Kate Bush Handwritten Lyrics Up For Auction

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Source:- Daily Mail

I'm The Man With The Child In His Eyes: Kate Bush's first boyfriend reveals he was the secret inspiration for classic hit

By Daily Mail Reporter

Last updated at 10:37 AM on 24th September 2010

Kate Bush fans have long debated over the singer's mysterious lyrics.

One of her earliest hits - The Man With The Child In His Eyes - sparked a literary detective 'manhunt' among Bush devotees, with fans searching for clues as to who the mysterious subject of the haunting ballad might be.

Today, the puzzle is finally solved as the original hand-written lyrics for the 1978 top ten single were put up for sale.

The One: Steve Blacknell with childhood sweetheart Kate Bush in 1975. Steve has put up for sale the hand-written lyrics to one of Kate's songs for £10,000

The budding pop star was just 13 when she wrote the lyrics to the song featured on her global smash debut album The Kick Inside.

Fans and music experts believed the song was about one of her earliest musical mentors, Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour, who produced the album.

But the 30-year puzzle was finally revealed today as her teenage sweetheart broke a 35-year silence and put the 'love letter' on sale for £10,000.

Destinies: Steve claims he was the inspiration behind Kate's hit

Kate, who grew up in East Wickham, Kent, has never spoken about the inspiration behind the haunting ballad - which was her second top 10 hit.

But Steve Blacknell, Kate's first boyfriend, revealed the story behind the music as the hand-written lyrics went on sale at music memorabilia site www.991.com.

Penned in girlish pink ink and featuring circles instead of dots over the 'i's, the piece is part of a package which features hand-written lyrics to another track from The Kick Inside.

Steve Blacknell, 58, of Hythe, Kent, said: 'By the spring of 1975 she had become my first true love.'

'All I really knew about her was that she wrote songs, played the piano and lived in a lovely house with an equally lovely family.'

The pair would 'plot their destinies' together, with Kate vowing to dedicate her life to music, and Steve also planning a career in the industry.

Steve, who was working at the time as a toilet cleaner in a local hospital, said: 'She had her heart set on becoming a global star and I was going to be a flash DJ.'

'One day I would introduce her on Top Of The Pops. In the summer of 1975, I finally got my break and landed a job as a marketing assistant with Decca Records.'

'It was then that I finally thought I was equipped to hear her music and it was a day I'll never forget. I went round to her house and she led me to the room where the piano was.'

'I thought "Oh my God". What I heard made my soul stand on end. I realised there and then that I was in love with a genius.'

Steve took Kate to gigs by groups such as The Incredible String Band and Camel, but as her career took off, their love faded.

Steve added: 'As things hotted up for her, so our relationship cooled and we drifted apart.'

Collectable: The original handwritten lyrics of the song, which Steve has put up for sale on a music memorabilia website

'But I've been told by those around her that I was indeed The Man With The Child In His Eyes and I know that those words were given to me by someone very special.

'They say you never forget your first love and in my case it's as true as it is for anyone. It's true too that she went on to charm, enlighten and entrance people all over the world.'

'I'm proud to have known and loved her, and proud to have shared such amazing times with the genius that is Kate Bush.'

Julian Thomas, of 991.com, said: 'This is one of those items that comes on the market once in a blue moon. We're expecting a lot of interest because Kate Bush is a highly collectable artist.'

All grown up: Kate Bush in 2001, but the budding pop star was just 13 when she wrote the lyrics to the song

'The Man with the Child in His Eyes' went on to win Kate an Ivor Novello Award in 1979.

Kate Bush, now married to guitarist Danny McIntosh, withdrew from public life in 1998 following the birth of her son Albert.

She released her eighth studio album, Aerial, in November 2005.

She has two homes, a £2.5million home in East Portlemouth, Devon, and a house on the Kennet and Avon canal at Sulhamstead in West Berkshire.

Steve himself had a successful career in music and TV, and he's best known today for having interviewed Phil Collins on Concorde as the Genesis drummer 'commuted' between the London and Philadelphia stages of Bob Geldof's pioneering Live Aid concert in 1985.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1314539/The-Man-With-The-Child-In-His-Eyes-Kate-Bush-lover-reveals-classics-secret.html#ixzz10T99Nsuh