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Catherine Bush (born 30 July 1958) is an English singer, songwriter, musician, dancer and record producer. She is noted for her eclectic style, unconventional lyrics and innovative dance performances. Her sound and choreography have influenced a range of artists.

Bush began writing songs when she was 11. She was signed to EMI Records after David Gilmour of Pink Floyd helped finance a demo tape. In 1978, at the age of 19, she topped the UK singles chart for four weeks with her debut single "Wuthering Heights", becoming the first female artist to achieve a UK number one with a fully self-written song. Her debut studio album, The Kick Inside (1978), reached number three on the UK Albums Chart. Bush was the first British solo female artist to top the UK Albums Chart and the first female artist to enter it at number one. All nine of her studio albums have reached the UK top 10, including the number-one albums Never for Ever (1980) and Hounds of Love (1985), and the greatest-hits compilation The Whole Story (1986). Since The Dreaming (1982), she has produced all of her studio albums. She took a hiatus between her seventh and eighth albums, The Red Shoes (1993) and Aerial (2005). Her most recent albums, Director's Cut and 50 Words for Snow, were both released in 2011.

Bush has released 25 UK top 40 singles, including the top-10 hits "The Man with the Child in His Eyes" (1978), "Babooshka" (1980), "Running Up That Hill" (1985), "Don't Give Up" (a 1986 duet with Peter Gabriel) and "King of the Mountain" (2005). Her 2014 concert residency Before the Dawn— her first shows since the Tour of Life in 1979 — received acclaim. In 2022, after it appeared in the Netflix series Stranger Things, "Running Up That Hill" became Bush's second UK number-one single and her highest entry on the US Billboard Hot 100, at number three, and topped several international charts. Hounds of Love topped two Billboard charts and reached number 12 on the Billboard 200.

Bush's accolades and honours include 14 Brit Award nominations and a win for British Female Solo Artist in 1987, as well as seven nominations for Grammy Awards. In 2002, she received the Ivor Novello Award for Outstanding Contribution to British Music. She was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2013 New Year Honours for services to music. She was awarded an Ivor Novello fellowship in 2020, and inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2023.

Life and career

1958–1972: Early life

Bush was born on 30 July 1958 at a maternity hospital in Bexleyheath, Kent, to an English doctor, general practitioner Robert Bush (1920–2008), and Hannah Patricia (née Daly) (1918–1992), an Irish staff nurse, daughter of a farmer in County Waterford. She grew up with her elder brothers, John and Paddy, in an over 350-year-old former farmhouse at East Wickham near Welling, which adjoins Bexleyheath. Bush came from an artistic background: her mother was an amateur traditional Irish dancer, her father was an amateur pianist, Paddy worked as a musical instrument maker, and John was a poet and photographer. Both brothers were involved in the local folk music scene. She was brought up a Roman Catholic.

Bush trained at Goldsmiths College karate club, where her brother John was a karate instructor. There, she became known as "Ee-ee" because of her squeaky kiai.