It looks like Kate Bush will stick to running up hills instead of Rock & Roll Hall of Fame stages. The “Wuthering Heights” singer is set to be honored at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony on Friday night (Nov. 3), but a new statement confirms that she will not attend the Barclays Center-hosted celebration.
Bush opened the statement — which was posted to her official artist website — with heartfelt appreciation. “I am completely blown away by this huge honour – an award that sits in the big beating heart of the American music industry,” she wrote. “Thank you so much to everyone who voted for me. I never imagined I would be given this wonderful accolade.”
Alongside Bush, Sheryl Crow, Missy Elliott, George Michael, Willie Nelson, Rage Against the Machine and The Spinners will all be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame this year.
“The RRHOF [Rock & Roll Hall of Fame] has welcomed me into the most extraordinary rostrum of overwhelming talent,” she mused. “When I was growing up my hero was Elton John. I pored over his music, longed to be able to play piano like him and longed to write songs that could move people in the way his work moved me.”
Last year, Bush earned a surprise runaway hit in 1985’s “Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God).” The song climbed all the way to No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 — becoming the most successful song of her career on the Billboard charts in the process — after it was used in a pivotal scene in season 4 of the Emmy-winning Netflix sci-fi drama Stranger Things. She referenced the phenomenon, writing, “Last year was such a surprisingly successful time for my track [‘Running Up That Hill’] and I’m sure that a lot of you who’ve voted me [into] the RRHOF also drove that track up the charts. Thank you!”
She continued, “I’m afraid I won’t be able to attend the ceremony tonight, but for me the real honour is knowing that you felt I deserved it.”
Bush did not give any explanation for her absence. For all intents and purposes, Bush’s statement acts as a de facto acceptance speech. She made sure to thank her biggest inspirations and closest collaborators, as well as wax poetic about what music means to her.
“Music is at the core of who I am and, like all musicians, being on the journey of trying to create something musically interesting is rife with feelings of doubt and insecurity,” she wrote in closing. “I’m only five foot three, but today I feel a little taller.”
Click here to read Kate Bush’s full statement.
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