Kate Bush’s CBE will ‘go on top of Christmas tree’

Kate Bush, one of Britain’s most unique and innovative singers, was made a CBE by Queen Elizabeth and dedicated the honour to her family and musical collaborators.

From precocious teenager, whose first single Wuthering Heights was a number one, to veteran musician who released her award-winning 10th studio album in 2011, her talent has stood the test of time.

But she joked after receiving the honour that the award would now have pride of place — at the top of her Christmas tree.

Bush, 54, blazed a trail for female singers when she emerged in the late 1970s as she was a rare performer — a woman who wrote her own songs and controlled her image and career.

Her hits span more than two decades from The Man With The Child In His Eyes, Babooshka and Running Up That Hill to Rocket Man and King Of The Mountain.

Over the years she has recorded with a host of artists like Prince, Peter Gabriel, Elton John and Eric Clapton.

The singer guards her privacy closely and declined to speak to the press after being made a CBE during a Windsor Castle investiture ceremony but issued a short statement.

Bush, who was dressed in dark flowing robes, said: “I feel incredibly thrilled to receive this honour which I share with my family, friends and fellow musicians and everyone who has been such an important part of it all.

“Now I’ve got something really special to put on top of the Christmas tree.”

Bush’s precocious musical talent was spotted while she was still at school. After coming to the attention of Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour, she landed a deal with EMI at the age of just 16 although she was 19 by the time she released her first album The Kick Inside in 1978.

Her debut single Wuthering Heights — released at her insistence — sparked a furious period of activity and she quickly recorded a follow-up album, Lionheart, which was out before the end of the year. She staged her one and only tour in 1979.

Bush’s 1985 album The Hounds Of Love is often seen as a career high and included one of her best-known songs, Running Up That Hill.

From then on, her releases were ever more sporadic and when she released her eighth album Aerial in 2005, it was her first for 12 years. Much of that intervening period had been devoted to bringing up her son Bertie with husband, guitarist Danny McIntosh as well as perfecting her songs.

She was in prolific form in 2011 releasing an album of reworked songs from earlier in her career, called Director’s Cut, and an album of new tracks entitled 50 Words For Snow.