Peter Gabriel Biography Quotes 7 Report mistakes

Early Life
Peter Brian Gabriel was born on 13 February 1950 in Chobham, Surrey, England. He grew up in the United Kingdom and was educated at Charterhouse, a public school where he discovered both his voice and a fascination with rhythm, technology, and theatrical performance. While he studied piano and drums as a child, singing and songwriting quickly became his center of gravity. At Charterhouse he met classmates who would become his earliest collaborators and with whom he began to imagine a band that could combine literary ambitions with the urgency of rock.

Genesis
With Tony Banks, Mike Rutherford, and Anthony Phillips, Gabriel co-founded Genesis in the late 1960s, soon joined by drummer Chris Stewart and later by Steve Hackett and Phil Collins. As lead vocalist and flautist, he developed a striking stage presence built around surreal storytelling and elaborate costumes, making Genesis a cult phenomenon on the progressive rock circuit. Albums such as Trespass, Nursery Cryme, Foxtrot, Selling England by the Pound, and the conceptual epic The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway showcased his flair for narrative and character. After years of intense recording and touring, he left the band in the mid-1970s to pursue new creative directions and family life, an amicable but decisive break that set up one of rock music's signature solo careers.

Early Solo Work
Gabriel's first series of solo albums explored a darker, more percussive sound fused with international influences and emerging studio technologies. Working with collaborators including Bob Ezrin, Robert Fripp, Steve Lillywhite, Hugh Padgham, and fellow Genesis alumnus Phil Collins on drums, he helped popularize innovative production techniques, notably the dramatic, gated-drum aesthetic heard on tracks like Intruder. Songs such as Solsbury Hill introduced his autobiographical voice, while Games Without Frontiers and Biko expanded his palette to political commentary and world rhythms. His embrace of the Fairlight CMI sampler and non-Western percussion foreshadowed the global orientation that would define much of his later work.

So and Mainstream Recognition
Gabriel's 1986 album So, created with producer Daniel Lanois and an ensemble including Tony Levin, David Rhodes, and Manu Katche, delivered a breakthrough that combined pop clarity with artistic depth. Sledgehammer became a signature hit, its stop-motion video crafted with artists including Aardman and the Brothers Quay, setting new standards for music video as an art form. The album's range encompassed the duet Dont Give Up with Kate Bush and the luminous In Your Eyes, which featured the voice of Youssou N'Dour and later resonated widely in popular culture. The ensuing tours elevated his reputation for stagecraft, blending human-scale storytelling with cutting-edge design and multimedia.

Expanding Projects and Film Music
Parallel to studio albums, Gabriel developed a distinctive voice in film scoring, beginning with Birdy and culminating in Passion for The Last Temptation of Christ, a landmark recording that introduced many listeners to global musical traditions. He later created Long Walk Home for Rabbit-Proof Fence and composed Ovo for a major live spectacle. The 1990s and 2000s brought the albums Us and Up, as well as ambitious tours that collaborated with theater director Robert Lepage and other visual innovators. In the following decade he revisited his catalog with orchestral projects such as Scratch My Back and New Blood, reimagining songs without guitars or drums. Most recently, the i/o project released songs alongside visual commissions by contemporary artists, with alternate mixes by Tchad Blake and Mark Spike Stent, and featured long-standing collaborators including Levin, Rhodes, and Katche.

WOMAD, Real World, and Advocacy
Gabriel's fascination with music across borders led him to co-found WOMAD (World of Music, Arts and Dance), working with a team that included Thomas Brooman to create a festival model that placed musicians from many traditions on equal footing. Despite early financial challenges that were alleviated in part by a one-off Genesis reunion, WOMAD became a durable platform for cultural exchange. He established Real World Studios in Wiltshire and created Real World Records, championing artists such as Youssou N'Dour, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Sheila Chandra, and Afro Celt Sound System. His human rights advocacy has been consistent and public: he supported Amnesty International's major concert campaigns, joined the Human Rights Now! tour alongside Bruce Springsteen, Sting, Tracy Chapman, and Youssou N'Dour, and co-founded WITNESS to help activists use video to document abuses. He also helped catalyze the launch of The Elders, an independent group of global leaders convened by Nelson Mandela, working with Richard Branson to bring the idea to fruition.

Technology and Entrepreneurship
Gabriel has often been an early adopter of new media. He explored interactive formats with CD-ROM and multimedia releases, and he co-founded the digital music platform OD2, anticipating the shift toward online distribution. These ventures reflected his belief that technology could both expand artistic possibilities and broaden access to music. In performance he has consistently integrated innovative lighting, staging, and video, making tours like Secret World and Growing Up touchstones for large-scale, narrative-driven live production.

Personal Life
Gabriel married Jill Moore in the early 1970s, and they had two daughters, Anna and Melanie, both of whom pursued creative careers and have worked with him on visual and musical projects. He later had a relationship with actor Rosanna Arquette. In the 2000s he formed a partnership with Meabh Flynn, with whom he has two sons, and they later married. Family, privacy, and the balance between work and home have been recurring themes in interviews and in songs that grapple with personal change and reconciliation.

Artistry and Legacy
Peter Gabriel's voice, often described as both intimate and heroic, sits at the center of a body of work that connects rock, soul, and global traditions with a producer's ear for detail. He has been recognized with major honors in both music and humanitarian arenas and has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Genesis and as a solo artist. Just as crucial is his curatorial role: by building platforms like WOMAD and Real World, he has amplified voices from around the world, reframing how popular music engages with other cultures. Decades after his debut, he continues to create, tour, and collaborate, sustaining a reputation as a restless, humane, and technologically curious artist who helped define the possibilities of modern music.

Our collection contains 7 quotes who is written by Peter, under the main topics: Music.

Other people realated to Peter: Richard Branson (Businessman), Laurie Anderson (Musician), Paula Cole (Musician), David Geffen (Businessman), Phillip Noyce (Director), Kate Bush (Musician), Vanessa Carlton (Musician), Bill Bruford (Musician), Steve Hackett (Writer), Jonathan King (Musician)

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