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Peter Gabriel

February 13, 1950

In the realm of popular music, Peter Gabriel is simply without peer. Be it with Genesis or in his solo career and other ventures, Peter has long established a fearless pursuit of some greater artistic truth throughout his career, diving where most wouldn’t dare go.

Peter was born in Chobham, Surrey, England to electrical engineer and dairy farm owner Ralph Gabriel and Edith Allen, daughter of Civil Service Department Store head Col Edward Allen. With his father coming from a family of London timber importers and merchants as well as his mother being from a musical family, in addition to being the great-great-great nephew of Thomas Gabriel, First Baronet (Lord Mayor of London from 1866-77), Peter had quite a family lineage ahead of him. As a young lad, Peter would inherite the musical talent of his mother’s side of the family, taking piano lessons as well as an interest in drumming at the age of ten. Eventually, Peter would take up singing as well, serving as drummer and vocalist in his first band, a traditional jazz outfit called the Milords, while attending Charterhouse in Godalming. It was also at Charterhouse that he’d meet fellow students Tony Banks and Chris Stewart, with whom he’d start the band Garden Wall featuring Banks on piano and Stewart on vocals while Peter sang. Garden Wall would perform their only show at school in a double bill with another student band called Anon. Aside from Peter throwing roses into the audience, the first taste of theatrics he’d become known for, this double billing would eventually lead to an expanded lineup when Anon disbanded and two of its members, guitarist Anthony Phillips and bassist Mike Rutherford, joined up with the members of Garden Wall to form what would become the genesis of…well, Genesis.

As the original frontman of Genesis, Peter helped the group become one of progressive rock’s most seminal bands off the backs of records like Nursery Cryme, Foxtrot, Selling England By The Pound, and The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway. With his quirky and surrealistic songwriting and his highly theatrical stage performances, Peter took Genesis from simply being another band of great players into something else entirely. With a wry style of writing filled with wordplay, double meanings, a dash of fantasy, madcap humor, and the odd bit of social commentary on English life, Peter proved the ideal man for completing the kaleidoscopic prism for which Genesis built its name on. Though influenced by many of the same blues and soul greats as most of his contemporaries, Peter took these influences as a singer into a completely different realm, one serene and ethereal within that delightfully British touch. Genesis in its classic form is at times both highly childlike and playful yet very adult and cerebral, and almost nobody could better walk that line than Peter Gabriel.

With a highly individual artistic stamp and muse, Peter would inevitably outgrow the band format of five equals, and by 1975 he would finally strike it out on his own. Many wondered where Peter Gabriel would go from there, and those doubts were quickly silenced by the release of “Solsbury Hill”. The same quirky pop sensibility of classic Genesis in a more streamlined fashion, all while remaining its own unique thing, this would merely be a hint of greater things to come. Peter Gabriel’s solo career is the perfect example of adapting to the post-prog landscape without sacrificing the progressive philosophy and mindset, and in some respects, Peter arguably only became more progressive. Rather it be as one of the Fairlight CMI’s earliest adaptors or as a pioneer of world beat, in addition to innovating in the realm of music videos, most notably with “Sledgehammer”-the most played video in MTV’s history (more than any Michael Jackson video, if you can believe it), Peter has remained a creatively vital force throughout his career. It’s little wonder, then, that so many other brilliant artists and musicians have been eager to collaborate with Peter. From King Crimson members Robert Fripp and Tony Levin, the latter having been there for virtually all of Peter’s solo career, to Brian Eno, Laurie Anderson to Kate Bush, Indian violinist L. Shankar, Trent Reznor, former Genesis bandmate Phil Collins-with each being the only Genesis member to contribute to a solo album by the other (and yet, they’re still played up as rivals, go figure), The Band’s Robbie Robertson as he crafted his solo debut, Afro Celt Sound, Joni Mitchell, and many more.

Beyond performing, Peter has also contributed to the world of film, crafting the soundtracks to films like The Last Temptation of Christ and Birdy as well as contributing songs to films like Babeigs In The City, Strange Days, Against All Odds, and Wall-E. For all that world music has given him in his career, Peter has also given back in the form of starting the famed WOMAD festival as well as Real World Records, both providing a platform for many great artists from around the world to be heard by many Westerners who may not have discovered them otherwise. He has also become noted for his humanitarian work over the decades, from being one of the first artists in popular music to speak out against apartheid with songs like “Biko”, to launching Witness, which trains human rights activists to use video and online technologies to expose human rights abuses. He is also responsible for launching ApeNet, which enabled the first interspecies internet connection, as well as one of the first online music download services in OD2. Oh, and he’s a founding supporter of the annual International Asteroid Day.

Peter Gabriel has led a pretty remarkable journey, going places that most can only dream or read of in their lifetimes. His artistic journey has proven every bit as long, winding, and epic as the best Genesis cuts, yet Peter has never lost that keen mind, that thoughtful perspective, or that playful sense of curiosity that made fans love him in the first place.

Description

Peter Gabriel

February 13, 1950

In the realm of popular music, Peter Gabriel is simply without peer. Be it with Genesis or in his solo career and other ventures, Peter has long established a fearless pursuit of some greater artistic truth throughout his career, diving where most wouldn’t dare go.

Peter was born in Chobham, Surrey, England to electrical engineer and dairy farm owner Ralph Gabriel and Edith Allen, daughter of Civil Service Department Store head Col Edward Allen. With his father coming from a family of London timber importers and merchants as well as his mother being from a musical family, in addition to being the great-great-great nephew of Thomas Gabriel, First Baronet (Lord Mayor of London from 1866-77), Peter had quite a family lineage ahead of him. As a young lad, Peter would inherite the musical talent of his mother’s side of the family, taking piano lessons as well as an interest in drumming at the age of ten. Eventually, Peter would take up singing as well, serving as drummer and vocalist in his first band, a traditional jazz outfit called the Milords, while attending Charterhouse in Godalming. It was also at Charterhouse that he’d meet fellow students Tony Banks and Chris Stewart, with whom he’d start the band Garden Wall featuring Banks on piano and Stewart on vocals while Peter sang. Garden Wall would perform their only show at school in a double bill with another student band called Anon. Aside from Peter throwing roses into the audience, the first taste of theatrics he’d become known for, this double billing would eventually lead to an expanded lineup when Anon disbanded and two of its members, guitarist Anthony Phillips and bassist Mike Rutherford, joined up with the members of Garden Wall to form what would become the genesis of…well, Genesis.

As the original frontman of Genesis, Peter helped the group become one of progressive rock’s most seminal bands off the backs of records like Nursery Cryme, Foxtrot, Selling England By The Pound, and The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway. With his quirky and surrealistic songwriting and his highly theatrical stage performances, Peter took Genesis from simply being another band of great players into something else entirely. With a wry style of writing filled with wordplay, double meanings, a dash of fantasy, madcap humor, and the odd bit of social commentary on English life, Peter proved the ideal man for completing the kaleidoscopic prism for which Genesis built its name on. Though influenced by many of the same blues and soul greats as most of his contemporaries, Peter took these influences as a singer into a completely different realm, one serene and ethereal within that delightfully British touch. Genesis in its classic form is at times both highly childlike and playful yet very adult and cerebral, and almost nobody could better walk that line than Peter Gabriel.

With a highly individual artistic stamp and muse, Peter would inevitably outgrow the band format of five equals, and by 1975 he would finally strike it out on his own. Many wondered where Peter Gabriel would go from there, and those doubts were quickly silenced by the release of “Solsbury Hill”. The same quirky pop sensibility of classic Genesis in a more streamlined fashion, all while remaining its own unique thing, this would merely be a hint of greater things to come. Peter Gabriel’s solo career is the perfect example of adapting to the post-prog landscape without sacrificing the progressive philosophy and mindset, and in some respects, Peter arguably only became more progressive. Rather it be as one of the Fairlight CMI’s earliest adaptors or as a pioneer of world beat, in addition to innovating in the realm of music videos, most notably with “Sledgehammer”-the most played video in MTV’s history (more than any Michael Jackson video, if you can believe it), Peter has remained a creatively vital force throughout his career. It’s little wonder, then, that so many other brilliant artists and musicians have been eager to collaborate with Peter. From King Crimson members Robert Fripp and Tony Levin, the latter having been there for virtually all of Peter’s solo career, to Brian Eno, Laurie Anderson to Kate Bush, Indian violinist L. Shankar, Trent Reznor, former Genesis bandmate Phil Collins-with each being the only Genesis member to contribute to a solo album by the other (and yet, they’re still played up as rivals, go figure), The Band’s Robbie Robertson as he crafted his solo debut, Afro Celt Sound, Joni Mitchell, and many more.

Beyond performing, Peter has also contributed to the world of film, crafting the soundtracks to films like The Last Temptation of Christ and Birdy as well as contributing songs to films like Babeigs In The City, Strange Days, Against All Odds, and Wall-E. For all that world music has given him in his career, Peter has also given back in the form of starting the famed WOMAD festival as well as Real World Records, both providing a platform for many great artists from around the world to be heard by many Westerners who may not have discovered them otherwise. He has also become noted for his humanitarian work over the decades, from being one of the first artists in popular music to speak out against apartheid with songs like “Biko”, to launching Witness, which trains human rights activists to use video and online technologies to expose human rights abuses. He is also responsible for launching ApeNet, which enabled the first interspecies internet connection, as well as one of the first online music download services in OD2. Oh, and he’s a founding supporter of the annual International Asteroid Day.

Peter Gabriel has led a pretty remarkable journey, going places that most can only dream or read of in their lifetimes. His artistic journey has proven every bit as long, winding, and epic as the best Genesis cuts, yet Peter has never lost that keen mind, that thoughtful perspective, or that playful sense of curiosity that made fans love him in the first place.