The two artists Kate Bush would love to duet with
Few artists have been able to forge a career as unique as Kate Bush. Although she may have arrived in the music world fully formed on the album The Kick Inside, Bush has spent the rest of her career blending different genres to suit her musical needs, not caring about what style or genre her music falls into. Though she may have been able to create unique songs on her own, Bush always wanted to work alongside the biggest names in rock music as well.
First being scouted by Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour in the late 1970s, Bush already had a vision for what she wanted her music to be. Across songs like ‘Wuthering Heights’, it’s easy to see Bush inching closer to what her signature sound would become, taking the sounds of baroque pop and putting a slightly twisted slant on them.
Although Bush would occasionally bring her songs to the stage, there was only so much that the live performance could do to give justice to the songs in her head. Not wanting to sell her fans a cheap version of what they could listen to at home, Bush ultimately refused to tour for most of her career, only popping up occasionally and making the studio her new home.
Across the early 1980s, albums like The Dreaming would become cornerstone pieces of her career, taking any strange sonic idea that Bush could think of and running with it. When talking about the music outside of her wheelhouse, though, Bush thought that she would fit in amongst the giants of prog rock.
When asked about artists she would want to work with, Bush said that she had an interest in working with Bryan Ferry of Roxy Music, telling Countdown, “Well, I think the trouble with those kinds of questions is as soon you’ve put them, all these names just disappear from your brain. But definitely, I mean, there are people I admire tremendously. I’d loved to work with Bryan Ferry; his voice is superb”.
Having been known to push the envelope with Roxy Music, Ferry’s unique approach to vocals makes him a brilliant counterpart to Bush’s operatic-sounding voice. Although Bush may have been able to create unique works of sonic art with Ferry at the helm, she had also been looking to expand on her musical relationship with Peter Gabriel.
After contributing to the song ‘Games Without Frontiers’ from Gabriel’s third record, Bush was interested in working alongside the Genesis frontman again, continuing, “Peter Gabriel, it was a great honour working with him, I’d love to work with him, again. And all the other names totally escape me, at the moment”.
It didn’t take long for Bush to get her wish, either. After Dolly Parton passed on singing the duet ‘Don’t Give Up’, Bush delivered one of her finest vocal performances, playing the perfect foil to Gabriel’s vocal. For all of the artists she would like to work with, though, Bush has channelled all of her artistic energy into making her unique brand of brilliance.
Compared to the sounds of both Ferry and Gabriel, it sounds like Bush has taken their model for what a musician is meant to be and amplified it even more, creating breathtaking sonic images that no one can forget on albums like Hounds of Love and The Sensual World. Bush might be able to twist her sound around to fit someone like Gabriel or Ferry, but no one can deny the sonic fingerprint that she leaves on every one of her songs.
