Kate Bush to play 15 London dates

Kate Bush has announced she is to play a series of concert dates in the UK later this year.

An announcement on her official website said she will play 15 shows at London's Hammersmith Apollo in August and September.

The title for the show is Before the Dawn and the first date will be 26 August.

The singer, whose hits include Wuthering Heights and Hounds of Love, last toured in 1979.

"I am delighted to announce that we will be performing some live shows this coming August and September," she said.

"I hope you will be able to join us and I look forward to seeing you there."

Tickets go on sale 09:30 GMT Friday, 28 March.

Bush's first ever tour in 1979 featured mime, magic and poetry alongside her music, but it reportedly took its toll on the singer, then just 20.

"By the end," she subsequently recalled, "I felt a terrific need to retreat as a person because I felt that my sexuality, which in a way I hadn't really had a chance to explore myself, was being given to the world in a way which I found impersonal."

The six-week tour, which travelled around Britain and mainland Europe, ended at the Hammersmith Odeon - now the Hammersmith Apollo - the venue she has chosen to return to for the new shows.

Bush topped the charts at age 19 with the single Wuthering Heights in 1978

Speaking to the BBC three years ago, Bush refused to rule out touring again, but said: "I do have the odd dream where I'm on stage and I've completely forgotten what I'm meant to be performing - so they are more nightmares than dreams."

"[They] didn't stop me," she told Radio 4's Front Row, "but I do think if I were to do any live work, I'd be completely petrified to start with."

Bush last released an album in 2011, the Brit-nominated 50 Words For Snow.

It was only her third album of new material in 18 years - and the singer admitted that her slow work rate was "extremely stressful".

"It's very frustrating the albums take as long as they do," she said. "I wish there weren't such big gaps between them."

Bush, whose other hits include Running Up That Hill and Babooshka, has won both Brit and Ivor Novello awards.

In 2013, the Queen honoured her with a CBE for services to music.

Kate Bush said she was "incredibly thrilled" to receive her CBE from the Queen