Peter Gabriel is an extraordinary person, an artist whom people with good musical taste love. Throughout his career, he went from being a member of an unknown group to a famous drama artist. Let's get to know him better.
Peter Gabriel has received worldwide recognition as a talented musician, singer, author of many famous songs and videos. He began his career in the creative project Genesis, which at that time was very popular. The singer left the group in 1975, which upset numerous fans of Genesis, but he achieved much greater success in his solo career.
Start
The biography of Peter Gabriel began on February 13, 1950 in the capital of Great Britain, London. All his conscious life he was engaged in music, writing texts. When Peter wrote his song at age 12, he did not even imagine that such a success would overtake him. According to the recollections of the singer, his first song was dedicated to snails. At a time when his peers were already thinking about girls, Peter, by his own admission, wrote songs about his then interests.
Genesis
When Peter attended the English school Charterhouse in the small town of Surrey, he met Tony Banks, Mike Rutherford and Anthony Philips. Together with them, Peter created the quickly known group Genesis. Soon they released their first single, entitled The Silent Sun, which sounded on the radio in 1968. Soon, unfortunately, Anthony left the group due to a serious illness. But the guys wanted to move on, and therefore began to look for a replacement. In addition, the drummer's place remained vacant in the group. The search was successful, and in 1970, Steve Hackett and Phil Collins joined the musical collective. Peter Gabriel performed with Genesis from 1967 to 1975. The main task that he actively performed was writing songs. Their subjects were completely different - from love and mythical to humorous. Sometimes the songs of Peter Gabriel had absolutely no meaning.
Free swimming
After leaving Genesis, Peter decided to rest. For some time he was in a village house with his family, but unexpectedly at the end of 1975 there was information that the world would soon see Peter Gabriel's first solo album. The singer worked a lot on his album, the process lasted about a year. The main task of the singer was to release an album that would not remind listeners that he was a member of the Genesis group. At that time, the press published many interviews with Peter, in which he compared his solo album with the work of Genesis. The singer claimed that now his songs will mainly be dominated by songs on personal topics, since before he had no opportunity to write about his feelings. The record, on the cover of which was simply written by Peter Gabriel, was released in early 1977.
In March, Solsbury Hill began to play on the radio for the first time. The track immediately began to enjoy incredible popularity and took 13th place in the British hit parade. Speculation and speculation began to appear in the press that the song symbolizes farewell to a group to which Peter gave several years. But the singer claimed that he was misunderstood, that this song is about knowing how to part with the past, to understand that everything is for the best, and the ballast dropped will allow you to go forward. The entire album was a product of the creative search for the star - a single style was not visible, each composition was unlike the previous one.
1978
The producer of the next solo album by Peter Gabriel was Robert Fripp, and for this reason, the creative search for the musician continued. Fripp gave an accurate description of the singer as a person who knows exactly what he wants, but making decisions is very difficult for him. The music of Peter Gabriel is beautiful, but it is not chaotic and is not written on a hunch, but rather, on the contrary, is carefully built. This is not because Peter is a perfectionist, but rather because he tends to scrupulously get to the bottom of things. In the summer of 1978, Gabriel's second album was released. It is noteworthy that neither the first nor the second album had an official name - fans called the albums themselves, focusing on their cover. Therefore, the former has the unofficial name Car, while the latter has Scratch (“Scratch”).
Such a move was the initiative of an artist who specifically did not want to give names to his albums. They could be distinguished and recognized only by the picture on the cover. The second album did not have a definite hit, but Peter continued to move along the path of creative search.
Innovations
Although Peter was a fairly recognizable figure in the world of show business, his records were not in great demand. But the third album of Peter Brian Gabriel, contrary to expectations, was an incredible success in England and the United States. Gabriel's team did everything to please the fans: unprecedented innovations were acquired at that time - a sampler and a programmable drum machine that allows you to give the music a modern sound. According to Peter, the novelty and unfamiliarity of sounding was what the public needed. The goal was to sweep away everything that filled my mouth.
1980
A year later, the recording of the third album was completed. The third album also did not have an official name, and therefore the fans christened it Melt (“Melted”). The success was not long in coming - a week after the release, the album was at the top of the British charts. This time, the musician and his team managed to create something that resonated in the hearts of the audience. One of the most popular tracks was Games Without Frontiers, which even managed to beat the success of the famous Solsbury Hill. The third album turned out to be a little aggressive and full of sounds unusual at that time. Peter in these songs touched on topics that worried him: loneliness, struggle with difficulties, life's hardships. Initially, it was not planned to create such an album, but Peter was used to expressing emotional feelings in music.
WOMAD
In 1980, the singer became the founder of the festival direction WOMAD (World of Music, Arts and Dance, ie, "The World of Music, Art and Dance"). WOMAD was a series of international festivals where traditional music and modern styles of art and choreography of dancers and musicians from all over the world coexisted. In 1993, WOMAD became the platform for founding Real World Studios.
In 1986, one of Peter Gabriel’s solo albums was awarded the highest Grammy Music Award. In addition to stunning musical compositions, the album was distinguished by the excellent quality of video clips in which Gabriel's talent was revealed in all aspects. A video from this album, entitled Sledgehammer, has collected all the possible music awards that existed at that time. The most eminent and significant award for Peter was the first place in the British Rolling Stones TOP-100 chat. Most often, this clip was broadcast on the MTV channel.
A few years later, Gabriel created his personal music label Real World Records, which gave a start to the life and stage of many talented people from around the world.
Peter Gabriel now
Gabriel currently pays special attention to his music label Real World and organizes international festivals WOMAD. In the early 2000s, he released compact discs combining the ability to record audio and video. In 2000, a play appears in which Peter simultaneously takes part and directs the production. It is called OVO: Millennium Show. Its output is timed to coincide with the onset of the new millennium, it involved the latest technical capabilities of that time. Peter also embodied his idea of the unity of all peoples in a theatrical production: stars of various nationalities and cultures, such as Elizabeth Fraser, Nena Cherry, Iarla O'Lionard, Richie Havensi and others, took part in the play.