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Abbey Road Studios
This building at Number 3, Abbey Road, London NW8 is more than just the site of the most famous Zebra crossing in the world; founded by EMI in 1931, it remains a vital and important recording facility to this day.
It is hard to say whether the association with the Beatles or the connection to her record label is what has drawn Kate to return to this studio so many times over the course of her career. Kate worked on the albums Never For Ever, The Dreaming, and Hounds Of Love in Studio 2, and the orchestral parts for the albums The Sensual World and The Red Shoes plus the video for the song Sat In Your Lap were recorded in the cavernous Studio 1, a huge space about half an acre in size. On 12 November 1981, Kate attended a 50th anniversary party for the studio, and cut the birthday cake alongside singer Helen Shapiro. In March 1986, she recorded a performance of the song Under The Ivy for the 100th broadcast of The Tube.
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Adler, Larry
(b. Laurence Cecil Adler, 1914) American expatriate composer and master of the chromatic harmonica. Given his first break by singer Rudy Vallee, Larry Adler was associated with many of the great composers of the 20th Century. He was a close friend of George Gershwin, Ravel left a special provision in his will allowing Adler to play his composition Bolero without paying royalties, and both Darius Milhaud and Vaughan Williams wrote works especially for him. Forced to leave his native country at the height of the McCarthy blacklisting era because of alleged anti-American tendencies, Adler moved to England and has returned to the United States only twice in the past forty years.
The tribute album The Glory Of Gershwin was recorded as a celebration of Adler's 80th birthday; on this album Larry Adler and Kate Bush perform a rendition of The Man I Love.
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Advision Studios
A London recording studio. Some recording and all mixing of the album The Dreaming took place here, under the supervision of engineer Paul Hardiman.
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AIR London Studios
A recording studio built at the top of an old department store building at 214 Oxford Street in London. Founded by George Martin and his Associated Independent Recording group, the studio opened in October 1970. In June 1975, Dave Gilmour produced recordings of The Man With The Child In His Eyes, Saxophone Song, and a song called Maybe here; the first two were included on the album The Kick Inside, while the last one has yet to be released. Two years later, Andrew Powell (arranger on the Gilmour sessions) returned here to produce the remainder of The Kick Inside. Kate returned here in 1980 with AIR producer Jon Kelly to record portions of Never For Ever.
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All The Love
A song on the album The Dreaming.
This song is also listed in the Discography section.
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All We Ever Look For
A song on the album Never For Ever.
This song is also listed in the Discography section.
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Alternative Hounds of Love
See Hounds Of Love, Alternative.
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Amahl And The Night Visitors
A one-act opera written in 1951 by Gian-Carlo Menotti in which Amahl, a crippled boy, is cured when he gives his crutch to the three kings as a gift for the baby Jesus. Kate appeared in a school production of this in 1972, her third year at St. Joseph's Senior School. Allegedly, the school magazine later reported that "colourful relief was introduced at the entrance of the shepherds and shepherdesses, members of the Senior and First and Second year Choirs, who tripped in all rosy-cheeked and healthy-looking, bringing gifts for the kings. Two of these, Catherine Bush and Sarah Brennan, later gave a short dance in honor of the kings, which was both pastorally graceful and imaginative." The number of fans who now claim to have been there would fill the Royal Albert Hall.
Trivia: The opera was originally commissioned from Menotti by the American television network NBC, which later gave Kate her U.S. television debut on Saturday Night Live.
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And Dream Of Sheep
This song is the starting point of The Ninth Wave, the song-cycle which comprises side two of the album Hounds Of Love.
This song is also listed in the Discography section.
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And So Is Love
A song on the album The Red Shoes.
This song is also listed in the Discography section.
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Anderson, Alistair
A veteran session musician who plays concertina on the song Rocket Man.
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Another Day
A song by Roy Harper originally from his 1970 album Flat Baroque And Berserk. Peter Gabriel and Kate performed the song as a duet on Kate's 1979 television special, the eponymous Kate. The duo later recorded a studio version which has never been released. In 1990, BBC Radio One disk jockey Annie Nightingale played the song in response to a listener request; presumably this was the version recorded for television. Harper himself released a live solo version of his song on the album Flashes From The Archives Of Oblivion, and the song has subsequently been covered by the group This Mortal Coil on an album called It'll End In Tears with vocals by Elizabeth Fraser of the Cocteau Twins.
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Army Dreamers
A song on the album Never For Ever.
The acronym "B.F.P.O." stands for "British Forces Posted Overseas."
This song is also listed in the Discography section.
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Ask Aspel
Appearing on this children's television program hosted by Michael Aspel on 5 September 1978, Kate performed the song Kashka From Baghdad.
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Aspects Of The Sensual World
A U.S.-only CD EP which included both the album version of the song The Sensual World and an instrumental version, as well as the songs Be Kind To My Mistakes, I'm Still Waiting, and Ken, which had not otherwise been released in America.
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Aspel And Company
Kate appeared on this British chat show hosted by Michael Aspel on 30 May 1993. Kate gave a lip-synched performance of the song Moments Of Pleasure, and joined Aspel and British comedienne Victoria Wood for a brief but lively chat.
A transcript of this appearance is available in the Moments section.
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Aspel, Michael
The host of two British television programs on which Kate has appeared, the children's program Ask Aspel in 1978 and the general audience chat show Aspel And Company in 1993.
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Atkinson, Rowan
(b. 6 January 1955) A British comedian, best known for his starring roles in the television series Blackadder and Mr. Bean, and several films including Four Weddings And A Funeral. Atkinson attended first Manchester then Oxford University on an Electrical engineering degree, and began his professional comedy career at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Atkinson performed the comic duet Do Bears... with Kate at a Comic Relief benefit show at the Shaftesbury Theatre in London on 4 April 1986.
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Atlantis
This is a provisional title given to a demo version of a song which was never released to the public in any form. It is unavailable on any known release, legitimate or bootleg, though rumors persist that it was included on a near-mythical unreleased German LP called The Early Years. See the Phoenix section for more information.
This song is also listed in the Discography section.
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Avon-Arnold, Stewart
(b. 4 April 1955) A dancer and choreographer who appears in many of Kate's videos, including a featured role in The Line The Cross And The Curve. Before joining Kate's circle for the Tour Of Life in 1979, the London-born Avon-Arnold had been a dancer for four and a half years, had performed with The Tubes at Knebworth, and choreographed a piece that was performed at Sadlers Wells. A member of the Minority Arts Advisory Service, he later founded a dance troupe called The Dance Theatre of London with the late Gary Hurst. In addition to his dancing, Avon-Arnold provided backing vocals on the song Sat In Your Lap.