FEATURE:
Kate Bush: The Tour of Life
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in 1989 in a promotional photo for The Sensual World/PHOTO CREDIT: John Carder Bush
Lifestyle Changes Heading Into 1989
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I am in a position myself…
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush with dancer Stewart Avon-Arnold in a promotional image for 1993’s The Red Shoes
where I need to overhaul my diet. Less active than I was last year, I have been eating too much and not able to exercise as much as I should. Eating too much sugary food! I know it is hard to reverse but, feeling lethargic and bloated – and not in as good as a shape as I would like –, it is time to act. It is something we all face in our lives. When thinking about Kate Bush, there were times when she was working intensely, dancing and keeping fit. If she is busy recording an album and spending a lot of time in studios then there is not the same opportunity to keep up with dance and fitness. I have written about Kate Bush’s diet before. How there were periods when it slipped but, for the most part, she had this healthy vegetarian diet. Something that was crucial when it came to her mind and body. As a dancer, diet and wellbeing was near the top of her priority list. I think there were moments in Kate Bush’s career where the work-diet-exercise balance was skewed. I know that Bush took up dance, changed her diet and spent more time with family and friends before recording Hounds of Love. She was in better physical and mental condition following intense recording for The Dreaming. After the promotion of that album, something had to change. It was not really a radical change required. Bush is such a physical performer, so it would have been easy to let her muscle memory fade. If Bush is in the studio all the time then she has little time for exercise, dance or even spending a lot of time outside. Another shift needed to occur just before she started work on The Sensual World (1989).
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush cuts her thirtieth birthday cake at Blazers Boutique, where she was raising money for AIDS Victims, on 30th July, 1988/PHOTO CREDIT: Mirrorpix
One of my favourite points in Kate Bush’s career is when she turned thirty. That was 30th July, 1988. Rather than having a big party or it all being about herself, she spent the day volunteering for charity. She spent the day working at Blazers in London alongside a host of celebrities to raise money for an AIDS charity. The disease would impact Bush’s life directly as she lost friends to it. One of many occasions where Bush donated her time to charity. It is interesting thinking back a year to 1987. At The Secret Policeman’s Third Ball in April 1987, or when she performed a duet with Peter Gabriel for Don’t Give Up. The reason I mention this is because there were cheap shots and rumours about Bush. That she might be pregnant; It was something that Bush had to face from the misogynistic press. Just before she released Hounds of Love, rumours she had retired. Shots about her weight, a possible drug habit and other rumours. When it was revealed in 2000 that Bush had a child, the press talked about this secret child and this reclusive artist hiding him away. She was not immune to it in the late-1980s, when she was arguably at her commercial peak. It is something that is a problem for all artists. Getting that balance right when it comes to exercise, work and relaxation. Most artists tour quite a bit so their mental health might suffer. For Bush, she was not touring but in the studio recording a lot. Not getting the same physical workout as her peers.
In reality, there was nothing dramatic happening for Bush. As mentioned, she had been through this in the 1980s. 1983 was a year when Bush built her own studio and recommitted herself to dance and exercise. Her diet changed. Bush began work on The Sensual World in 1987. She was committed to this new album so was probably not spending enough time to put her physical health first. It was all about new music. Dancer Stewart Avon-Arnold was drafted in. He had worked with Kate Bush since the 1970s. A good friend of hers, he was interviewed for the Kate Bush Fan Podcast in November. Having danced with Bush for almost a decade, he knew that she was capable of getting right back into the swing. The regime put forward was not too strenuous. Again, Bush had really not gained much weight. It was about keeping her body active and engaged which, in turn, would benefit her mind and creativity. Avon-Arnold put together quite an intense workout, though not one that lasted too long. A couple of times a week he would come round and Bush would be totally engaged. She would finish the class (as he ran it like a professional class) sweating and worn out. This ninety-minute workout was definitely beneficial. They would end the class and then sit around having a cup of tea. A nice chat and relax was something to look forward to. Bush, at a stage in her life when she was working on a new album and there would be videos coming, had to reconnect with her body. It is awful that the press speculated that Bush was pregnant. Any woman who put on weight got these jabs and horrible comments!
I am getting information from Graeme Thomson’s book, Under the Ivy: The Life and Music of Kate Bush. One might think that Bush, in the lead-up to The Sensual World, completely transformed. In reality, it was a fractional change. She cut out her Benson & Hedges and switched to the milder Silk Cut. She was not going to give up a vice like that! Bush was and never has been a recluse. She was going out to shows and changed her diet to include fish. A vegetarian since childhood, Bush did change it up slightly. I think this, plus her new exercise regime, did help when it came to recording The Sensual World. That connection between her physical health and her creativity. She took a break with her family to France but nothing more exciting than that. As I mentioned in another feature, gardening was in her life. She gardened before making Hounds of Love and no doubt before Aerial (2005). Bush was to be found gardening in 1988/1989. In August 1988, she briefly appeared on the BBC’s Rough Guide to Europe, where she shared her sightseeing favourite spots in London. I would love to know if this footage still existed. Bush was back in the city and resided in Eltham. I am going to explore her homes and where she lived through her career for another feature. However, it is interesting thinking of the changes in 1988. From getting back into shape, to reconnecting with London. Again, and something I can explore at another time, Bush’s thirtieth birthday (30th July, 1988) saw not only a change in her personal life. Her music has always sprinkled in the darkness, fear, horror, the macabre and spectral. However, something more human and perhaps less tangible was coming in. The loss of people, separation and a sense of morality.
Bush, maybe perceived as child-like and immature by some, was definitely a woman. It would impact her next two albums. The Sensual World and 1993’s The Red Shoes were very much more about personal relationships and loss. Bush worked with the Trio Bulgarka for The Sensual World. She first heard their work in 1985. Three Bulgarian women (Yanka Rupkina, Eva Georgeieva and Stoyanka Boneva) contribute to the album, Le Mystère des Voix Bulgares. That album was first released in 1975 but reissued in 1986. Significant as this was the first time that Bush collaborated with female singers. Another shift that happened in her life. She would work with the Trio Bulgarka again for The Red Shoes. I am interested in the years 1988 and 1989. How there was this definite change. In terms of her priorities and what she would write about. Bush in this collaborative mindset. Folk music playing more of a peart. If Hounds of Love is defined by technology and particular sounds, her palette would have different colours for her sixth studio album. In her thirties, this was a woman writing more about matters of life, love and loss. There is some of that in Hounds of Love, though it sounds more personal and tangible on The Sensual World. Even more pronounced on The Red Shoes. Bush was still intensely studio-based, yet there work-life-exercise balance was healthier. She filmed The Line, the Cross and the Curve in 1993 and there was a lot of dance and movement in that. Bush was dealing with the loss of friends and her mother (in 1992), so it was a pretty intense period. It is clear that there needed to be changes after 1987. More than shedding a few pounds and working with Stewart Avon-Arnold, there was this transformation that ran deeper. Bush more aware of her age (even though she was only thirty) and her embarking on this new phase of life. It is fascinating to dissect The Sensual World and The Red Shoes. What Bush was writing about and the shapes her songs took. What was happening around her in terms of her relationships and working in the studio. What started with Stewart Avon-Arnold and his regimented classes then led to so many significance changes and alterations. This fascinating artist and woman…
IN new bloom.