PETER GABRIEL/KATE BUSH: COLLABORATIONS
A Perfect Pair
by ahand83
It is commonly known that Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush were collaborators in the late ‘70s and 1980s. The best known example of them working together is Gabriel’s Don’t Give Up, the hitsingle taken from his 1986 success album So. But it’s not only that single song these two British icons have worked on together.
Kate Bush, born in 1958 and therefore 8 years junior than Gabriel, was discovered in 1977 by David Gilmour, guitarist (and later lead singer) of Pink Floyd. Back then Bush was a remarkable newcomer in the British music aristocracy and by scoring a No. 1 hit with her song Wuthering Heights at the age of only 19, she was reckoned to be a prodigy or a Sunday child with a bright future ahead.
Kate Bush, as Gabriel, has always been a bit of a mystery. It partly explains the attraction of a large public. Not only was she a very shy person with an exceptional voice, she was a great dancer and performer and her feel for harmony, rhythm, melancholy lyrics and song craftsman were just unique and unparalleled. Somehow this wonderfully talented woman decided she didn’t want to do any touring. She came to this conclusion after The Tour Of Life, her 1979 concert series which lasted from April 2nd until May 14th of that year. She ended the tour with a three date row at the Hammersmith Odeon in London, now known as the Hammersmith Apollo. On the first show on the 12th of May Peter Gabriel and Steven Harley joined Bush on stage to perform several songs together. It was Gabriel and Harley who came out in trench coats and trilbies for Them Heavy People rather than Kate’s usual dancers. The audience was delighted.[1] The concert was a benefit for Bill Duffield, Bush’s lighting engineer who died during the tour after falling from a stage and seating structure.[2] Peter Gabriel performed several songs with Kate Bush, but also played three of his own songs Here Comes The Flood, I Don’t Remember and DIY. A recording of the concert can be found here.
After The Tour Of Life Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush again performed together on Bush’s 1979 BBC Christmas special where he was introduced with an acapella tune quoting: “The velvet storms and the rains that fell, here comes the man with his tale to tell… and some have named him Peter ‘the angel’ Gabriel.” Gabriel sang Here Comes The Flood and he a duetted with Kate on Another Day, a song about marriage going wrong.
It was Gabriel who introduced Bush to the Fairlight CMI, the first sampling synthesizer. This probably happened during recordings for PG’s 3rd album at Townhouse Studios in London where Bush flew in for vocal contributions on Games Without Frontiers and No Self Control. The Fairlight would have a big influence on Bush’s musical approach and it can be heard on several of her albums. She mentioned Gabriel on the insert of her album Never For Ever from 1980 saying “thanks to Peter Gabriel for opening the window.” Both artists were recording their 3rd solo albums and they used the same studio from time to time.
On the song Games Without Frontiers Kate Bush sang the title line “Jeux sans frontières”, obviously in French. To some this was not so obvious. Steve Lillywhite – the producer on PG3 aka Melt – recalls hearing someone at EMI saying: “Have you heard that new Peter Gabriel song? That woman, I can’t understand what the hell she’s singing!”[3] The second song Kate Bush contributed to was No Self Control, a haunting song about losing yourself and losing control. The drums on this track were provided by a mr. Phil Collins. Peter Gabriel, Kate Bush and Phil Collins collaborating on a song; it can’t get any better than that, now can it?
In 1985 Peter Gabriel was busy recording his 5th solo album that was to become So, his most successful album to date. Working on Don’t Give Up, a song about a husband and wife faced with the problem of losing a job, Peter Gabriel suggested Dolly Parton as his opponent female singer. But Dolly wasn’t interested. Instead Gabriel approached his friend Kate Bush to contribute to the song, and in retrospect he was glad he did: “What Kate did on it was brilliant (…) It goes without saying that a lot of power of the song comes from the way that Kate sings it – there was a sort of sensitivity and emotion in her voice which I think is the one reason that the song has touched so many people.”[4]
In 1987 Kate Bush won a Brit Award for the Best British Female Artist and she was introduced by the man who ‘discovered’ Genesis, mr. Jonathan King. Kate Bush, shy as she was, said a few rapid thank yous and tried to get away from the stage as quickly as possible. King stopped her however and asked her to introduce the winner for the Best British Male Artist award. That turned out to be, not so unexpectedly, Peter Gabriel. The circle was round.
After the successful events in the mid 80’s Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush went their own separated ways. They never worked together again. It probably was best, not to interfere in each other’s professional lives and music once every few years. One can imagine they remained good friends, but it is unlikely they spend much time these days in each other’s angelic presence.
[1] Mendelssohn, J. 2004 [2] Thomson, G. 2015 [3] Uncut. 2020 [4] Peter Gabriel; So 25th Anniversary Boxset 2013