Kate Bush still running up the hill as she celebrates turning 64
The British superstar's birthday will be one of her most memorable!
What a year it has been for British singer, dancer, composer and songwriter, Kate Bush CBE.
With the singer celebrating her 64th birthday on 30 July 2022, we're pretty sure it's one of the strangest - in a great way!
Why?
Catherine Bush, known as Kate Bush, first topped the UK Singles Chart for four weeks in 1978. At the time, she was only nineteen years old.
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Her debut single 'Wuthering Heights', made her the first female artist to achieve a UK number one with a self-written song.
Fast-forward to 2022, forty four years later, and Kate is blowing up the charts again with another one of her classics, 'Running up that Hill' - released in 1985. The single is taken off her album, 'Hounds of Love'.
'Running up that HIll' features on Netflix's global phenomenon, Stranger Things. The show has become one of pop culture's most influential shows and the release of the highly-anticipated fourth season has set in motion a resurgence in 60s, 70s and 80s classic hits!
Sounds like something we'd enjoy here on East Coast Gold, right?
So, just how successful has the sync deal been for Kate Bush.
According to Music Week, by June 2022, 'Running Up That Hill' was the highest streaming song on streaming giant Spotify’s global chart. 'Running up that Hill' was streamed over 57 million times in the second week of June..
The success of her hit single is Kate Bush’s biggest ever hit in the USA.
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Speaking to Emma Barnett on BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour, Kate opened up about the success of the single:
It's "just extraordinary" and "quite shocking" to see the song topping charts again, more than three decades after its release. I mean, the whole world's gone mad."
You can listen to the full interview with Emma Barnett on BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour below:
But, does Kate Bush own the rights to Running Up That Hill? Is she actually making any money off this surge in music streams and sales?
Yes.
According to Quartz, this phenomenon is due to Bush owning the entire copyright to original recordings of her songs—including “Running Up That Hill”. The single was released by her own independent label, Noble & Brite.
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According to Fortune, Kate has banked a staggering $2.3 million (R38,322,140 billion) for her thirty seven year old baby!
Yeah, we'd be doing the same thing, Kate!
So, like we said earlier, this is definitely going to be one of Kate's strangest, but most phenomenal, birthdays!
Here are 5 interesting facts about Kate Bush as we celebrate another milestone with this sensational artist via (the Guardian)
- Bush was inspired to write Wuthering Heights without having fully finished reading Emily Brontë’s novel of the same name.
- Her childhood hero was fellow Brit, Elton John.
- Bush’s sabbatical from the public (1993 and 2005) was the subject of documentary film, Come Back Kate. The documentary follows die-hard fans and a woman who had never heard of Kate Bush.
- The news of her having a child was only made public two years after her son’s birth. It was revealed by Genesis singer, Peter Gabriel, during an interview.
- She turned down an offer to support the mighty Fleetwood Mac on their mammoth US Rumours tour in 1978.
Original source: The Guardian
So, to end off, let's take a look at the Stranger Things scene that kickstarted this incredible story.
NOTE: SPOILER ALERT
If you still haven't watched the latest season of Stranger Things, we suggest you stay away from the next video.
The song is labelled as "Max's Mayfield's song" - the character played by actress Sadie Sink.
In this scene, Bush's 'Running up that Hill' can be heard whilst Max takes on Veena.
Here's the original music video for 'Running up. that Hill' by the extraordinary, Kate Bush:
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For more of these classic hits, stay tuned to East Coast Gold, playing you Classic Hits from the 60s, 70s and 80s.
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Main image credit: Louder/United Archives GmbH