Peter Gabriel

Peter Brian Gabriel – born on February 13, 1950 – is an English musician, singer, songwriter, record producer and activist. He was the first vocalist for the band Genesis in the early 1970s and released the band’s first five albums with them: From Genesis to Revalation (1969), Trespass (1970), Nursery Cryme (1971), Foxtrot (1972), Selling England by the Pound (1973) and The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (1974). With Genesis, helped to move progressive rock to new levels of theatricality, incorporating stories and characters into the lyrics, and remarkably, on stage.

The beginning of the solo career was described by Gabriel himself as his “learning period”, during which he took piano and music lessons and started preparing materials for his debut album – the first self-titled in series of four albums – released in 1977 where started exploring darker, more cerebral territory, incorporating avant-garde, electronic, and worldbeat influences into his music. The record, as well as its two similarly titled successors, established Gabriel as a critically acclaimed cult artist. In 1982 with his fourth self-titled album (aka as Security), he began to move into the mainstream; “Shock the Monkey” became his first Top 40 hit, paving the way for his multi-platinum breakthrough So in 1986. Accompanied by a series of groundbreaking videos and the number one single “Sledgehammer”, So became a multi-platinum hit, and Gabriel became an international star. Instead of capitalizing on his sudden success, he began to explore other interests, including recording soundtracks and running his company Real World. In 1992 he returned to pop with his sixth album, US. His latest LP, UP was released in 2002.