Kate Bush facts: Songs, tours, age and family life of the elusive singer-songwriter

1 July 2025, 09:56

Kate Bush has dipped in and out of the world of pop, but will always be a legend.

Kate Bush isn't one of those stars who is constantly out and about grabbing the limelight.

She pops up now and again. Bush directed a short film for War Child in 2024, did a live residency in 2014, and released her last studio album in 2011.

• Kate Bush to make live return? Pink Floyd's David Gilmour speaks up
• Kate Bush's 15 greatest songs ever, ranked
• Listen to the Gold Radio 70s Live Playlist on Global Player, the official Gold app

But despite her relative absence from public life, Kate Bush's stature just grows and grows.

Her music connected with a new generation when 'Running Up That Hill' catapulted up the charts on the back of its appearance in Stranger Things, and she was finally inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2023.

Below we take a look at the life and work of Kate Bush, rounding up all your need-to-know facts.

How old is Kate Bush and where did she grow up?

Kate Bush was born as Catherine Bush on 30 July 1958 at a maternity hospital in Bexleyheath, Kent, to GP dad Robert Bush and staff nurse mum Hannah Patricia. She celebrated her 66th birthday in 2024.

She has two older brothers, John and Paddy, and grew up in a 350-year-old former farmhouse at East Wickham near Welling.

Bush went to the all-girls St Joseph's Convent Grammar School in Abbey Wood and also trained in karate at Goldsmiths College, where her brother John was an instructor.

How did Kate Bush get into music?

Kate was perhaps destined to be a musician. Her dad played the piano and her mum was a traditional Irish dancer.

Her brothers were both active in the local folk scene, with Paddy also making musical instruments and John being a poet.

She started teaching herself the piano when she was 11, going on to play the organ and violin, too.

Bush didn't stick to covers, either, but quickly started writing her own songs and lyrics.

Kate was obviously precociously talented. Her family agreed, and sent off a demo tape packed with self-penned songs to all the record labels.

Kate Bush - Passing Through Air

None of them were interested at first (maybe they were turned off by it apparently featuring a whopping 50 tracks), but the tape found its way to Pink Floyd's David Gilmour via family friend Ricky Hopper.

Not a bad guy to have in your corner.

Gilmour was impressed enough to pay for her to have a better demo tape put together.

The featured a much more sensible three songs and was produced by his pal Andrew Powell and with engineering by Geoff Emerick, who had worked with a little-known band called The Beatles.

The tape was sent on to EMI, who signed Bush to the label.

Kate Bush - Wuthering Heights - Official Music Video - Version 1

It took a couple of years for Kate to actually release anything on the label.

It's been suggested that she was focusing more on taking dance lessons and mime classes under David Bowie associate Lindsay Kemp, or finishing school, or that she was being held back till she was a little older, or that the producers they had for initial sessions weren't quite right.

Whatever the reason, it wasn't until January 1978 that Bush released her debut single 'Wuthering Heights'.

It went to number one, and its parent album The Kick Inside made it to number three. She had been bubbling behind the scenes for some time, but Kate Bush burst on to the scene as an overnight success.

What are Kate Bush's biggest albums and songs?

Kate Bush - Running Up That Hill - Official Music Video

These days Kate Bush has a reputation for taking her time over her recordings, but that wasn't always the case.

She rushed out Lionheart a mere nine months after The Kick Inside, with then two years between that album and Never For Ever, and other two years before The Dreaming.

Then came three years before Bush's masterpiece Hounds of Love, and four year gaps before The Sensual World and then The Red Shoes.

Then came a long 12 years, during which some thought Bush had retired, before comeback album Aerial in 2005.

Kate Bush - Babooshka - Official Music Video

Bush's last two albums came in 2011: the re-recordings project The Director's Cut, followed by 50 Words for Snow.

Kate Bush's biggest songs include:

• Wuthering Heights
• The Man with the Child in His Eyes
• Hammer Horror
• Wow
• Breathing
• Babooshka
• Army Dreamers
• Sat In Your Lap
• The Dreaming
• There Goes a Tenner
• Suspended in Gaffa
• Running up that Hill
• Cloudbusting
• Hounds of Love
• Don’t Give Ups (with Peter Gabriel)
• The Sensual World
• Rocket Man
• Rubberband Girl
• Moments of Pleasure
• The Red Shoes
• Lily
• King of the Mountain
• Lyra
• Deeper Understanding
• Snowflake

Why doesn't Kate Bush like playing live and how many tours has she played?

Kate Bush - And Dream of Sheep (Live) - Official Video

Kate Bush hasn't released a lot of albums during her long career, but that's certainly not because she prefers playing live.

After the release of Lionheart, EMI teed up a massive tour.

Ever the perfectionist, Bush busied herself with production, choreography, set and costume design. On stage she didn't just sing and play, but also incorporated impressive dance and mime routines, poetry segments and around 17 costume changes.

Called the Kate Bush Tour at the time, the running order was made up of songs from her first two albums, plus a couple of tracks from the upcoming Never For Ever. It was later dubbed The Tour of Life.

Bush played 28 shows in six weeks.

Despite the tragic death of lighting engineer Bill Duffield after a warm-up show in Poole, it was a stunning commercial and artistic success.

Kate Bush - James and the Cold Gun | REMASTERED (Live at Hammersmith Odeon 1979)

But it was also a lot.

"I did enjoy it but I was really physically exhausted," Bush told Rolling Stone in 1994.

"Eventually, I got nervous about performing live again, because I hadn't done it for so long, and I think I actually started losing a lot of confidence as a performer.

"I felt that I'd become a writer in a very isolated situation, just working with a small group of people."

Of the suggestion that giving up touring would in fact leave her isolated, Bush replied: "Touring is an incredibly isolated situation.

"I don't know how people tour for years on end. You find a lot of people who can’t stop touring, and it's because they don't know how to come back into life. It’s sort of unreal."

Kate Bush - Running Up That Hill - Live on Wogan 1985

She added to Mojo in 2011: "It was enormously enjoyable. But physically it was absolutely exhausting.

"I still don't give up hope completely that I’ll be able to do some live work, but it's certainly not in the picture at the moment because I just don’t quite know how that would work with how my life is now."

Bush gave a sprinkling of short performances on TV shows or at charity concerts between 1980 and 1991, just playing one or two songs at each,

And in 2014 she finally returned to the road. Well, not the road as such, but full length performances.

Bush's Before The Dawn residency took place at the Hammersmith Apollo. 22 shows. One venue.

The setlist took in six bangers, the full Ninth Wave half of Hounds of Love and A Sky of Honey disc from Aerial, topped off with a two-song encore.

The performances were critically acclaimed, and while a long-promised live DVD never emerged, Bush did eventually release a triple CD/quadruple LP live album of the recordings.

Her last live performance was on October 1, 2014.

How did Kate Bush change live performance forever and inspire Madonna and Janet Jackson?

While she's not played nearly as many gigs as most of her contemporaries, Kate Bush did more than most to help change the face of pop performance.

You can point to her costume-heavy sets laced with dance, mime, poetry, dazzling lighting, and theatrical elements. You can also point to the technical marvel that was her microphone setup,

To help Kate sing and dance at the same time and still be heard, she asked her sound engineer Martin Fisher for some help,. He jimmied a radio mic on to a wire coat hanger to make a homebrew headset.

People were watching and taking note, and before too long the likes of Janet Jackson and Madonna were using more professionally manufactured devices to let them do the same.

What massive stars has Kate Bush collaborated with?

Peter Gabriel - Don't Give Up (ft. Kate Bush)

Given what a singular talent she is and, as evidence by her Tour of Life burnout, how much control she likes to exercise over her art, it's maybe surprising just how often (and how well) Kate Bush has collaborated with other artists.

And we're not just talking about her working with her son Bertie (Albert) in concert or on her second-last album Aerial (he also re-recorded Rolf Harris's contributions to that album for its re-release after the artist's criminal convictions).

That album also featured input from Procul Harum's Gary Brooker and ex-10cc man Lol Creme. Gary also popped up on follow-up Director's Cut.

Kate Bush & David Gilmour - Running Up That Hill

Kate's last album 50 Words For Snow was pretty star-powered. Stephen Fry offered a spoken word vocal on the title track while Elton John sung on 'Snowed In at Wheeler Street'. Andy Fairweather Low pitched in on backing vocals on single 'Wild Man'.

And this wasn't a new thing for Kate. The Red Shoes featured not just Gary Brooker but also guest spots from Eric Clapton, Nigel Kennedy, Prince, Lenny Henry and Jeff Beck. Kennedy had previously appeared on The Sensual World, as did Michael Nyman and old pal David Gilmour.

In 1986, Kate Bush featured on one of the all-time great duets when helped Peter Gabriel with his track 'Don't Give Up'. She played the song with Gabriel on stage, and also duetted on 'Another Day'.

When it comes to live duets, we'll also point out her playing 'Running Up That Hill' with David Gilmour at The Secret Policeman's Third Ball.

Is Kate Bush married and does she have any children?

Bertie (2018 Remaster)

For a long time, Kate was in a relationship with Del Palmer. Del played in Kate's band from way back in 1977 and he was a frequent player on her albums, even after they broke up.

"It's hard to know what to say," Kate said on Del's death in 2024. "He was a big part of my life and my work for many years. It's going to take a long time to come to terms with him not being here with us.

"He was incredibly creative – talented in lots of different ways. He was a brilliant musician, bass player, a great artist – he was always drawing. Once he covered a whole recording consul [sic] in cartoons.

"It took him days and it looked absolutely stunning."He taught himself to be a recording engineer, engineering several of my albums and later releasing his own...I'm going to miss him terribly."

Kate Bush has been with her partner Danny McIntosh for well over 30 years. With Kate keeping her private life private, it's not completely clear if they're married or not.

Some reports suggest they wed in 1992, but we've not seen any certificate.

What we do know is they had a son, Bertie, in 1998. As well as playing on her most recent records, Bertie played with Kate on stage during her Before The Dawn residency.