May - Lead vocalist of Genesis, Gabriel (b. May 13, 1950, Cobham, Surrey) leaves the group at the close of its "Lamb Lies Down" tour after a concert in St. Etienne, France. He remains with Charisma Records as a solo artist, though it will be nearly two years before he releases a debut album. Curiously, his first production project following his departure from the group is for UK comic actor Charlie Drake's You'll Never Know, also released on Charisma and co-written with Martin Hall.
Aug [16] - He makes a belated press announcement confirming his decision to split from Genesis for personal reasons.
Nov - Various artists compilation album, All This And World War II, featuring Gabriel's version of the Beatles' Strawberry Fields Forever, makes UK #23.
July - He begins recording sessions at Nimbus Studios, Toronto, Canada.
Mar - Extending the artist's complex and literate musical style, a process begun as the principal creative force in Genesis, the self-penned Peter Gabriel, produced by Bob Ezrin and, confusingly, the first of four eponymously-titled albums, hits UK #7, as Gabriel begins his first solo tour in North America.
April - Prior to a short European tour, he makes his London solo stage debut at the Hammersmith Odeon, backed by, among others, Robert Fripp of King Crimson on guitar. (Phil Collins sits in on drums during Gabriel's encore number, Here Comes The Flood).
May - Peter Gabriel reaches US #38.
[21] Acoustic guitar-led Solsbury Hill reaches UK #13 and
peaks at US #68.
Dec - Gabriel is arrested in West Germany on suspicion of being a member of the Baader-Meinhof gang.
June - Sophomore album, also titled Peter Gabriel, produced by Fripp and containing the recently issued DIY, hits UK #10.
Aug - Peter Gabriel reaches US #45.
[9] Gabriel performs at the Knebworth, Herts, on a bill including the
Tubes and Frank Zappa.
Gabriel spends part of the year working with writer Atejanmdo Jodorowsky on the screenplay for a movie version of Genesis' concept album/stage show "The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway", due to be financed by Charisma, but the film never materialises.
Mar - The Tom Robinson Band's Bully For You, co-written by Gabriel, peaks at UK #68.
May [12] - Gabriel joins Kate Bush and Steve Harley in a benefit concert at the Hammersmith Odeon, for the family of Bush's lighting engineer Billy Duffy, who died in an accident. During the month, Gabriel also sings guest vocals on Robert Fripp's album Exposure.
Aug [26] - He is joined onstage by Collins at the Reading Festival, Reading, Berkshire, for an encore of The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway.
Mar [15] - Games Without Frontiers, his first solo top 10 single, hits UK #4. With Bush on backing vocals, the notable whistling is provided by producers Steve Lillywhite and Hugh Padgham, and Gabriel.
May [31] - No Self Control makes UK #33.
June [14] - Third album, Peter Gabriel, produced by Lillywhite and including guest appearances by Bush, Collins, Fripp and Paul Weller of the Jam, tops the UK chart. Charisma has licensed the album to Mercury in the US, after Atlantic, the US licensee of the two previous Gabriel albums, has turned it down. Noting the UK chart success of (the included) Games Without Frontiers, Atlantic tries to buy the album back, but to no avail. (Gabriel also records the album in German for a separate release).
July - Jimmy Pursey (ex-Sham 69) releases Animals Have More Fun in the UK, co-written and co-produced by Gabriel.
Aug - Third album, Peter Gabriel, peaks at
US #22.
[23] Tribal-tinged Biko, a protest song concerning the death
in South Africa of black activist Steve Biko, reaches UK #38.
Sept [20] - Games Without Frontiers makes US #48.
July [16-18] - Gabriel inaugurates the "World Of Music Arts And Dance" (WOMAD) Festival at the Royal Bath & West Showground, Shepton Mallet, Somerset. Becoming a regular (and personally costly) annual event, it meshes culture and music from around the globe, predating the late '80s "World Music" genre.
Sept - Fourth album, Peter Gabriel, co-produced with David Lord and the last to use this title, hits UK #6. (Once again, the German market is treated to its own lingual version).
Oct [2] - A one-off reunion with Genesis at Milton Keynes Bowl,
Milton Keynes, Bucks, for a WOMAD benefit concert, helps offset some of the
losses of the recent Shepton Mallet Festival.
[16] Shock The Monkey, taken from the latest album and
featuring Peter Hammill as backing vocalist, makes UK #58.
Nov - Fourth eponymous effort, Peter Gabriel,
reaches US #28. Geffen, to whom Gabriel is newly signed in the US, stickers
the sleeve with the title "Security" to give the album a separate identity from
the earlier three.
A documentary feature on Gabriel is broadcast on ITV's "The South Bank
Show".
Jan [29] - Shock The Monkey reaches US #29, his first single to chart higher in the US than the UK.
May [5] - Gabriel and Genesis are honoured for their Outstanding Contribution To British Music at the 29th annual Ivor Novello Awards lunch, at the Grosvenor House Hotel, London.
June - Double album, Peter Gabriel Plays Live, instigated by US Geffen, to satisfy fans in the absence of new studio material (though in fact Gabriel adds new studio overdubbing to the tracks), hits UK #8.
July - Extracted I Don't Remember reaches UK #62.
Aug - Peter Gabriel Plays Live makes US #44.
Sept [10] - Live version of his debut hit, Solsbury Hill, peaks at US #84.
Nov - Tom Robinson reaches UK #39 with Listen To The Radio Atmospherics, co-written by Gabriel.
June - Walk Through The Fire, taken from film soundtrack to "Against All Odds" (and an out-take from his third album) makes UK #69.
Apr - Birdy, the soundtrack album for the film of the same name, composed and performed by Gabriel and co-produced with Daniel Lanois, nests at UK #51.
Dec [14] - Artists United Against Apartheid, comprising 49 artists including Gabriel featured on the album track No More Apartheid, makes US #38 and UK #21 with the extracted single Sun City.
May [24] - Sledgehammer, accompanied by an acclaimed and innovative "claymation" promo video by Steve Johnson, using stop-motion techniques with revolutionary flair, hits UK #4.
[31] Richly diverse So, co-produced by Gabriel and Lanois and featuring musical guests Laurie Anderson, P.P. Arnold, Bush, Stewart Copeland, Simple Minds' Jim Kerr, Nile Rodgers and pianist Richard Tee, enters the UK chart at #1 and will become his biggest-selling album of the '80s.
June [4] - Amnesty International's "A Conspiracy Of Hope" two-week US tour begins at the Cow Palace, San Francisco, CA, featuring Peter Gabriel, U2, Sting, Bryan Adams and Lou Reed.
[28] Gabriel takes part in an anti-apartheid concert on London's Clapham Common, with Elvis Costello, Boy George, Sade, Sting, Billy Bragg and Hugh Masekela among others, before an estimated half-million crowd.
July [26] - Sledgehammer tops the US chart for a week, becoming a million seller internationally, while So will hit US #2.
Oct [25] - In Your Eyes, taken from the album and with backing vocals by Youssou N'Dour, reaches US #26.
Nov - Gabriel's ballad duet with Kate Bush, Don't Give Up, taken from So, hits UK #9 and is promoted by two different videos. Biko is included on the all-star compilation album, Conspiracy Of Hope, released in aid of Amnesty International.
Feb [9] - Gabriel wins Best Male Artist and Best British Music Video, for "Sledgehammer", at the sixth annual BRIT Awards, at the Grosvenor House Hotel.
Mar [7] - Big Time hits US #8, accompanied by another eye-catching video and featuring Copeland on drums. During the month Gabriel performs live in Japan for the "Hurricane Irene" benefit.
[28] Continuing his long-term support for Amnesty International, Gabriel appears at their benefit, the "Secret Policeman's Third Ball" in London.
Apr [4] - Big Time reaches UK #13.
[15] Don't Give Up is named Best Song Musically And Lyrically at the 32nd annual Ivor Novello Awards, at the Grosvenor House Hotel.
[25] Don't Give Up peaks at US #72.
July - Fourth extract from So, Red Rain, makes UK #46.
Sept [11] - "Sledgehammer" sweeps the fourth annual MTV Music Video Awards, held at the Universal Amphitheatre, Universal City, CA, winning the Best Video, Best Male Video, Best Concept Video, Best Overall Performance, Best Special Effects, Best Art Direction, Best Editing, Best Direction and Most Experimental categories, Gabriel also collect the prestigious Video Vanguard trophy.
Nov - A new live version of Biko, taken from the soundtrack album of the film "Cry Freedom", makes UK #49. Gabriel contributes to ex-Band member Robbie Robertson's eponymous first album, notably on the cut Fallen Angel.
June [5-6] - He participates in the sixth annual Prince's Trust Rock Gala, at London's Royal Albert Hall.
[11] Gabriel performs his anti-apartheid anthem, Biko, at "Nelson Mandela's 70th Birthday Tribute" at Wembley Stadium, Wembley, Middx.
July - Gabriel's impressive show reel of video hits, collectively released as "CV", tops the UK Music Video chart.
Aug - The controversial Martin Scorsese-directed film "The Last Temptation Of Christ", with a Gabriel score, premieres in the UK and US.
Sept [2] - A second six-week Amnesty International "Human Rights Now" world tour, with Gabriel, Tracy Chapman, Bruce Springsteen, Sting and others, opens at Wembley Stadium.
Mar [6] - Gabriel attends the launch of the Greenpeace - Rainbow Warriors album (which is released on the Melodiya label) in Moscow, USSR, with Annie Lennox, the Thompson Twins and U2.
June - Following their Amnesty performances together, Gabriel has contributed to Youssou N'Dour's latest album, Set, while the extracted duet, the UK #61 single Shaking The Tree, will later provide the title for a Gabriel greatest hits compilation.
[17] - Passion reaches UK #29 and US #60, featuring instrumental highlights from his film score to "The Last Temptation Of Christ", augmented by additional music composed by Gabriel and performed with Asian and African musicians.
July [8] - Final So extract, In Your Eyes, makes US #41.
Feb [21] - Gabriel wins Best New Age Performance for Passion - Music For The Last Temptation Of Christ at the 32nd annual Grammy Awards, at the Shrine Auditorium, Los Angeles, CA.
Apr [16] - Gabriel participates in "Nelson Mandela - An International Tribute To A Free South Africa" concert at Wembley Stadium, with Bonnie Raitt, Neil Young, Simple Minds, the Neville Brothers, Aswad and Tracy Chapman among others.
Sept [24] - Geoffrey Oryema's album, Exile, with Gabriel guesting and production by Brian Eno, is released in the UK.
Jan [5] - Gabriel's first greatest hits collection, Shaking The Tree: Sixteen Golden Greats, peaks at UK #11 featuring a sleeve shot by controversial artist Robert Mapplethorpe. The extracted and reissued pairing Solsbury Hill/Shaking The Tree, with N'Dour, makes UK #57.
Feb [9] - Shaking The Tree: Sixteen Golden Greats makes US #48.
Mar [9] - The Peace Choir's Give Peace A Chance, featuring Gabriel in an all-star cast, makes US #54.
Apr - Gabriel performs before a 70,000 crowd at the Stade de l'Amitie, Dakar, Senegal, with N'Dour.
May [12] - He appears by satellite from The Hague, Holland, singing Games Without Frontiers with Sting's band, as part of "The Simple Truth" concert for Kurdish refugees, from Wembley Arena, Wembley.
Aug [15-21] - Gabriel-organised "Real World Week of Recording", with Sinead O'Connor and Van Morrison among the many who participate, takes place at his Box, Wilts. studios.
Sept [10] - The soundtrack to Wim Wenders' new film "Until The End Of The World", featuring Gabriel, is released.
Dec - The RIAA certifies three million US sales of So.
Apr [27] - Manu Katche's album, It's About Time, to which Gabriel has contributed vocals on Warm Doorway and a duet with Sting on Silence, is released.
Sept [26] - His first new solo vocal recording in six years, Digging In The Dirt, reaches UK #24.
Oct [7] - Gabriel guests on BBC1-TV's "What's That Noise".
[10] US enters at its UK #2 peak, behind R.E.M.'s Automatic For The People. Released via Gabriel's newly created Real World label (formed in association with the still-running WOMAD organisation) and recorded at his Real World Studio in Bath, the self-analytical, soul-searching set (focusing not least on his separation from ex-girlfriend, actress Rosanna Arquette) features a truly global array of musicians from as far afield as Armenia, Egypt, Kenya, Russia and Senegal, in addition to more familiar guests, including Eno, Katche, Sinead O'Connor ad co-producer Lanois.
[17] US debuts at US #2.
Nov [21] - Digging In The Dirt makes US #52, accompanied by a traditionally intricate special-effects video clip.
Dec - Gabriel attends the annual Reebok Human Rights Awards in Boston, MA, with Joan Baez, Richie Havens and Michael Stipe.
Jan [21-24] - ART 93 exhibition at the Business Design Centre, Islington, London, Displays the work of 11 artists from around the world, who were commissioned by Gabriel to interpret one track each from his latest album.
[23] Steam rises to hit UK #10 and will reach US #32 the following week.
Feb [16] Gabriel collects the Best Producer trophy at the 12th annual BRIT Awards, held at London's Alexandra Palace, at which he also performs Steam.
[24] Gabriel opens the 35th annual Grammy Awards, held at the Shrine Auditorium, with a Cirque du Soleil-featured performance of Steam, and wins Best Short Form Video for "Digging In The Dirt".
Apr [8] - Gabriel plays a sell-out date at The Academy, New York.
[10] Blood Of Eden makes UK #43.
May [18] - Plus From Us, a various artists collection of music (including contributions from Eno, Lanois, Bill Laswell, the Meters, William Orbit and David Rhodes) compiled by Gabriel (as a record of the inspiration behind the songs on US), is released on the Real World label.
[24] Five-date UK leg of a European tour, set to end on June [1] at London's Earls Court, opens at the Sheffield Arena, Sheffield, S. Yorks.
June [18] - Gabriel opens a North American tour at the Community War Memorial, Rochester, NY, with a sell-out performance before a 7,996 crowd. The tour will end on Aug [4] at the Miami Arena, Miami, FL.
Sept [4] - Nine-date WOMAD Festival opens in the US until the 19th.
Oct [2] - Kiss That Frog makes UK #46.
