PETER GABRIEL

This page shows a summary of Peter Gabriel's Biography

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HIS BIOGRAPHY

Born 13 February 1950, in the town of Woking, Surrey, England. After seven years fronting Genesis, Gabriel tired of the extensive touring and group format and went solo in 1975. Until PLAYS LIVE, released in 1983, his four solo albums were all called PETER GABRIEL. The first included the track Solsbury Hill, a metaphorical account of his split from Genesis which made the Top 20 in the UK. The album charted in the UK and the USA and Gabriel began his solo touring career in the USA, expressing a nervousness of facing his home country audiences.

Unlike his earlier extravagant, theatrical presentations, he favoured minimalism and often played shows in a plain boiler suit. Robert Fripp was brought in as producer for the second album which made the UK Top 10 and just missed out on a Top 20 place in the Billboard chart. The album contained chiefly introspective, experimental music, but healthy sales figures were encouraging. However, Atlantic Records refused to distribute his third album in the USA, claiming its maudlin nature would mean 'commercial suicide'.

Mercury stepped in and with Steve Lillywhite's disciplined production the striking collection was far from the flop Atlantic feared. Games Without Frontiers was a Top 5 hit in the UK and the track Biko, about the murdered South African activist Stephen Biko, became an anti-racist anthem. Continuing his deliberated approach, his fourth album, given the full title of PETER GABRIEL (SECURITY), was not released until 1982 and appeared to be hinting at a more accessible approach.

A German-language edition of the album was also released. PETER GABRIEL PLAYS LIVE, was released by Charisma/Geffen in 1983. Two years later Gabriel composed the haunting soundtrack to the Alan Parker film, Birdy. The journey to complete commercial acceptance was finished in 1986 with SO, containing the US number 1 single Sledgehammer which was supported by a pioneering, award-winning video featuring puppetry and animation.

He was celebrated as an artist whose work was popular without being compromised. A duet with Kate Bush, Don't Give Up, also lifted from SO, became a UK Top 10 hit in November 1986. Throughout the '80s, Gabriel dedicated much of his time to absorbing world music and in 1982 sponsored the WOMAD (World Of Music And Dance) Festival. He also became heavily involved in Amnesty International and recorded with Senegalese star Youssou N'Dour. The pair toured the USA under the banner of Conspiracy Of Hope and raised money for Amnesty.

He invited musicians from all over the world to record at his self-built studios in Bath and incorporated many non-Western ideas into his own music. In 1989 he wrote the score for the film, The Last Temptation Of Christ, released on a label backed by WOMAD. Virgin Records, the owners of the Charisma back-catalogue, released a greatest hits collection in 1990, SHAKING THE TREE. The title track was written by Gabriel with N'Dour and was included originally on N'Dour's album, THE LION. Although US fell short of the high standard set by SO, it put Gabriel back in the public eye with a series of outstandingly creative videos to accompany the release and had top ten hits. He has also released two ground-breaking CD-ROMs Xplora1 and more recently EVE which both have won prestigious awards.