Kate BushReclusive UK singer Kate Bush has been awarded a CBE in the annual New Year's Honours List handed down in Britain today.
Best known for hits Wuthering Heights and Don't Give Up (with Peter Gabriel), Bush received her award, The Commander Of The British Empire, for services to music. She told the BBC it was a "great surprise" to be included. In this Olympic year when ten percent of the awards announced went to sports heroes, Bush was indeed a surprise inclusion as the 54 year-old musician declined an invitation to perform at the Olympics. Bush preferred to instead supply a remix of Running Up That Hill to be played at the Closing Ceremony.
Watch the Running Up That Hill remix played during Olympic Closing Ceremony in August here.
Other British arts celebrities honoured today include former Kenny Everett Hot Gossip dancer Arlene Phillips (CBE) and Paul McCartney's designer daughter Stella (OBE). Also awarded were Ewan McGregor (OBE), Hustle star Adrian Lester (OBE), violinist Nicola Benedetti (MBE) and former EastEnders actor-turned-gay-rights-activist Michael Cashman (CBE).
Watch Arlene Phillips CBE with Hot Gossip on the Kenny Everett Video Show:
