Kate Bush News

Digital channel BBC4 will be screening the full special that Kate made for the BBC in 1979 on Sunday April 26th at 00:10. The 1979 Christmas special features Kate performing Gymnopedie No 1, Symphony in Blue, Them Heavy People, Madrigal, December, Wedding List, Egypt, Waltz/Why Did I Ever Go Marry Her, Man with the Child in His Eyes and Don’t Push Your Foot on the Heartbrake. Guest star Peter Gabriel sings Here Comes the Flood and duets with Kate on Another Day. This seems to be part of an evening of specials devoted to the “Queens of British Pop” featured in the recent BBC documentary.

‘Oh Johnny it sounds like a bag of cats!’
John Lydon’s mum on Kate Bush (Queens Of British Pop, BBC1)

As previously reported Kate will be one of the subjects of a major 2-part arts documentary by Dione Newton that celebrates Britain’s most admired female singers from the Sixties to present day. Kate will be featured in the first of two programmes airing April 1st BBC1 at 22.45 (except BBC1 Northern Ireland 23.25 and BBC1 Scotland 23.35). Del Palmer has been interviewed for this programme. The Radio Times preview the programme: “There are no surprises in this cheery canter through a roster of British pop queens from the 1970s and 80s, but there are some good old clips and some pretty high-quality talking heads.” David Chater in The Times calls it “an engrossing compilation of fresh insight and cheerful nostalgia”. From the BBC: “Queens of British Pop and narrator Liza Tarbuck offer a celebration of 6 female pop stars, singers and icons that lit us up from the early 60s to the late 70s. Programme 1 tells the story of Dusty Springfield, Sandie Shaw, Marianne Faithfull, Suzi Quatro, Siouxsie Sioux andKate Bush – some of the female artists that emerged alongside some of Britain’s defining musical movements, from the Swinging Sixties through to glam rock and punk. We give an insight into the lives of these top female artists, offering first-hand or eyewitness accounts of the highs, the lows and the obstacles they had to overcome. Our selected artists have pushed boundaries, played around with gender roles and had their private lives overshadow their success, but it is their experiences that have helped change the face of British pop as we know it today. Includes new interviews with Sandie Shaw, Marianne Faithfull, Suzi Quatro, Siouxsie Sioux and contributions from Tom Jones, Lulu, Burt Bacharach, John Lydon, Martha Reeves, Nancy Sinatra, Mark Radcliffe, Henry Winkler, Marc Almond, Peter Gabriel, Claire Grogan, Jarvis Cocker, Kiki Dee, Nigel Havers, Lily Allen and Adele, to name but a few. The second show takes viewers from the early Eighties to the present day, completing the odyssey by looking at the impact made by Annie Lennox, Alison Moyet, Kylie Minogue, Geri Halliwell, Amy Winehouse and Leona Lewis.” (thanks to Greg Gilligan and Thomas Pilcher)