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Peter Gabriel music biography continued...

in Surrey, England, Gabriel was playing musical instruments from an early age. He founded Genesis in 1967 with fellow Charterhouse School students Tony Banks, Anthony Phillips, Mike Rutherford, and drummer Chris Stewart. During the 1970s, led by Gabriel, they evolved into a progressive rock band, incorporating complex song structures and elaborate instrumentation, while their concerts became theatrical experiences with innovative stage design, pyrotechnics, elaborate costumes and onstage stories. When tensions ran high about Gabriel's monopolization of the spotlight, he left the band in 1975. Gabriel's first three solo albums were all titled Peter Gabriel, but are known to fans as "Car" (1977), "Scratch" (1978) and "Melt" (1980). His 1982 release, Security, featured his first top 40 hit, "Shock the Monkey," and showcased his talent at blending global music with modern recording technology. During the '90s Gabriel released soundtrack albums as well as pop records, and had a hit with the song "In Your Eyes," from the John Cusack movie Say Anything. He also became a darling of MTV with his adventurous and innovative videos of "Big Time," "Sledgehammer" and "Kiss That Frog. "The video for "Sledgehammer" was voted best video of all time by Rolling Stone magazine in 1993, and two of Gabriel's other videos, based on his 1992 album Us, won Grammy Awards in 1992 and 1993, making Gabriel a superstar in the United States, as well as Europe.



Though he continues to record and perform, more recently Gabriel has been more involved in efforts to promote world music, humanitarian causes and pioneering music technology. He was one of the founders of On Demand Distribution (OD2), one of the first online music download services. Its technology is used by MSN Music UK and others, and has become the dominant music downloading tool for stores in Europe. OD2 was bought by US company Loudeye in June 2004 and subsequently by Finnish mobile giant Nokia in October 2006 for $60 million. Not bad for a young man from London who only wanted to entertain.