; "Venus in leg-warmers. Having made her sparkling arrival as a 19-year-old in 1977, Kate Bush retired from live performances after one tour and has released albums sparingly. The goggle-eyed, hello-flowers, hello-trees dance routines and paint-peeling trill made her a soft target for critics, but a subtle refining of her art and growing older has resulted in a sophisticated artist, extraordinarily successful but still shrouded in mystery. What is she like? Where does she go? Is it OK to fancy her rotten? The world still wants to know". One voter (Jonathan Reynolds, Liverpool) summed Kate up by saying: "Imagination, romanticism and not giving a toss." John Lennon topped this particular poll, but Kate proved a more popular choice than the likes of Jim Morrison, Prince and Eric Clapton.

Brian Kennedy chats to this web-site about Kate!

June 22nd: In an exclusive chat with me for this web-site, Irish singer-songwriter Brian Kennedy talks in-depth about how Kate's work has influenced him and how he came to meet her. I think it's a fascinating chat and Brian was very enthusiastic to do it also. We cover other topics also such as his own work, what the expression of music means to him, and the time he met the late Jeff Buckley in New York. Brian was pressed for time that day, but the conversation was very informal, I had no set questions, I just wanted Brian to tell his story in his own way. I hope you all enjoy reading it, please e-mail me with any feedback or comments. You'll find the text of our conversation here

Fanzine sees prospect of new material next year...

June 3rd: HomeGround fanzine report in their latest issue (No. 63) that "The line from the EMI press office is that Kate is working on new material...we have a feeling that there is some new energy flowing and the Millennium will bring some new and wonderful things...any release dates are highly speculative", they continue by saying that their "wild guess is that the earliest likely release date for new material from Kate is Spring 2000, with Autumn 2000 being more likely".(thanks as ever to Peter & Krys at HomeGround, read more about the new issue and how to subscribe to the wonderful HomeGround here.)

May 13th: Kate retains her very high No.32 position in this month's Record Collector's annual Top 500 Most Collectable Artists listing. Of the female artists only Madonna is higher placed. (thanks to Zwegers)

May 12th: As mentioned below, the soundtrack to the hit US TV series Felicity has just been released featuring tracks from Sarah McLachlan, Air, Heather Nova and Peter Gabriel. J.J. Abrams, the creator of the show and screenwriter of Armageddon and Regarding Henry, has this to say about Kate's track on the official web-site for the show:

"We've gotten more response from this song [This Woman's Work] than any other because it's so heartbreaking. It's heard after Julie has been date-raped and Ben comes to her with advice that he wouldn't give to many people because he's not a communicative person. The gesture and feelings Julie and Ben share are enormously enhanced by this song at an emotional point that requires you to cry." [From the episode: "Drawing The Line Part II"]

May 11th: Newsbits: The scheduled US DVD release of The Line, The Cross & The Curve for May 4th has unfortunately been put back by Sony till possibly January 2000 for reasons unknown, to the dismay of those who had ordered it from online stores such as Amazon.Com.....US visitors to the site should look out for the CD soundtrack album to the TV show Felicity, it will contain This Woman's Work, previously heard on the show.....Brett Anderson, the lead singer of Suede, has long been known to be an ardent admirer of Kate's work, this week in a UK interview he reveals that Wuthering Heights was the first ever record he bought.....on Dutch TV the new ad for Toyota features Running Up That Hill amid dolphin/nature imagery...(newsbit thanks to Vincent, Hans & Marinus in the Netherlands, and Collin in the US)

April 26th: According to UK radio's Magic FM there is soon to be a reissue of the late Dusty Springfield's live performances from the 1960s to 1990s which will feature her live version of Kate's "The Man with the Child In His Eyes" which was performed in 1979 and has never been issued on vinyl or CD. Dustys version was said to have been very emotional and atmospheric and went down a storm at the Albert Hall.

April 21st: Newsbits: This month's Mojo magazine follows up its celebrity greatest all time singers poll (see Sept '98 news) with the results of a similar poll conducted among its readership. Kate breaks into the top 50 at number 48.........also a recent ITV documentary on UK television, "The Unseen Royals", prominently featured "This Woman's Work" during a sequence on the Queens involvement with the Aberfan mining disaster in Wales. It was said by those who saw it to be particularly moving and perfectly fitting for the programme.

March 30th: Kate's first release on the DVD video format will be the US release by Sony Music of "The Line, The Cross & The Curve" scheduled for 4th May. (Note: See update 11th May)

Mná na hÉireann on new Irish language showcase album