Kate Bush

Kate Bush is an English singer, songwriter, and record producer whose 1978 debut single "Wuthering Heights" made her the first woman to reach number one on the UK Singles Chart with a self-written song. She was born Catherine Bush on July 30, 1958, in Bexleyheath, Kent, the youngest of three children of a doctor and a former dancer. She grew up in a converted farmhouse in East Wickham, learned piano from a young age, and was writing original songs in her early teens.

Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour heard her demos in 1973 and helped her secure a development deal with EMI, which allowed her to finish school before recording.

Her debut album The Kick Inside was released in February 1978. Its lead single "Wuthering Heights" — written from the point of view of Emily Brontë's Cathy Earnshaw — reached number one in the United Kingdom in March 1978. From her third album Never for Ever (1980) she co-produced her recordings, becoming the first British female solo artist to have a self-produced album reach number one on the UK Albums Chart. Her fifth album Hounds of Love (1985), built around the song-suite "The Ninth Wave," reached number one in the United Kingdom and produced the singles "Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God)," "Cloudbusting," and "Hounds of Love."

After 1979 she did not tour again until the 22-night Before the Dawn residency at the Hammersmith Apollo in August and September 2014. "Running Up That Hill" returned to global prominence in May 2022 after appearing in the fourth season of Netflix's Stranger Things, reaching number one in the United Kingdom 37 years after its original release. She was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2013 and inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2023.

Her given name Kate is a short form of Katherine, from the Greek Aikaterinē, the name of Saint Catherine of Alexandria; its etymology has been linked since the Middle Ages to the Greek katharos meaning "pure," though the original derivation is uncertain. The short form Kate has been in continuous English use since the medieval period.