English singer-songwriter Kate Bush was BOTD in 1958. Born in Bexleyheath, Kent to middle-class family, she showed an early talent for music, writing songs in her early teens. After being discovered by Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour, she was signed by EMI Records aged 16. Unusually, she was given several years to take vocal lessons and develop her songwriting, in preparation for her debut recording. She also studied dance and mime with Lindsay Kemp, the mentor and former lover of Bush’s hero David Bowie. In 1978, aged 19, she released her first single Wuthering Heights, an eerie folk ballad inspired by her birthday twin Emily Bronte‘s novel. Showcasing Bush’s piercing soprano and accompanied by a balletic music video, the song became an unlikely success, making her the first British woman to write and perform a No 1 single. Her debut album The Kick Inside followed, selling over one million copies and establishing her as a wildly original talent. After the release of her second album Lionheart and a well-received 1979 concert tour, Bush gradually assumed more control over her creative process, constructing her own recording studio to create work free from industry influences. She was an early adopter of the Fairlight digital synthesiser, which featured heavily in her experimental 1982 album The Dreaming. After a three-year production period, she released the album Hounds of Love, achieving international success with hit singles Running Up That Hill, Hounds of Love and Cloudbusting. The album’s B-side, an experimental song cycle titled The Ninth Wave, was also highly acclaimed. Her 1989 album The Sensual World, inspired by James Joyce’s novel Ulysses, became her biggest selling album in the United States, generating the hit single This Woman’s Work. After the poor response to her 1993 album The Red Shoes, the death of her mother and the break-up of her relationship with sound engineer Del Palmer, Bush retreated from the music industry for over a decade, moving to Berkshire and marrying musician Danny McIntosh with whom she has a son. She returned in 2006 with the album Aerial, a tone poem celebrating country life and domesticity, with a quirky lead single King of the Mountain poking fun at her own reputation as a recluse. A winter-themed album, 50 Words for Snow, was released in 2011, featuring contributions from Elton John and Stephen Fry. In 2014, she made the Mother of All Comebacks by staging a series of live concerts in London, her first public performances in 35 years. Sold out in 20 minutes and rapturously reviewed, a live concert recording was released as Before the Dawn. In 2022, Running Up That Hill was featured in TV series Stranger Things, catapulting the song to No 1 in the UK and the US, 37 years after its initial release. Revered for her originality and eccentricity, Bush has been hugely influential on 20th century pop and rock, with musical descendants including Tori Amos, Björk, St Vincent, Sia and Florence Welch, and less obvious admirers including Prince (who collaborated with her on the song Why Should I Love You?), John Lydon of the Sex Pistols and rappers Big Boi and Tricky. The romantic and erotic themes in Bush’s work and her persona as an outsider have attracted a dedicated queer fanbase, including Rufus Wainwright, who named her one of his favourite gay icons.