Kate Bush was so thrilled with a cover of her song “Running Up That Hill” by an Australian choir that she sent them a personal thank you.
Astrid Jorgensen, the founder and director of Brisbane’s Pub Choir, has reflected on receiving an email direct from the famously elusive Kate Bush after the group covered her hit 1985 song.
Jorgensen was out on a run at the time, and she dashed home as soon as she heard the news.
“My manager called me and said, you’ve got to get home, Kate Bush has emailed,” she told The Guardian. “I ran straight back – I was literally running up that hill.”
The message read: “Dear Brisbane Pub Choir. I’ve been so busy that I’ve only just had the chance to watch you all singing ‘RUTH’. It’s utterly, utterly wonderful! I love it so much! Thank you everyone. You sing it really beautifully. I’m incredibly touched by your warmth and all your smiling faces. Thank you!”
It was signed: “With lots of love, Kate.”
Jorgensen described the situation as “so wild”, adding: “She is the biggest artist in the world right now, so to have her say she was moved by our performance, yeah, that is a peak.”
The Pub Choir’s rendition saw 1,600 people gather to sing the song, which has enjoyed a recent resurgence after featuring in the latest season of Stranger Things.
After the show’s release on Netflix, “Running Up That Hill” broke numerous records by reaching the top of the UK charts almost 37 years after its release.
In a post titled “Still up on that Hill”, which was shared on her website on 3 July, Bush celebrated her song being at No 1 for a “surreal” third consecutive week.
“I was so delighted that the Duffer Brothers wanted to use ‘RUTH’ for Max’s totem but now having seen the whole of this last series, I feel deeply honoured that the song was chosen to become a part of their roller coaster journey,” she said.
You can read The Independent’s spoiler-free review of Stranger Things season four volume two here.
