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THIS WOMAN’S WORK – A KATE BUSH CABARET CELEBRATION AT THE ROYAL VAUXHALL TAVERN IN LONDON

A FUNDRAISER FOR CABARET VS CANCER 

Following last year’s sell out show, A Deal With God, HomeGround and KateBushNews.com are thrilled to be back once again at the iconic LGBTQ+ venue for another Kate Bush themed cabaret show to raise money for Cabaret vs Cancer. 

This Woman’s Work will be a celebration of the work of Kate Bush, featuring cabaret, drag and burlesque performances of, or inspired by Kate songs. From Wuthering Heights to Before the Dawn, her Whole Story will be represented. 

The cast will be announced shortly, but we can promise you returning stars from last year’s show, plus some exciting new names. Watch this space and the RVT socials. 

Tickets are £12 from:

https://www.outsavvy.com/event/14473/this-womans-work-a-kate-bush-celebration

Doors at 7pm, show from 8pm 

The Royal Vauxhall Tavern is a world famous LGBTQ+ performance and club venue, located in Vauxhall, South London, just a few minutes walk from Vauxhall underground, rail and bus station. 

Cabaret vs Cancer is an independent charity set up in 2014 by performer Rose Thorne and Dave from HomeGround is a Patron for the charity. Theyraise money, via live events and online auctions to help families, especially children cope with the effects of cancer, you can find out more at https://www.cabaretvscancer.co.uk/

With more than 450 million users, Shazam is an app that can identify music based on a short sample played and using the microphone on the device. Kate’s This Woman’s Work has seen a huge surge in searches since being featured on the Netflix film The Mother, starring Jennifer Lopez, which debuted a few days ago on the streaming service. Kate’s song is played over the closing moments of the action-thriller. This Woman’s Work is the No.1 most searched for song in the US right now, #2 in the UK and #8 worldwide.

It is worth noting though that the song isn’t moving to the top of the iTunes, Spotify or official charts around the world in the same way as Running Up That Hill last summer. It’s great to see more people discovering Kate’s searing ballad, though!

Many were shocked and saddened to hear that the great bass player, John Giblin, a longstanding member of Kate’s musical “family” and ultimately her KT Fellowship, has sadly died on Sunday in Cheltenham, aged 71. John’s extensive work with Kate started as far back as playing on Babooshka and Breathing from the Never For Ever album, and continued with his contributions on the albums The Sensual World, The Red Shoes, Aerial, Director’s Cut and 50 Words For Snow. John first worked with Kate when he played on Peter Gabriel’s song No Self Control with her in 1979. John was also Kate’s chosen bass guitarist on her Before The Dawn shows in 2014. His contribution to her work has been immense.

UPDATE: Kate has added some beautiful words about her dear friend John Giblin to her official site:

Everyone loved John. He was a really beautiful man in every sense of the word. Everybody wanted to work with him because he was such a great talent and everyone wanted to be his friend because he was such a wonderful person.
I loved John so very much. He was one of my very dearest and closest friends for over forty years. We were always there for each other. He was very special. I loved working with him, not just because he was such an extraordinary musician but because he was always huge amounts of fun. We would often laugh so much that we had to just give in to it and sit and roar with laughter for a while. He loved to be pushed in a musical context, and it was really exciting to feel him cross that line and find incredibly gorgeous musical phrases that were only there for him. He would really sing. It was such a joy and an inspiration to see where he could take it.
We’ve all lost a great man, an unmatchable musician and I’ve lost my very special friend. My world will never be the same again without him.
Kate

Described by producer Robert M Corich as a “bass guitarist, double bass player, arranger and all round session musician extraordinaire”, John was born to a musical family in Bellshill, Scotland where he started his interest in music from a young age, playing with various rock and pop bands in his teens and progressing from there. From the Facebook page of the band Osibisa who John recently worked with:

“His immense performing ability was noticed early on and he was soon touring and recording with Peter Gabriel as well as Kate Bush, Phil Collins, Eric Clapton and Annie Lennox to name a few. He became the bassist, often using fretless bass, for the band Simple Minds where he replaced Derek Forbes and performed with the band on three albums before returning to his former passion as a studio musician.

During his career he worked with countless artists and groups, covering a wide range of musical genres.  Including Peter Gabriel, Elton John, Eric Clapton,  Paul McCartney, Donovan, Judie Tzuke, Fish, Manfred Mann’s Earthband, Jon Anderson, Roberta Flack, Mark Knopfler, George Martin, David Sylvian, Sting, Wendell Richardson, Joan Armatrading, David Arnold, Richard Ashcroft, Asia, Big Dish, Colin Blunstone, Brand X, Elkie Brooks, Duncan Browne, Sarah Brightman, Chris De Burgh, Brian Eno, Exile, Roberta Flack, Al Green, Steve Harley, Natalie Imbruglia, David Knopfler, KD Lang, The Psychedelic Furs, Ralph McTell, Gerry Rafferty, Tanita Tikaram and Scott Walker among many others.”

Interviewed in 2016 John described his delight at being asked to play on Kate’s live comeback. “I had a call from Kate Bush “I want to do a lot of live shows!”…and they were amazing! Dear Kate, we have been working together since 1978! Kate’s band was a perfect combination of David Rhodes, Omar Hakim and Minu Cinelu. I really was a happy bass player!”

We are thinking today of John’s family and friends and everyone in the music world who will deeply mourn his passing.

RIP John Giblin – 26th February 1952 to 14th May 2023

Last month Kate signed a series of prints at her home which are based on the soundwave of her song Running Up That Hill to raise funds for the charity War Child UK, and they have just gone on sale. From Andrew at War Child:

“It’s been a big year for Kate Bush. First, Netflix catapaults her back onto the charts. Then she gets inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. And now she gets to sign Soundwaves? What more could someone ask for?! All jokes aside, we are grateful to be working again with Kate. She signed a few originals for us almost a decade ago as Tim was just starting out with this idea, and we’re so happy to have reconnected for a run of 100 prints of “Running Up That Hill (A Deal WIth God).””Running Up That Hill” has been a hit for decades, but the song ascended to truly unfathomable heights last year thanks to its prominent feature in Netflix’s Stranger Things. It reached #1 on the charts in several countries and its streams on Spotify in the US increased by almost 10,000%. Kate signed the prints as part of our ongoing celebration of War Child UK’s 30th anniversary in 2023.”

You can learn more and purchase these newly signed Soundwaves prints here: https://soundwavesartfoundation.com/collections/Kate-Bush

We remember the legendary Irish fiddle player, Seán Keane of The Chieftains, who has sadly passed away aged 76. Seán played fiddle on Kate’s Night of the Swallow. RIP and thanks for the incredible tunes, Seán. Our thoughts are with his family and friends.

The British Academy of Film and Television Arts, BAFTA, have revealed the nominations for the inaugural P&O Cruises Memorable Moment Award, which honours “the impact of television in the UK and its power to entertain, inform and bring the nation together – looking back at key moments from 2022 that inspired and moved audiences at home”. It includes a nomination for that momentous scene from Stranger Things that featured Kate’s Running Up That Hill which went on to make the song the most massive worldwide hit of Kate’s career.

The six nominees are:

• Derry Girls, Channel 4 – The Finale, the people of Northern Ireland vote overwhelmingly for peace
• Heartstopper, Netflix – Nick and Charlie’s First Kiss
• Platinum Jubilee: Party at the Palace, BBC One – Paddington Meets The Queen
• Stranger Things, Netflix – Lucas, Dustin, and Steve rescue Max from the demonic Vecna by playing her favourite song – Kate Bush’s Running Up That Hill
• The Real Mo Farah, BBC One – Sir Mo Farah revealing he was illegally trafficked to the UK
• The Traitors, BBC One  – The Final Roundtable

Members of the public can vote for their P&O Cruises Memorable Moment online via bafta.org/moment. Voting will close at midday on May 2, 2023 and the winner will be announced at the BAFTA Television Awards with P&O Cruises on May 14, 2023 on BBC One and iPlayer from 7pm.

Kate’s Running Up That Hill has been shortlisted for “Most Performed Song” at this year’s Ivor Novello Awards, after the song’s massive global success last year. As the BBC reports, the track is up against several contemporary hits including As It Was by Harry Styles, Heat Waves by Glass Animals and two tracks by Ed Sheeran – Bad Habits and Shivers. The award recognises the song that was played most often on TV and radio, and at concerts and DJ sets, over the last year. The awards, which are named after Welsh entertainer Ivor Novello, will be handed out at a ceremony in London on Thursday, 18 May.

Running Up That Hill was previously nominated for best contemporary song at the 1986 Ivor Novello Awards, but lost out to Tina Turner’s We Don’t Need Another Hero. Kate has previously won two Ivor Novellos: Best lyric for The Man With The Child In His Eyes in 1979 and best song for Don’t Give Up, a duet with Peter Gabriel, in 1987. In 2002 Kate won an award from the Ivors for Outstanding Contribution to British Music. In September 2020 Kate became a fellow of the Ivors academy, receiving much praise from her peers in the music industry, the highest honour the awards can bestow.

Kate’s book of lyrics, How To Be Invisible was published in a new paperback version last week and is now available in book shops across the UK and Ireland. A very limited amount of signed copies have also been sent out to those who managed to pre-order them from selected retailers in January. Publisher Faber have announced that they are “delighted that the paperback of Kate Bush’s How To Be Invisible has entered the charts this week as a Top Ten Sunday Times Bestseller“

Kate’s new introduction is a lovely addition to this paperback edition. Replacing the original introduction to the 2018 hardback edition written by Kate’s friend and collaborator David Mitchell, Kate has now written a very personal five page piece about what her written words mean to her, remembering how she would crawl as child, under her father’s piano, and listen to him while he played, leading to her profound relationship with that special instrument and her songwriting. “I was extremely prolific when I was very young”. It’s a truly wonderful read, well worth the purchase alone.

It’s great to hear that so many fans are now reading her lyrics with new eyes, much as she had hoped herself. Kate references the process involved in creating the lyrics to songs like Cloudbusting, Mrs Bartolozzi and Snowflake while citing the influence of the likes of author Alan Garner, singer Frank Sinatra, The Trio Bulgarka and the band King Crimson on her wordcraft. She even reveals the roots of her very early composition The Man With The Child In His Eyes; a mystery man she recently met again who had no idea he was the subject she was “madly in love with” as a young teenager!

As announced, a very small number of those copies have invisible ink messages inscribed on the signed page from Kate – only visible under UV light. Secret messages from Kate include “Boo!”, “Now, You’ve Read Between the Lines”, “Can’t See The Words For The Trees?”, and “Now You Don’t, Now You See Me!” Special copies indeed!

In January this year the katebushnews.com website turned 25 years old! In this episode of The Kate Bush Fan Podcast Seán celebrates this hard-to-believe milestone by asking some fan friends to cherry-pick their choice of news stories, both obscure and momentous, from the site archives which date back to 1998! An enjoyable, eclectic chat with guests Dave Cross, Paul Thomas and Darrell Babidge! Here’s links to the news stories that we chose from the archives:

You can subscribe to the Kate Bush Fan Podcast on iTunes or Spotify or on any podcast app you happen to use, such as Stitcher or Tunein or listen below on Soundcloud.

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Kate has donated a number of signed Running Up That Hill CD singles to the annual Cabaret vs Cancer charity music auction. Cabaret vs Cancer was set up in 2016 and raises money through cabaret and burlesque shows as well as themed online auctions to help people coping with the effects of cancer. Kate has donated signed items for the previous two music auctions. Dave Cross from HomeGround Magazine is a patron of the charity, and last year organised a Kate themed cabaret fundraiser at The Royal Vauxhall Tavern in London. The music auction also includes signed items from Kim Wilde, Belinda Carlisle, The Pet Shop Boys, Stormzy, Taylor Swift, Joan Armatrading and many limited edition vinyl and CD collectibles. Please do check out the auction online here, a wonderful cause – thanks Dave!

Today marks 45 years since the release of The Kick Inside, Kate’s brilliant debut record! It sounds as beguiling today as all those years ago. This album is a companion for life. Below you can hear Kate in 1978 talking about the songs on the album from the US “Self Portrait” radio special promotional disc.

As we celebrate, don’t forget our news archives have lots of features about this album and its legacy: like the time the entire album was played live by Cloudbusting for the 40th anniversary of the album when Del Palmer played Kate Bush songs on stage for the first time in decades…or this detailed look at the creation of the famous ‘Kite’ cover…don’t forget to listen to the recent BBC Radio feast of programming to mark the 45th anniversary…not to mention the many, many news features we have ran about the album’s worldwide hit single, Wuthering Heights! And do check out all those The Kick Inside collectibles…

It’s hard to believe, but on this day, 25 years ago, I launched the Kate Bush News & Information website on the 25th January 1998. I had no training in HTML or web design or photoshop (could you tell?!!) but I was driven by a need to put something on the web that I felt was sorely lacking at the time – a site that told the world that, despite a 5 year absence (at that point) Kate was still a contemporary and very influential artist and there was still PLENTY of Kate-related news to report and get excited about. Basically…I wanted to make a website that I could browse myself and enjoy (and weirdly I often found myself doing just that!) It was a different online world then – no Google, Facebook, Youtube or Twitter, and it was a lot of hard work gathering news and doing updates without the luxury of things like WordPress – it was a labour of love.

Luckily the site rapidly gained in popularity and fans became very generous and helpful informing me of all kinds of news from all over the world. Five years later, in April 2003, I launched the site forum which became a thriving meeting place for all manner of discussion and debate among Kate fans. My friends in HomeGround even agreed to have their home here on the site and we have enjoyed many exclusive stories and announcements over the years – like when Kate wanted to tell her fans about her son’s birth through the site or when we were the first place anywhere in the world to officially announce the Aerial release after 12 long years between albums! More recently we’ve had the most extensive coverage anywhere of Kate’s massive global success with Running Up That Hill in the summer of 2022.

I’m very proud of the fact that this site is still the highest ranked dedicated Kate Bush site on Google searches for “Kate Bush” after Kate’s own official site. As we continue to do what we do, here on the main site and across Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, and on our Kate Bush Fan podcasts, I’d like to thank you all so much for all the support and goodwill you’ve shown this site over the last two and a half decades. Special thanks to Peter, Krys and Dave from HomeGround, to Paddy Bush, John Carder Bush and Del Palmer for their warm support, to Brian Cloughley for so much amazing graphic work over the years, to Paul and Darrell for their Bush Telegraph podcast series, to Mike Wade for steering the forum through all kinds of drama during the early years, and to my family and friends who must have often thought I was a bit mad. And of course to Kate for making the extraordinary music that has brought us all together. You’ve been great – THANKS! – Seán x

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The one that started it all. Kate’s breathtaking debut single, Wuthering Heights, was released 45 years ago today on January 20th 1978! Music writer Sam Liddicott has put together a new podcast episode to celebrate. You can hear Seán talking about Wuthering Heights [Seán is at 1:02:15 but this special also includes DJ Mark Radcliffe, performer Sarah-Louise Young and the music writer Tom Doyle] Thanks, Sam!

Here is what Kate herself had to say about the song in a 1979 Kate Bush Fan Club newsletter:

Well, I wrote it in my flat, sitting at the upright piano one night in March at about midnight. There was a full moon and the curtains were open, and every time I looked up for ideas, I looked at the moon. Actually, it came quite easily. I couldn’t seem to get out of the chorus – it had a really circular feel to it, which is why it repeats. I had originally written something more complicated, but I couldn’t link it up, so I kept the first bit and repeated it. I was really pleased, because it was the first song I had written for a while, as I’d been busy rehearsing with the KT Band.

I felt a particular want to write it, and had wanted to write it for quite a while. I remember my brother John talking about the story, but I couldn’t relate to it enough. So I borrowed the book and read a few pages, picking out a few lines. So I actually wrote the song before I had read the book right through. The name Cathy helped, and made it easier to project my own feelings of want for someone so much that you hate them. I could understand how Cathy felt.

It’s funny, but I heard a radio programme about a woman who was writing a book in Old English, and she found she was using words she didn’t know, but when she looked them up she found they were correct. A similar thing happened with ‘Wuthering Heights’: I put lines in the song that I found in the book when I read it later.

I’ve never been to Wuthering Heights, the place, though I would like to, and someone sent me a photo of where it’s supposed to be.

One thing that really pleases me is the amount of positive feedback I’ve had from the song, though I’ve heard that the Bronte Society think it’s a disgrace. A lot of people have read the book because of the song and liked it, which I think is the best thing about it for me. I didn’t know the book would be on the GCE syllabus in the year I had the hit, but lots of people have written to say how the song helped them. I’m really happy about that.

There are a couple of synchronicities involved with the song. When Emily Bronte wrote the book she was in the terminal stages of consumption, and I had a bad cold when I wrote the song. Also, when I was in Canada I found out that Lindsay Kemp, my dance teacher, was in town, only ten minutes away by car, so I went to see him. When I came back I had this urge to switch on the TV – it was about one in the morning – because I knew the film of Wuthering Heights would be on. I tuned in to a thirties gangster film, then flicked through the channels, playing channel roulette, until I found it. I came in at the moment Cathy was dying, so that’s all I saw of the film. It was an amazing coincidence.

Kate bush 1979