UPDATE: APRIL FOOL!!!!! Rock n Roll Hall of Fame turn down Kate’s instrument request

The following ‘report’ was fabricated by myself, Seán, earlier this morning. Thanks for taking it in the spirit it was intended! Obviously myself and HomeGround promise as always never to rely on rumour or unverified sources to bring you the latest Kate Bush news. Anyway, here is the FALSE report I posted this morning, for April Fool’s Day – Seán

Kate has been nominated for induction to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in the US for the third time this year and reports this morning suggest Kate was in the final stages of accepting the honour in recent weeks, which would have been huge news for fans. However, her chances of finally being inducted seem to have been scuppered by the RRHOF Foundation’s unprecedented refusal to allow Kate her choice of performance at the ceremony later this year. While her fellow nominee Dolly Parton has formally excused herself from being inducted on the basis that she didn’t feel she was a “Rock & Roll” artist, Kate’s participation hinged on her request to be backed by an orchestration largely consisting of kazoos and some light percussion instruments.

The kazoo is an instrument that adds a “buzzing” timbral quality to a player’s voice when the player vocalizes into it. It is a type of mirliton (which itself is a membranophone), one of a class of instruments which modifies its player’s voice by way of a vibrating membrane of goldbeater’s skin or material with similar characteristics.

Kate wrote* in a statement that: “I am saddened that the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame Foundation feels that a kazoo-based performance does not adhere to their remit of promoting a certain type of music. To my mind the kazoo, which is in fact an American instrument, is a beautiful, unearthly sound, resonating deeply and soulfully, especially when played by the musicians I had hoped to work on with this performance. I have recently come to love the kazoo sound and had hoped to bring it to wider exposure on the stage in Ohio. I feel I have no other course of action but to withdraw the kind offer to take my place in the RRHOF and wish my fellow nominees, who are all absolutely wonderful, the very best of luck this year.”

It is reported that up to 30 individual kazoo players had been contacted in the early planning stages of Kate’s piece.

*not a real Kate Bush quote – April Fool!