FEATURE:
An Icon from the Very Start…
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in London on 27th September, 1979/PHOTO CREDIT: Bill Kennedy/Mirrorpix/Getty Images
Kate Bush and Some Standout Early Images
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ONE thing I have been arguing for…
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in Tokyo in 1978/PHOTO CREDIT: Koh Hasebe/Shinko Music/Getty Images
when it comes to Kate Bush is more photograph books. There have been a few through the years but, as I think that her photos and images are among the most iconic and original. There are a lot of good press photos, in addition to collections and unique shoots that she worked on with various photographers. From her brother, John, to Gered Mankowitz and Guido Harari, so many awesome photos of Kate Bush are out there! I think some of the most interesting looks and photos came in the first few years of her career. Consider 1978 through to 1980, and Bush explored so many different looks and styles. As a relatively new artists, she would have been new to professional shoots. Whereas a lot of artists dislike photoshoots and do not throw themselves into them, Bush has always been very cooperative and willing. Someone who loves visuals and would have wanted to give photographers something great, this definitely comes through. I have revisited this theme because Vogue recently ran a feature where they highlighted some of the best early Kate Bush shots. Apart from the odd factual inaccuracy in the introduction (Bush is sixty-four, not sixty-three), the selection of images chosen is great:
“Kate Bush can thank the Stranger Things series for propelling her back to the top of the charts. Her legendary hit Running Up That Hill is #1 worldwide, 37 years after its release, while Twitter and TikTok have made it their favorite background music, gathering new fans among the Gen Z generation. This is all thanks to season 4 of Stranger Things on Netflix, where the character Max, played by the brilliant actress Sadie Sink, listens to this Kate Bush song over and over again as a way to keep Vecna from taking her soul.
We didn't need to wait for Stranger Things to recognize the talent of the British artist and her bewitching voice. How could we forget her 1978 hit Wuthering Heights? The sublime piano ballad in referencing Emily Brontë propelled her to the top of the British charts for four weeks at just 19 years old, making her the first female singer-songwriter to top the charts in her country. Her always ultra sleek videos in which she shows off her contemporary dancing skills are just as memorable. Kate Bush, known as the "witch of sound" who sang about the love of a gay couple living in secret in her building in Kashka From Baghdad in 1978, is an LGBT icon. However, the star is discreet and TV appearances an interviews becoming more and more rare on television and in her videos until she completely disappeared from the radar in recent years.
As the new generation falls in love with her legendary aesthetic and oeuvre through the Stranger Things series, but also multiple remixes as the young French DJ Boris Way did during the festival of the Plages électroniques in Cannes this summer, Vogue has compiled the coolest shots captured in the 1970s-1980s of the artist who, at 63 years old, continues to expand her fan base”.
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in London in 1978/PHOTO CREDIT: George Wilkes/Hulton Archive/Getty Images
As Kate Bush’s debut album, The Kick Inside, is forty-five in February, it gets me thinking about that time (in 1978) and some of the photos. Apart from working with Gered Mankowitz, there were a lot of press shoots. Whilst the music is phenomenal, a lot of the promotion of the album and music comes from the press in the form of interviews and photos. Looking at the Vogue feature, and there are three 1978 photos in particular that catch my eye and linger in the mind. I love the randomness of Bush on a boat of some sort in London. I am not sure why the idea was floated, but she looks so happy in the photo! It shows a more carefree side to an artist that many might have seen as flighty, serious or overfly-eccentric in 1978. Maybe from the same day, as Bush looks to be wearing the same top, Bush looks girl-next-door but very mature in a photo shot by Anwar Hussein. Bush always had this ability to give a look to camera that is so powerful, potent and enduring. I love the Koh Hasebe photos from Bush’s trip[ to Japan, but the one of her holding a fan and giving a little grin to camera is particularly heart-melting. Especially in 1978, Bush was being shifted to and fro. She visited Japan as part of a whirlwind year. It must have been exhausting for her!
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in Tokyo in 1978/PHOTO CREDIT: Koh Hasebe/Shinko Music/Getty Images
She did wear a kimono and Japanese wear in several photos (both in Japan and back in the U.K.), but she looks at her best when she is more natural and herself. If you think about some of her photoshoots when she is wearing elegant dresses and more elaborate clothing, her in jeans and a high street top projects a more modest and grounded look. Bush looks iconic and jaw-dropping when dressed in street clothing or when trying something more conceptual. She has this innate ability to give something to the camera that others cannot! It is a look and a pose that ensures the photo absolutely pops. Look to those 1979 images. Again, there are three ones Vogue have selected that are so standout and wonderful. Bush being quintessentially English sipping tea but also looking classic and elegant. Taken in Copenhagen (presumingly during The Tour of Life, when she was doing interviews between gigs), I love that composition! Bush taking a sip of her tea whilst being asked a question perhaps. Everything comes from her eyes in that photo. A 1979 image at an unspecified location credited to Jean-Louis URLI/Gamma-Rapho is another that I adore. Bush is not smiling, but shge gives a look that is has a playfulness to it, but Bush also has a steeliness and serioiusness that makes you think and want to dig deep. I wonder what she was thinking when the image was taken? It is another shot where minimal instruction would have been given, but Bush’s expression says a thousands words!
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in 1979/PHOTO CREDIT: Jean-Louis URLI/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images
The other 1979 photo I love is one of the best from that year. I have chosen it as the main image for this feature, as I love the lighting, the composition, the clothing and the look Bush gives. Taken by Bill Kennedy, I am not sure if it was tied to an interview or a standalone shoot. There are other photos from that shoot, but it was when Bush was in London on 27th September. Less than a couple of months before Bush released her second studio album, Lionheart, she looks different to what we see in photos from 1978. A lot of the photos from 1978 were taken when Bush was nineteen. Still a teen, there are some more high-concept photos from that year, but there is this youthful vibe we get from many of the shots. That September 1979 photo is when Bush was twenty-one. Maybe more experienced and feeling a need to project a more grown-up look, the contrasts in such a short time are remarkable! There are some other great shots Vogue has highlighted. You cannot help but smile at the 1980 shots by Angelo Deligio. Bush’s hair is curlier and fuller, and the purple eye make-up, again, is a world away from her looks and image in 1978. In the space of a couple of years, you can see and feel this evolution and sense of reinvention. I don’t think people credit Bush with being this great visual reinventor. Madonna is synonymous with this but, if you think about Bush’s photoshoots and how radically different her images are, this is also reflected in the albums. I think that iconic artists like Madonna definitely looked to Kate Bush or were inspired by her in some way.
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in 1980/PHOTO CREDIT: Angelo Deligio/Mondadori via Getty Images
Perhaps the most beautiful and awe-inspiring photo from that Vogue feature is by Gered Mankowitz. During the Lionheart period, it is a 1978 image that is a world away from the more relaxed and ‘teenage’ (for want of a better word) images. Almost this Hollywood goddess, the lighting and Bush’s look are so impactful! Mankowitz is someone who brought out a different side to Kate Bush. Consider his ‘Hollywood’ shot from 1979. They are such captivating photographs. Almost alluring and sensual, Bush’s range is phenomenal. So many artists would not differ in a particular year. Even from 1978, you get so many layers and looks that are from this one amazing artist. Credit to the photographers themselves, but it is testament to the fact Bush wanted to explore visuals and was perhaps more ambitious and innovative in her photoshoots than the studio. This would change by 1980, but listen to albums like The Kick Inside and Lionheart and then compare the photos from 1978 and you would think you were not listening to the same person! It would be great to have a photobook of the early years (1978-1980) where we get this great selection of photos of Bush. I love the ones Gered Mankowitz and John Carder Bush took, but there are so many more. From press shots of Bush at award ceremonies or performing live, to promotional shoots, there are some wonderful, phenomenal images – in each, Bush’s expression and incredible lure and magnetism defines them! Look back at the earliest photos from 1978 and you can see that Kate Bush was…
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in 1978/PHOTO CREDIT: Gered Mankowitz
AN icon already.