With her enchanting howl of a voice and passion for outrageous creative risk, Kate Bush strikes an uncanny balance between artistic experimentation and pop satisfaction. In a career that goes back to the late ’70s, she’s produced hits like “This Woman’s Work,” “Babooshka” and “Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God)” alongside esoteric song cycles and conceptual works, inspiring artists as diverse as St. Vincent and Big Boi with her wonderfully witchy distillation of literary themes, musical idioms and studio innovations. Born Catherine Bush in July 1958 in Kent, she grew up in a village farmhouse with an ever-supportive Roman Catholic family. Her two older brothers, John and Paddy, were her earliest collaborators; her big break came at age 16 when Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour helped her produce a demo tape and land a record deal. She was a sensation from the start with her Emily Brontë-inspired 1978 debut single, “Wuthering Heights”, summoning raw desire with her piercing soprano and the video's interpretive dance moves. She went on to produce a string of acclaimed albums throughout the ’80s and into the ’90s—including 1985’s masterful Hounds of Love, which veers between synth-pop, piano balladry, Irish folk and earthy lyricism. Bush has been quieter in more recent years, releasing just three albums in the 2000s and 2010s. But her visionary work helped make way for the post-genre pop of artists like Lorde and Billie Eilish, while her artistic autonomy sets an important standard for the music industry.