SINGER Kate Bush had her first chart hit at the age of 19 and she is still topping the charts years later thanks to her distinct sound.

While her music was deemed experimental and alternative in the 1980s, Kate Bush has remained a firm favourite in pop culture.

Who is Kate Bush?

The Hounds of Love singer is from Bexleyheath – a town in Kent, England.

Kate was born on July 30, 1958, to parents who embraced music, although not professionally.

Her mother was a nurse who also was an amateur Irish dancer, while her father, a doctor, was an amateur pianist.

Her two brothers, John and Paddy, were both parts of the local folk music scene.

Her demo was given to Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour through a mutual friend and he helped Kate record a professional demo tape.

This led to her being signed, although she would not release anything for two more years – instead completing her O-Levels and learning interpretive dance with former David Bowie instructor Lindsay Kemp.

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Kate's first mainstream success came courtesy of her 1978 single, Wuthering Heights, which shot to number one and stayed there for four weeks.

This led to her becoming the first female artist to have a UK number one with a self-written song.

What other songs has Kate Bush released?

Most casual fans will be familiar with Wuthering Heights but Kate has a total of 25 UK Top 40 singles, which include top-ten hits.

Other hits include The Man with the Child in His Eyes, Babooshka, Running Up That Hill, and Don't Give Up – a duet with Peter Gabriel.

Running Up That Hill became Kate's second number one single in 2022 after chart rules were suspended when she stormed up the charts thanks to Stranger Things use of the song.

During her illustrious career, she has released 10 studio albums which all reached the UK Top 10, including three number-one albums.

The albums are Never for Ever, released in 1980, Hounds of Love, released in 1985, and the compilation album The Whole Story released in 1986.

The hitmaker has the prestige of being the first British female solo artist to top the UK album charts, and the first female artist to enter the album chart at the top.

When she embarked on a series of live shows in 2014, her albums re-entered the charts and she had eight records in the Top 50.

Her achievements rival that of Elvis Presley and The Beatles as she is the first female artist in the British charts to achieve that feat.

What awards has Kate won?

Kate has been nominated for a British Phonographic Industry award 13 times, winning in 1987 for Best British Female Artist.

In 2002, she was honoured with an Ivor Novello Award for Outstanding Contribution to British Music, and she has also been nominated for three Grammy Awards.

In 2013, the Wuthering Heights singer was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the New Year Honours for services to music.

Kate is also a three-time Rock and Roll Hall of Fame nominee.

Running Up That Hill was listed at number 60 in Rolling Stone's 5000 Greatest Songs of All Time in 2021.

The album it comes from, Hound of Love, was also listed at 68 on their 500 Greatest Albums of All Time a year before.

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Where is Kate Bush now?

Kate released her tenth studio album, 50 Words For Snow, in November 2011.

This was the second album released on her own label Fish People and was the first new music since 2005.

She was asked to perform at the 2012 London Olympics ceremony but declined the offer, although Running Up That Hill was still featured.

In 2014, she embarked on a series of live shows at the Hammersmith Apollo, which was only her second official tour following her first in 1979.

The 22-night residency was called Before the Dawn and sold out in 15 minutes – it was later released as a triple CD collection and four vinyl sets.

A variety of performers have cited Kate as an influence on their own musical styles.

Artists such as Alanis Morissette, Ellie Goulding, Rosalía, Florence Welch, and many others have been transparent about their appreciation for Kate and her music.

Regarding her personal life, Kate has remained private, preferring to stay out of the spotlight of her musical success.

The singer tied the knot with her guitarist husband Dan McIntosh in 1992.

In July 1998, the couple welcomed their first and only son together, Albert.

The family resides in Devon, England, in a home the star purchased in 2005.

What Kate Bush song is in Stranger Things season 4?

In season four of Stranger Things, Running Up That Hill featured prominently, causing the 1985 song to skyrocket up the charts.

Running Up That Hill served as a key plot point in saving the life of series regular Max, played by Sadie Sink.

While facing her demise at the hands of Dungeons and Dragons inspired Vecna, the other characters are able to rescue Max from certain death by playing her favourite song – Kate Bush's Running Up That Hill.

Fans couldn't get enough of the tune, with remixes appearing on TikTok as well as the original song being streamed.

On June 10, 2022, the song beat it's original chart ranking by pulling into second place in the UK chart.

It was the most popular track of the week, beating As It Was by Harry Styles, but could not reach number one due to a pre-existing chart rule.

This rule which penalised older songs was suspended for Running Up That Hill due to it's ongoing sale success.

A week later the song reached number one and broke three chart records in the process.

Kate Bush became the oldest solo female chart-topping artist at 63 years and 11 months old – replacing Cher.

She also now has the longest gap between number ones and the longest time taken for a song to reach number one.

In the wake of season four's premiere on Netflix, fans of Stranger Things flooded Kate's Instagram page with comments in relation to the horror program.

One fan of the show commented under her post: "girl wake up your topping charts! Thanks for saving max."

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A second fan posted: "I’m just happy that she’s reaching a massive audience, people are embracing her and finding out what we already knew; Kate is a goddess and a musical genius."

"Name someone else who saves lives while going to number one? We love a multi-tasker omg thanks for saving Max," said another user.

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