Peter Gabriel

Gabriel was discovered by the singer, record industry executive and media personality Jonathan King while he was still at school. He was then the frontman of the group Genesis , who became one of the most influential and popular British progressive rock bands. He left the group for a solo career in 1975 after recording albums including "Foxtrot", "Selling England by the Pound" and the concept album "The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway".

He lived with the American actress Rosanna Arquette for several years following the end of his first marriage.

His own company, Real World, promotes world musicians and their music.

His song "Solsbury Hill" is titled after a small hill on the edge of the city of Bath, England. The hill is the site of an ancient dwelling and is now part the UK National Trust.

He has two daughters: Anna-Marie, born on July 26, 1974, and Melanie, born August 23, 1976.

He is a member and promoter of Amnesty International.

Because of his 1980 song "Biko", written about South African civil rights leader Steve Biko , the apartheid government of South Africa banned all of Gabiels recordings. The ban was lifted following the end of apartheid.

Some sources state that he suffers from bipolar disorder.

His song "Biko" was covered by Simple Minds on their 1989 album "Street Fighting Years".

Genesis had one hit single during his time as the lead singer, "I Know What I Like " which reached 21 in 1974. It was later covered by former Marillion singer Fish on his 1993 album "Songs From The Mirror".

In March 2003, his final album with Genesis , "The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway", came sixth in Classic Rock Magazines list of the 30 greatest concept albums of all time.

His song "I Dont Remember" was covered by Marillion frontman Steve Hogarth and the H Band on the album "Live Spirit: Live Body" (released 2002).

On 21 November 2003, he performed for the BBCs annual Children in Need charity event.

On 29 November 2003, he performed at the "46664" AIDS concert.

He can play piano, keyboards, percussion, flute, recorder and harmonica, although, by his own admission, none of them particularly well.

In 1999, he reunited with his former Genesis bandmates Phil Collins , Tony Banks , Mike Rutherford and Steve Hackett for a re-recording of the Genesis song "The Carpet Crawlers" , which appears on the Genesis compilation "Turn It On Again: The Hits".

He never scored a UK number one single, but "Sledgehammer" topped the US singles chart in 1986. Ironically, it knocked "Invisible Touch" by his former band Genesis off the top spot.

On 1 November 2004, he was presented with the Music Industry Trusts Award for his outstanding contribution to the British music industry.

His famous song "Solsbury Hill" talks about why he decided to leave Genesis while the band was growing at a fast rate.

Although he left Genesis in 1975, he reunited with the band twice. Once in the early 1980s for a special charity concert and in 1999 to record a song for a greatest hits collection. Steve Hackett was there for that reunion, making it the first time the original five performed together since 1975.

His bandmate Phil Collins took over vocals from him when he left Genesis in 1975. He sang back-up vocals to Collins on the single "Take Me Home" in 1985. Sting also sang back-up vocals on the same song. In 2016, Gabriel and Sting toured the USA and Canada together.

His song "Dont Give Up" was covered in 2005 by Bono and Alicia Keys for the charity "Keep a Child Alive". Willie Nelson and Sinad OConnor also recorded a version of it for Nelsons 1993 album "Across the Borderline". John Legend and Pink recorded a version of it for Herbie Hancock s album "The Imagine Project", released in 2010.

His song "In Your Eyes" is one of his most famous recordings in the United States and received considerable radio airplay, becoming a Top 30 hit. It was subsequently featured in the film Say Anything... . It was later covered by the Australian singer Darren Hayes of Savage Garden fame. It is not so famous in the UK, where it was never released as a single and is rarely played on radio, although it featured on his best-selling album "So". It was also left off his compilation albums "Shaking the Tree" and "Hit".

His song "Solsbury Hill" was covered by Erasure on their 2003 album "Other Peoples Songs".

He was the winner of the 1987 British Phonographic Industry Awards for British Male Solo Artist and British Video for his song "Sledgehammer" following the success of his multi-million selling album "So". He also won the 1993 Brit Award for British Producer.

He was awarded the Frankfurt Music Prize in 2006.

On 3rd October 2006, he was the winner of the first Pioneer Award at the BT Digital Music Awards.

He was the winner of the 2006 Q Lifetime Achievement Award, presented to him by Moby.

He was ranked #53 on VH1s 100 Greatest Artists of Rock & Roll.

His album "So" was included in College Music Journals list of the "Top 25 College Radio Albums of All Time" and #1 in the "Top 20 Most-Played Albums of 1986", ranked #14 in Rolling Stones "100 Best Albums of The 80s" survey and #187 in Rolling Stones "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time".

His song "Shock the Monkey" was covered by Coal Chamber with Ozzy Osbourne on the album "Chamber Music" (released in 1999).

His third and fourth album were also released in German. The third album was titled "Ein Deutsches album", his fourth "Deutsches album".

He was chosen by Time Magazine in 2008 as one of the 100 most influential people in the world. Placed in the Heroes & Pioneers category, the tribute to him was written by Desmond Tutu.

His wife Meabh gave birth to their second son, Luc, on July 5th 2008 weighing in at 7 lbs, 2 oz. They also have a son Isaac born in 2002.

In 1982, he was one of the first artists to record an album entirely on digital tape and in 2000 he co-founded the first digital music download platform, OD2.

His father was an electrical engineer and his mother was a musician.

His favorite singer is Otis Redding , whose music he has loved since he was a teenager and who inspired his biggest hit, "Sledgehammer".

He is mentioned in the lyrics of the song "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa" by Vampire Weekend.

The title character of the BBC comedy series "The Life of Rock with Brian Pern" was mainly based on him.

His video for "Sledgehammer" was voted the second greatest music video of all time for the Channel 4 programme The 100 Greatest Pop Videos . It was beaten to first place by Michael Jackson s "Thriller".

There has always been a strong relationship between music and religion.

It is because they both plug directly into the heart and can have real,power for good or evil.

Music is a universal language, it draws people together and proves, as,well as anything, the stupidity of racism.

Just to stay in an all-white, all-male, all-middle-class preserve would,be very boring for me and very boring for the people who listen to what,I do.

Working with the tours and meeting all the people that felt their lives,had literally been saved by Amnesty made it seem like such a simple,elegant and powerful idea. I think that it is a wonderful organization,that really deserves a lot of support.

New technology has always excited me.

The only drug I was interested in was acid, but I was too frightened by,my dreams in regular hours to contemplate that.

Iraqis have rights too.

So I thought, if we could put a twist on the covers thing, make it a,genuine exchange and a dialogue with other musicians, rather than a,homage to just one song, then we could create something different.

A lot of songs come with a time stamp. I remember where I was when I,first heard "Hey Joe" or "Love Me Do". They become like sound traps,because pop introduced to songwriting the idea that sound was as,important as the notes, the harmony and the rhythm.

[on "Scratch My Back"] I wanted to let these songs speak, so I become,personally minimal in their presentation. Left to my own devices, I,tend to put layers on top, I fuss too much. So, early on with this, I,decided to make rules. No drums or guitars. Just chamber instruments,keyboards and brass.

And they are slightly different paths. I have interest in technology,and benefit projects that go along with the music. Now I know,mathematicians and filmmakers, pioneering medical researchers and all,sorts of people from all sorts of backgrounds. One of the big buzzes,has always been brainstorming with a bunch of people smarter than,myself and I get to do that quite a lot on quite a lot of different,subjects.

I think MP3 is a giant step backwards in that we all spend a lot of time,trying to make things sound really good and then it gets compressed.

But I like that sense of it being a much freer medium . . . technology,has very often shaped the music [such as] the first singles having the,physical limitations of the format determining the length of music.

Those physical limitations in a way shaped the way music was composed.

I think suddenly that has been unleashed and I think freedom is,generally a very scary concept for artists.

[on his best-selling solo album, "So"] It turned me into a pop star for,at least a week.

My parents put me in for an aptitude test when I was a teenager and the,report came back saying that the only thing that I was good for was,photography or landscape gardening.

[on Charterhouse] My first night in the school is still vivid in my,mind. There were no curtains on the windows and the lights from the,cars passing on the road would reflect across the ceiling. It just,reminded me of a sky full of bombs, and there were lots of boys crying,uncontrollably - it was their first time away from home. It was just,all such an incredibly ugly thing to recall. They always say you can,tell an ex-public school boy in prison because he takes to it like a,duck to water.

Music, you see, was suddenly something I could identify with. It was the,only thing that could obliterate the feeling of sheer misery and,uselessness.

Primarily I make noises and ideas.

[on apartheid in 1988] Reading the press, people ask why we sing about,South Africa. South Africa is the only country in the world which has,racism enshrined in its constitution.

In this case, Mandela had seen many of his people beaten, imprisoned,and murdered, yet he was still willing to trust the humanity and,idealism of those who had been the oppressors, without whom he knew he,could not achieve an almost peaceful transition of power. There is no,other example of such inspirational leadership in my lifetime.

[on "The Life of Rock with Brian Pern" (2014) ] Many of the laughs,are at my expense, but it also had me laughing a lot. I think you will,enjoy it. There are also many great cameos, my favourites being from,Reeves and Mortimer and Paul Whitehouse.

In rock as a whole there have been many great songs which have had,really appalling lyrics but there have been no great songs which have,had appalling music.

Despite prog probably being the most derided musical genre of all time,there were - as today - a lot of extraordinary musicians trying to,break down the barriers to reject the rules of music.

Never say never, I suppose, but like the saying goes, stick to what,satisfies your hunger now, not what might fill you up later.

Tony (Banks) and I were the best of mates, but we fought like siblings.

We had this constant battle of keeping the power of the other in check.

I know it drove the other three crazy, but that was our working,dynamic. We were the founders and co-leaders of the band, we had big,ambitions, and we were scared to death of failure.

It was the first time I ever felt like I was singing for my life, like,it had a larger purpose than putting money in my pocket or selling,records. Outside of Lamb, it was my favorite moment with Genesis.

The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway was the highlight of my time in Genesis.

I convinced the band to go with my story idea and I also convinced them,to let me write all the lyrics. I know there is some controversy about,that, but the truth is novels are rarely written by committee.