Peter Gabriel

Born Feb 13, 1950 in London, England Styles Prog-Rock/Art Rock, Pop/Rock, Album Rock, College Rock Biography As the leader of Genesis in the early ’70s, Peter Gabriel helped move progressive rock to new levels of theatricality. In his solo career, Gabriel was no less ambitious, but he was more subtle in his methods. With his first eponymous solo album in 1977, he began exploring darker, more cerebral territory, incorporating avant-garde, electronic, and worldbeat influences into his music. The record, as well as its two similarly titled successors, established Gabriel as a critically acclaimed cult artist, and with 1982’s Security, he began to move into the mainstream; «Shock the Monkey» became his first Top 40 hit, paving the way for his multi-platinum breakthrough So in 1986. Accompanied by a series of groundbreaking videos and the number one single «Sledgehammer», So became a multi-platinum hit, and Gabriel became an international star. Instead of capitalizing on his sudden success, he began to explore other interests, including recording soundtracks and running his company Real World. By the time he returned to pop with 1992’s Us, his mass audience had faded away, and he spent the remainder of the ’90s working on multimedia projects for Real World. Following his departure from Genesis in 1976, Peter Gabriel began work on the first of three consecutive eponymously titled albums; each record was named Peter Gabriel, he said, as if they were editions of the same magazine. In 1977, his first solo album appeared and became a moderate success due to the single «Solsbury Hill». Another self-titled record followed in 1978, yet received comparatively weaker reviews. Gabriel’s third eponymous album was his artistic breakthrough. Produced by Steve Lillywhite and released in 1980, the album established Gabriel as one of rock’s most ambitious, innovative musicians, as well as one of its most political — «Biko», a song about a murdered anti-apartheid activist, became one of the biggest protest anthems of the ’80s. «Games Without Frontiers», with its eerie chorus, nearly reached the Top 40. In 1982, Gabriel released Security, which was an even bigger success, earning positive reviews and going gold on the strength of the startling video for «Shock the Monkey». Just as his solo career was taking off, Gabriel participated in a one-shot Genesis reunion in order to finance his WOMAD — World of Music, Arts and Dance — Festival. WOMAD was designed to bring various world musics and customs to a Western audience, and it soon turned into an annual event, and a live double album was released that year to commemorate the event. As Gabriel worked on his fifth album, he contributed the soundtrack to Alan Parker’s 1984 film, Birdy. His score was highly praised and it won the Grand Jury Prize at Cannes that year. After founding Real World, Inc. — a corporation devoted to developing bridges between technology and multi-ethnic arts — in 1985, he completed his fifth album, So. Released in 1986, So became Gabriel’s commercial breakthrough, largely because his Stax homage «Sledgehammer» was blessed with an innovative video that combined stop-action animation with live action. So climbed to number two as «Sledgehammer» hit number one, with «Big Time» — featuring a video very similar to «Sledgehammer» — reaching the Top Ten and «In Your Eyes» hitting the Top 30. As So was riding high on the American and British charts, Gabriel co-headlined the first benefit tour for Amnesty International in 1986 with Sting and U2. Another Amnesty International Tour followed in 1988, and the following year, Gabriel released Passion: Music for «The Last Temptation of Christ», a collection of instrumentals used in Martin Scorsese’s film. Passion was the furthest Gabriel delved into worldbeat, and the album was widely acclaimed, winning the Grammy Award in 1989 for Best New Age Performance. In 1990, he released the hits compilation Shaking the Tree.

Gabriel labored long on the pop-music follow-up to So, finally releasing Us in the spring of 1992. During the recording of Us, Gabriel went through a number of personal upheavals, including a painful divorce, and those tensions manifested themselves on Us, a much darker record than So. For various reasons, not the least of which was the fact that it was released six years after its predecessor, Us wasn’t as commercially successful as So, despite positive reviews. Only one single, the «Sledgehammer» knock-off «Steam», reached the Top 40, and the album stalled at platinum sales. In 1993, Gabriel embarked on the most ambitious WOMAD tour to date, touring the United States with a roster including Crowded House, James, and Sinead O’Connor, with whom he had an on-off romantic relationship. The following year, he released the double-disc Secret World Live, which went gold. Later in 1994, he released the CD-ROM Xplora, one of many projects he developed with Real World. For the next three years, Gabriel concentrated on developing more multimedia projects for the company. Discography (albums) 1977 Peter Gabriel [1] 1978 Peter Gabriel [2] 1980 Ein Deutsches Album 1980 Peter Gabriel [3] 1982 Deutsches Album 1982 Security 1983 Plays Live 1985 Birdy 1986 So [Import] 1986 So 1988 German Version 1989 Passion 1989 Slowburn [live] 1992 Us 1994 Secret World Live 2000 OVO: Millennium Show [Limited Edition] 2000 OVO: Millennium Show 2002 Long Walk Home: Music from the Rabbit-Proof… 2002 Plays Live [Highlights] 2002 Up 2002 Up [Japan Bonus CD] 2003 So [Limited Edition] 2003 07 06 03 — Montreal, QC Bell Centre [live] 2003 07 05 03 — London, ON John Labatt Centre [live] 2003 07 02 03 — Noblesville, IN Verizon Wireless… [live] 2003 07 01 03 — Columbus, OH Germain Ampitheatre [live] 2003 06 29 03 — Clarkston, MI DTE Energy Music… [live] 2003 06 26 03 — Milwaukee, WI Marcus Amphitheatre [live] 2003 06 24 03 — Wantagh, NY Tommy Hilfiger at… [live] 2003 06 22 03 — Bristow, VA Nissan Pavilion [live] 2003 06 21 03 — Camden, NJ Tweeter Centre at the… [live] 2003 06 20 03 — Holmdel, NJ. P. N.C. Bank Arts… [live] 2003 06 18 03 — Mansfield, MA Tweeter Centre [live] 2003 06 08 03 — Irvine, CA Verizon Wireless… [live] 2003 06 11 03 — Dallas, TX Smirnoff Centre [live] 2003 06 12 03 — Houston, TX Woodlands Pavilion [live] 2003 06 16 03 — Atlanta, GA Chastain Park… [live] 2003 06 14 03 — West Palm Beach, FL Sound Advice… [live] 2003 06 07 03 — Mountain View, CA Shoreline… [live] 2003 Hit   Официальный сайт: petergabriel.com