Peter Gabriel -

Peter Gabriel is an English singer, composer, multi-instrumentalist, and activist with a career in music dating back to the late 1960s. He rose to prominence as the vocalist of Genesis, which he fronted for six albums between 1969 and 1974. As a solo artist, he issued four self-titled albums on Charisma between 1977 and 1982. He achieved superstar status with his 1986 Charisma/Geffen release So. Since then, he’s sporadically released albums on his Real World label.

Early Life

He was born Peter Brian Gabriel on February 13, 1950, in Chobham, Surrey, to a middle-class musical family. As a child at St Andrews Preparatory School for Boys, the teaching staff noticed his singing abilities. At age 10, he took up piano and drums. Before discovering soul music, his biggest influences were church hymns.

In September 1963, he entered Charterhouse, a boarding school for boys in Godalming, Surrey. During his first year there, he sang and drummed in The Milords, a skiffle combo. In his second year, he formed Garden Wall with fellow pupils Tony Banks and Chris Stewart. Gabriel and Banks wrote songs for the band, including “She Is Beautiful,” which later morphed into “The Serpent” on the first Genesis album.

Garden Wall played its only concert at a school event with Anon, another student band that featured Charterhouse pupils Mike Rutherford and Anthony Phillips. As members of both bands graduated, the remaining five — Gabriel, Banks, Stewart, Rutherford, Philips — assembled in a new band with Gabriel as the lead vocalist.

Genesis 1968 — 1975

In 1967, Gabriel’s band met with music producer and Charterhouse alumnus Jonathan King, who oversaw their initial recordings. King suggested two possible names for the young act: Gabriel’s Angels and Genesis. The band picked the latter. As Genesis, they released six albums with Gabriel at the mic: From Genesis to Revelation (1969), Trespass (1970), Nursery Cryme (1971), Foxtrot (1972), Selling England by the Pound (1973), and The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (1974).

During his time with Genesis, Gabriel was known for his theatrical makeup and stage costumes, which were often worn to enact the characters of select songs in the band’s live repertoire. He left the band in May 1975 after the completion of their elaborate tour for TLLDoB.

Solo Career

Gabriel’s first post-Genesis appearance was on the 1976 soundtrack of All This and World War II, a collection of Beatles covers (set to wartime stock footage) that includes his take on “Strawberry Fields Forever.” That same year, he recorded his eponymous debut solo album with producer Bob Ezrin.

Peter Gabriel

Peter Gabriel released his self-titled debut album on February 25, 1977, on Charisma (UK) and Atco (US).

The album marks Gabriel’s emergence as a solo artist following his departure from Genesis, with a diverse collection of styles framed in dramatic arrangements by producer Bob Ezrin. It combines art-rock, orchestral pop, and theatrical R&B with vestiges of progressive rock and an experimental sensibility that foreshadowed his later innovations.

Gabriel handles lead vocals, keyboards, flute, and recorder, joined by guitarist Robert Fripp (electric, classical, banjo), bassist Tony Levin (bass, tuba), keyboardist Jozef Chirowski, synthesist Larry Fast, drummer Allan Schwartzberg, percussionist Jimmy Maelen, and guitarists Steve Hunter and Dick Wagner — both longtime Ezrin collaborators. The London Symphony Orchestra, arranged by Michael Gibbs, appears on two tracks.

Gabriel wrote eight of the nine songs. Keyboardist Martin Hall co-wrote “Excuse Me.”

Most of the songs are lavish, cinematic takes on 20th-century idioms: ragtime/music-hall (“Excuse Me”), orchestral disco (“Down the Dolce Vita”), R&B torch song (“Waiting for the Big One”), and arena rock (“Modern Love”). The folksy “Solsbury Hill” recounts Gabriel’s break from Genesis in allegorical form and became a transatlantic hit. The closing epic “Here Comes the Flood,” arranged for orchestra and choir, evolved into a concert centerpiece throughout his career.

A1. “Moribund the Burgermeister” (4:20)
A2. “Solsbury Hill” (4:21)
A3. “Modern Love” (3:38)
A4. “Excuse Me” (Peter Gabriel, Martin Hall) (3:20)
A5. “Humdrum” (3:25)
B1. “Slowburn” (4:36)
B2. “Waiting for the Big One” (7:15)
B3. “Down the Dolce Vita” (5:05)
B4. “Here Comes the Flood” (5:38)

Sessions occurred in autumn 1976 at The Soundstage in Toronto and at Morgan and Olympic Studios in London with producer Bob Ezrin and engineers Mike Stone and Hugh Padgham.

The album features cover photography by Hipgnosis, whose image of Gabriel seated in a rain-soaked car lent the release its informal nickname Car.

Charisma promoted the album with “Solsbury Hill” (b/w “Moribund the Burgermeister”), issued on March 21, 1977, followed by “Modern Love” (b/w “Slowburn”) on June 20. “Solsbury Hill” reached the Top 20 in the UK and charted in multiple countries, establishing Gabriel’s solo identity apart from Genesis.

Peter Gabriel

Peter Gabriel released his second self-titled solo album, colloquially known as “scratch,” on June 3, 1978, on Charisma and Atlantic. Robert Fripp produced the album and plays “Frippertronic” passages.

The album hears Gabriel embrace a sharper, fractured sound influenced by Fripp’s recent work on David Bowie’s Heroes. Its tone alternates between agitation and introspection, combining taut rock with experimental electronics and sparse acoustic passages. The songs balance manic urgency (“On the Air,” “Animal Magic,” “Perspective”) with reflective, somber material (“Mother of Violence,” “Indigo,” “Home Sweet Home”) and flashes of surreal whimsy (“A Wonderful Day in a One-Way World”).

Gabriel fronts a band featuring Fripp, bassist Tony Levin, keyboardists Roy Bittan and Bayeté (Todd Cochran), synthesist Larry Fast, drummer Jerry Marotta, guitarist Sid McGinnis, saxophonist Tim Cappello, and recorder player George Marge.

Gabriel wrote all eleven songs, collaborating with his then-wife Jill Gabriel on “Mother of Violence” and with Fripp on “Exposure.”

A1. “On the Air” (5:30)
A2. “D.I.Y.” (2:37)
A3. “Mother of Violence” (3:10)
A4. “A Wonderful Day in a One-Way World” (3:33)
A5. “White Shadow” (5:14)

B1. “Indigo” (3:30)
B2. “Animal Magic” (3:26)
B3. “Exposure” (4:12)
B4. “Flotsam and Jetsam” (2:17)
B5. “Perspective” (3:23)
B6. “Home Sweet Home” (4:37)

Sessions occurred between November 1977 and February 1978 at Relight Studios in Hilvarenbeek, Netherlands, with Robert Fripp producing and engineering assistance from Gene Martynec and Steve Nye.

The cover, photographed by Hipgnosis, shows Gabriel scraping away the surface of a black-and-white portrait — a metaphor for self-erasure that inspired the album’s nickname, Scratch.

Charisma promoted the album with “D.I.Y.” (b/w “Mother of Violence”), issued on May 22, 1978. The album reached No. 10 on the UK Albums Chart and appeared on charts in France, New Zealand, and the United States.

Peter Gabriel

Peter Gabriel released his self-titled third album, colloquially known as “melt,” on May 30, 1980, on Charisma (UK) and Mercury (US).

Gabriel refined the darker sensibilities he first explored on his prior release, developing a tense, percussive sound that emphasized texture and rhythm over conventional song form. The album marked his breakthrough as a solo artist and solidified his reputation as a leading figure in art-pop’s post-punk era.

He invited multiple musical guests, including saxophonist Dick Morrissey (Morrissey–Mullen) and guitarists Paul Weller (The Jam) and Dave Gregory (XTC). He also reconnected with Genesis drummer Phil Collins, who summoned two Brand X colleagues: bassist John Giblin and percussionist Morris Pert. They join Robert Fripp and ongoing Gabriel sidemen Larry Fast, Tony Levin (Chapman Stick), and Jerry Marotta. Kate Bush contributes backing vocals on two tracks.

Gabriel wrote all nine songs. The material addresses social alienation, psychological instability, and political oppression. “Biko” closes the album with a tribute to slain South African activist Steve Biko, signaling Gabriel’s engagement with humanitarian and world-music themes that would shape his subsequent work.

The album opens with “Intruder,” an unsettling narrative of voyeuristic intrusion framed by Collins’s gated drum sound, which became a defining production hallmark of the 1980s. “No Self Control” extends the rhythmic intensity with an anxious lyric about compulsion, while “I Don’t Remember” and “Not One of Us” convey states of paranoia and exclusion through layered percussion and angular guitar. “Family Snapshot” recounts an assassination from the killer’s viewpoint, shifting from calm introspection to a harrowing climax. “Games Without Frontiers” lampoons political rivalry as childish competition, with Bush’s whispered refrain adding a surreal dimension. The atmospheric “Lead a Normal Life” and elegiac “Biko” close the set in subdued reflection.

A1. “Intruder” (4:54)
A2. “No Self Control” (3:55)
A3. “Start” (1:21)
A4. “I Don’t Remember” (4:42)
A5. “Family Snapshot” (4:28)
A6. “And Through the Wire” (5:00)

B1. “Games Without Frontiers” (4:06)
B2. “Not One of Us” (5:22)
B3. “Lead a Normal Life” (4:14)
B4. “Biko” (7:32)

Sessions occurred at the Manor Mobile (Bath) and The Townhouse (London) with producer Steve Lillywhite and engineer Hugh Padgham.

The cover features a distorted Polaroid image of Gabriel by photographer Hipgnosis co-founder Storm Thorgerson, whose manipulation of the singer’s melting face gave the album its informal title.

Charisma promoted the album with “Games Without Frontiers” (b/w “Start”), which reached No. 4 on the UK Singles Chart and No. 48 on the US Billboard Hot 100. “No Self Control” followed in May 1980 (b/w “Lead a Normal Life”) and reached No. 33 in the UK. “Biko,” issued that August, became an anthem of anti-apartheid activism and later covered by Simple Minds and Joan Baez.

Peter Gabriel

Peter Gabriel released his fourth solo album on September 10, 1982, on Charisma and Geffen. In North America, Geffen re-titled the album Security to avoid confusion with his prior three albums.

Gabriel expanded his synthesis of art rock, worldbeat, and ambient music with layered textures, processed percussion, and African and Latin rhythmic elements. He recorded the album primarily at his home facility, Ashcombe House in Bath, with key contributions from Random Hold guitarist David Rhodes, Synergy mastermind Larry Fast, drummer Jerry Marotta, and now-King Crimson bassist Tony Levin, who applied his signature Chapman Stick. Further instrumentation came from percussionist Morris Pert, ex-Vibrators guitarist John Ellis, and fellow traveler Peter Hammill, the onetime Van der Graaf Generator frontman.

Gabriel wrote all eight songs. His lyrics probe psychological, ritualistic, and spiritual themes through sonic experimentation and global rhythm structures.

The opening track, “The Rhythm of the Heat,” evokes Jung’s encounter with African drumming and culminates in a full ensemble of Ghanaian percussionists (Ekome Dance Company). “San Jacinto” contrasts indigenous heritage with modern alienation through gradual harmonic expansion. “I Have the Touch” channels tactile urgency through clipped rhythms and sharp electronic contours. “The Family and the Fishing Net” aligns marital ritual with sacrificial ceremony through ominous textures and treated saxophone by Roberto Laneri. “Shock the Monkey,” a study of emotional control and jealousy, pairs cyclical electronic pulses with one of Gabriel’s most direct pop hooks. “Lay Your Hands on Me” alternates quiet supplication and percussive intensity, while “Wallflower” adopts a restrained piano setting for a plea to political prisoners. “Kiss of Life” closes the album with syncopated percussion and Latin keyboard phrasing.

A1. “The Rhythm of the Heat” (5:15)
A2. “San Jacinto” (6:21)
A3. “I Have the Touch” (4:30)
A4. “The Family and the Fishing Net” (7:08)

B1. “Shock the Monkey” (5:28)
B2. “Lay Your Hands on Me” (6:03)
B3. “Wallflower” (6:30)
B4. “Kiss of Life” (4:17)

Sessions took place from spring 1981 to summer 1982 at Ashcombe House, Bath, with Gabriel and David Lord producing and engineering. Andy Rose and Tim Wybrow assisted as mobile engineers; Neil Perry served as assistant engineer. Greg Fulginiti mastered the album.

Security features cover artwork by sculptor Malcolm Poynter, whose image merges mirrored and distorted self-portraiture.

Geffen promoted Security with “Shock the Monkey” (b/w “Soft Dog”), which reached No. 29 on the Billboard Hot 100, No. 1 on the Mainstream Rock chart, and charted internationally in Canada (No. 10) and Italy (No. 2). Its surrealist video, directed by Brian Grant, became one of MTV’s early landmarks. “I Have the Touch” (b/w “Across the River”) followed as a second single in December 1982.

Security reached No. 6 on the UK Albums Chart, No. 2 in Canada, and No. 28 on the US Billboard 200. The album advanced Gabriel’s hybrid of technology and world music, prefiguring the global soundscapes of his later work on So and Passion.

Birdy [OST]

Peter Gabriel released Birdy on March 18, 1985, as his first film soundtrack and sixth overall album. The work accompanied Alan Parker’s adaptation of Birdy, a 1978 novel by William Wharton, starring Matthew Modine and Nicolas Cage.

Gabriel’s score consists of ambient instrumentals and sonic collages that combine new compositions with reconstructed themes from his 1980 and 1982 albums. It marked his first collaboration with producer Daniel Lanois, whose treatments of space, rhythm, and texture shaped the album’s reflective and atmospheric tone. The music supports the film’s narrative about psychological trauma and transcendence, using layered percussion, processed samples, and wordless voice to evoke inner emotion and flight.

Keyboardist Larry Fast, bassist Tony Levin, guitarist David Rhodes, trumpeter Jon Hassell, and drummers Jerry Marotta, Manny Elias, and Morris Pert backed Gabriel, who played multiple keyboard parts and produced the album with Lanois.

All twelve pieces were composed by Gabriel. Five draw from prior material, including “Family Snapshot,” “Not One of Us,” “The Rhythm of the Heat,” “Wallflower,” and “San Jacinto.” The remaining tracks were newly conceived to match key scenes in Parker’s film.

Gabriel divided the score between shorter scene cues and extended set pieces. “Floating Dogs” and “Dressing the Wound” develop rhythmic soundscapes of tension and release. “Sketch Pad with Trumpet and Voice,” featuring Hassell’s muted trumpet and Gabriel’s ethereal vocal textures, anticipates the approach of Passion. “Birdy’s Flight,” adapted from “Not One of Us,” intensifies with industrial percussion and overdriven rhythm loops, while “The Heat” reimagines “The Rhythm of the Heat” as a ceremonial ritual in sound.

A1. “At Night” (2:38)
A2. “Floating Dogs” (2:55)
A3. “Quiet and Alone” (2:30)
A4. “Close Up” (0:55) — reworks elements of “Family Snapshot” from Peter Gabriel (III).
A5. “Slow Water” (2:51)
A6. “Dressing the Wound” (4:06) — features Gabriel’s wordless vocals and layered percussion.

B1. “Birdy’s Flight” (2:58) — derived from “Not One of Us,” transformed into a dynamic industrial sequence.
B2. “Slow Marimbas” (3:21)
B3. “The Heat” (4:41) — adapts “The Rhythm of the Heat” into a tense percussive ritual.
B4. “Sketch Pad with Trumpet and Voice” (3:05) — merges ambient drones with Hassell’s treated trumpet.
B5. “Under Lock and Key” (2:28) — reshapes motifs from “Wallflower.”
B6. “Powerhouse at the Foot of the Mountain” (2:19) — builds from “San Jacinto” with deep percussive resonance.

Sessions occurred between October and December 1984 at Gabriel’s Ashcombe House studio in Swainswick, Somerset, with production by Gabriel and Daniel Lanois and engineering assistance from David Stallbaumer.

Birdy reached No. 51 on the UK Albums Chart and No. 162 on the US Billboard 200. In 2017, it was reissued on vinyl alongside Gabriel’s remastered catalogue.

The corresponding film by director Alan Parker (Bugsy Malone, Midnight Express, Fame, The Wall) premiered in theaters on December 21, 1984. Set in 1960s Philadelphia, Birdy follows the friendship between Birdy (Matthew Modine), a quiet dreamer obsessed with flight, and Al Columbato (Nicolas Cage), his tough but loyal friend. Told partly through flashbacks from a military hospital, the story explores their lives before and after the Vietnam War, culminating in Birdy’s psychological withdrawal into a fantasy of avian existence.

Parker shot the film in Philadelphia and Santa Clara between May and August 1984, employing Garrett Brown’s new Skycam system for aerial sequences that simulate Birdy’s imagined flights. The film earned the Grand Prix Spécial du Jury at the 1985 Cannes Film Festival and was listed among the National Board of Review’s Top Ten Films of 1984.

So

Peter Gabriel released his fifth studio album, So, on May 19, 1986, on Virgin and Geffen.

Gabriel moved from the austere textures of Security to a warmer, song-oriented fusion of art pop, soul, and worldbeat. The album features drummer Manu Katché, bassist Tony Levin, guitarist David Rhodes, and co-producer Daniel Lanois on additional guitars and keyboards. Senegalese singer Youssou N’Dour and vocalist Kate Bush make guest appearances, while violinist L. Shankar, Police drummer Stewart Copeland, and percussionist Jerry Marotta contribute select parts.

Gabriel wrote and composed most of the album’s material. He co-wrote “That Voice Again” with Rhodes and “This Is the Picture (Excellent Birds)” with Laurie Anderson. “Don’t Give Up” features Bush as duet partner, and “In Your Eyes” includes a Wolof-language vocal by N’Dour.

The songs alternate between personal and social reflection. “Red Rain” opens with dramatic rhythmic layers over imagery of devastation, while “Sledgehammer” uses horn-driven soul rhythms and sexual wordplay. “Don’t Give Up” contrasts despair and resilience through a dialogue between Gabriel and Bush. “Mercy Street” references the American poet Anne Sexton, built on subdued Brazilian percussion and dual vocals. “Big Time” satirizes 1980s excess through taut funk rhythms. The album closes with “We Do What We’re Told (Milgram’s 37),” inspired by psychological obedience experiments, and “This Is the Picture (Excellent Birds),” a collaboration that merges Anderson’s abstract phrasing with Nile Rodgers’ guitar pulse.

A1. “Red Rain” (5:39)
A2. “Sledgehammer” (5:12)
A3. “Don’t Give Up” (5:54) — duet with Kate Bush
A4. “That Voice Again” (4:53)
B1. “In Your Eyes” (5:29) — features Youssou N’Dour (Wolof vocal)
B2. “Mercy Street” (6:21) — inspired by Anne Sexton’s “45 Mercy Street”
B3. “Big Time” (4:26)
B4. “We Do What We’re Told (Milgram’s 37)” (3:21)
B5. “This Is the Picture (Excellent Birds)” (4:25) — co-written with Laurie Anderson

Sessions occurred between February 1985 and February 1986 at Gabriel’s home studio, Ashcombe House, near Bath, and later at Power Station Studios in New York. Gabriel co-produced the album with Lanois, with engineering by Kevin Killen. Ian Cooper mastered the final mix at Townhouse Studios, London.

So features cover photography by Trevor Key and design by Peter Saville and Brett Wickens, depicting a close-up monochrome portrait of Gabriel.

Virgin and Geffen promoted So with five singles. “Sledgehammer” appeared first (b/w “Don’t Break This Rhythm”) and reached No. 1 on the US Billboard Hot 100, aided by its stop-motion video by Aardman Animations. “In Your Eyes” followed in August 1986, reaching No. 26 in the US. “Don’t Give Up” (b/w “In Your Eyes”) rose to No. 9 in the UK. “Big Time” charted at No. 8 in the US and No. 13 in the UK, and “Red Rain” peaked at No. 46 in the UK.

So reached No. 1 in the UK and No. 2 in the US, remaining on the Billboard chart for ninety-three weeks. Gabriel supported the album on the This Way Up tour of 1986–87, performing material from So at Amnesty International and Artists Against Apartheid benefit concerts.

Discography: