Kim “Busty Beatz” Bowers, artist, music director and co-founder of the critically acclaimed, award-winning show Hot Brown Honey, has passed away, her co-directors shared in a statement.
“Our Queen Bee @bustybeatz walked towards the ancestors last night surrounded by family and friends, wrapped in hugs, flowers and tears. A leader, a staunch sister, a mentor, a maker of beatz, heart rhythms and words that made us stand up and listen,” the Hot Brown Honey team shared on Thursday (23 April).
They continued, “I know we will continue to create beautiful art together from the dream world, full of joy and cheekiness, built with radical fierce love and a middle finger to the systems. But for now Queen Sleep well, rest.
“The family will be holding a private ceremony but feel free to take a moment and ask your ancestors to hold her with ours.”
The Hot Brown Honey team concluded their post with a poem written by Bowers, which reads:
I call upon the love given
I call upon the love giving
Humbly
With gratitude
To fill my soul overflowing into the universe
To those who sent love, I dance within the redefinition
To fill this disconnected soul
Break the shackles
Love prism
Take these unliveable factors
Make rhythm
Together like that
I’m driven
From my vision, I glisten
In precision
Cell division
It’s a task
I’m open up to last
This calling
A Heartsong
I’m smitten
Bowers passed away following a diagnosis of aggressive triple-negative breast cancer in late 2022. The Courier Mail reported that she received the diagnosis in 2022 and had begun undergoing treatment that December.
At the time, Bowers’ friends and co-workers from the Polytoxic Theatre Co launched a GoFundMe “to assist with medical costs.”
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Bowers signed her first record deal at the age of 16. She spent a decade recording and touring before expanding her career to include stints as a music director and sound artist, and she spent more than 25 years in the entertainment business.
Bowers was the co-creator, music director and star of the international hit show, Hot Brown Honey. Last year, the Hot Brown Honey team launched Hive City Legacy – Naarm Chapter, which took over the stage at Arts Centre Melbourne.
After taking home awards including the Helpmann, Green Room, and UK Total Theatre Award, the Hot Brown Honey crew gave back to the community. The Hive City Legacy is about addressing “the global conversation on representation, inclusion, diversity and decolonisation through storytelling and performance making.”
Bowers said of the project last year, “Hot Brown Honey believes the Arts have the capacity to transform the world.
“Through the Hive City Legacy project, we work with a League of Extraordinary Femmes to create unapologetic and genre-defying experiences which challenge, uplift, and inspire audiences to make noise! We are here. We are loud. We are taking up space - and we are doing it with the power of performance.”
