5 Singers Named BUSH from the 80s and 90s

There might be a bush outside your dwelling. Moses took orders from a burning bush. There’s a band named Bush. There might be other meanings for “bush” you may or may not have in mind. However, in this piece, I’m talking about five amazing and talented singers named Bush from the 80s and 90s that well represent their respective musical genres.

Sam Bush

Genre: Progressive Bluegrass; Newgrass

Hailing from Bowling Green, Kentucky, three-time Grammy Award winner Sam Bush is a living legend who is credited for pioneering the “newgrass” music genre in the 70s and 80s. Newgrass fuses bluegrass with rock, jazz, folk, and reggae. He cofounded the band New Grass Revival, which toured and collaborated with numerous musicians across multiple genres. Sam Bush can play almost anything with strings including the fiddle, guitar, banjo, dobro and completely wrecks the mandolin! Sam is known as the “King of Telluride” because of his many appearances at the world-famous bluegrass festival over the years. In fact, he will be there with his band this June for 50th anniversary of the Telluride festival!

What I really like about Sam Bush is that he stays true to the roots and traditions of bluegrass, but also blends it with other popular American musical traditions to make bluegrass fresh and fun.

Sam Bush nails the mandolin with John Cowan

Telluride Festival 1986 with Sam Bush

Sam Bush is by no means a nostalgic throwback as he’s still jamming and just as popular as ever among fans. In fact, he is just starting his latest tour! Check the dates and locations and see if Sam is jamming near you.

Stan Bush

Genre: Hard Rock; Pop Rock

If you need an inspiring, poppy, hard rock anthem for your 80s movie montage, you call Stan Bush. The Orlando native is best known for his song “The Touch” from Transformers: The Movie. In fact, he is a fixture of Transformers lore among fans, making numerous appearances at BotCon and earning his own page on the Transformers Wiki. His motivational rock songs have also complimented Jean Claude Van Damme in Bloodsport and Kickboxer.

Stan Bush’s “The Touch” from Transformers: The Movie, 1986

Stan Bush’s “Fight to Survive” for Bloodsport montage, 1988

I love Stan Bush’s slightly sappy, 80s pop rock style. If you want to hear a complete collection of his action film themes, you must stop reading this now, play his 2008 album “Call to Action”, then start reading again. Go ahead. I’ll wait…

Say what you will, but there’s nothing like a Stan Bush medley to pep you up and bring you right back to the joy and the fun of the 1980s… a time that will likely never repeat. Luckily for us, in 2019 Stan Bush released a synth-rock anthem and homage to the 80s called.. well… “The 80s”. It is fantabulous!

Stan Bush’s homage to the 80s called “The 80s”, 2019

Kate Bush

Genre: Art Pop; Progressive Pop

No too long ago, I was observing my teen son and his friends at the beach, listening to a playlist of… whatever teenagers listen to these days (it sounded like a night at the nudie bar to be honest). In the midst of the modern songs playing, Kate Bush’s 1985 tune “Running Up That Hill” played. Perplexed, I told them that the song was an 80s Kate Bush song and there was something wrong with their playlist. They promptly told me that there was indeed nothing wrong with their playlist and that they knew the song fully well because it was (at the time) the #1 song. “Running Up That Hill” was made popular as the demon-fighting anthem in Stranger Things and introduced the younger generation to England’s Kate Bush. In fact, Kate broke records in the UK. She is the oldest female to hit #1 on the UK singles chart with the longest gap between #1 spots as “Running Up That Hill” reached #1 the first time back in 1985.

Max evoked the power of Kate Bush to fight Lord Vecna

“Running Up That Hill” was Kate Bush’s most mainstream song but I’ve always enjoyed her other, earlier tunes which were unique and a little weird (in a good way) employing her skills as a dancer and love of art and literature. Her recent success was a good opportunity to introduce my teenage son and his gang to her other tracks and videos such as “Wuthering Heights” and “Babooshka”.

Bush wrote “Wuthering Heights” at age 18 inspired by the BBC television adaptation and reading the 1847 novel.

“Babooshka” is about a wife sending notes to her husband ghost writing as a younger woman. Its like a sad version of The Pina Colada Song.

John Bush

Genre: Heavy Metal

In the 1980s, John Bush was a lyricist and lead singer for the heavy metal band Armored Saint, which he cofounded with his high school pals in Los Angeles. Armored Saint thrashed through the 80s with six albums, an EP and a live album. The band was a close-knit group. In Metallica’s earlier days, they invited John Bush to come be their lead singer. However, John gratefully declined because he was loyal to his friends and bandmates from Armored Saint. Thus, it was devastating when friend and guitarist Dave Prichard died of leukemia in 1992. The band managed to finish their work in progress with an alternative guitarist but felt they could not go on without their friend and disbanded.

Can U Deliver? Armored Saint sure can! (1984)

After Armored Saint dissolved in 1992, John Bush moved on to become the lead singer for Anthrax after they canned their previous vocal lead. John rocked with Anthrax for over a decade until 2005. Since then, he’s had some interesting side projects including commercial and video game voiceovers. It seems he maintains a good relationship with Metallica who he performed with in 2011 for their 30th anniversary show.

“Room For One More” by Anthrax, 1993. While Grunge killed many heavy metal bands, the sound of Anthrax still thrived with John Bush.

John Bush jams with Metallica in 2011, almost three decades after they offered him the lead singer role in their band.

Kristian Bush

Genre: Folk Rock; Country

Hailing from the base of the Smoky Mountains outside of Knoxville, Tennessee, Kristian Bush is a folk and country singer. He is prominent as a solo act, but also half of the duo Sugarland with Jennifer Nettles. As a child, Kristian Bush was a classically trained violinist, but switched to guitar as a teenager and started writing his own music. In the early 90s, he teamed up with Andrew Hyra to form the duo, Billy Pilgrim. They released two albums in 1994 and 1995 respectively. Their folk rock-style earned them multiple hit singles on the AAA charts and runtime on VH1. They were known for their great live performances and even toured with Melissa Ethridge in 1995.

Billy Pilgrim on Dutch music show "2 Meter Sessies” with their redneck satire

Kristian Bush has since found great success in the 2000s and beyond with both solo projects and with the Sugarland duo. An interesting bit of trivia: Kristian’s great grandfather was A.J. Bush, founder of Bush Brothers & Company who makes the famous canned Bush’s Best baked beans. You have likely seen his cousin Jay Bush in the product’s television commercials.

Kristain Bush’s cousin Jay Bush peddling delicious baked beans

As you can see, the Bush name is synonymous with musical talent in the 80s and 90s across multiple genres. Can you think of any singers named Bush from the 80s and 90s I missed? Let me know in the comments. Also be sure to check out our various podcast episodes about 80s and 90s music. With that, I leave you with this quote:

“Let the gentle bush dig its root deep and spread upward to split the boulder.”

— Carl Sandburg