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Donald's Encyclopedia of Popular MusicA B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y ZGABRIEL, Peter(b 13 May 1950, UK) Pop singer, songwriter, label boss, champion of world music. He co-founded and starred in the art-rock group Genesis through their first seven LPs, then went solo, and released four albums all called Peter Gabriel, all on Charisma, all top ten in the UK. The third was rejected by Atlantic in the USA; issued on Mercury it was a no. 1 UK, no. 22 in USA, his biggest hit to date, including 'Biko', inspiring Steve Van Zandt's Sun City anti-apartheid project. The next was subtitled Security on Geffen in USA and included 'Shock The Monkey', his first top 40 single USA, Gabriel being a natural for MTV music video channel. A two-disc live set '83 did well on Geffen, followed by instrumental Birdy '85, including music from the film, and So '86, including the duet 'Don't Give Up' with Kate Bush. Like Bush, he is disliked by some critics because his work is imaginative without leaving his audience behind; quirky pulses informed by African music, an intelligent eclecticism and a good voice all help. He was a prime mover in WOMAD, the annual international World of Music, Arts and Dance festival, with artistic director Thomas Brooman: the first festival '82 had a budget of only £3,000 and lost money, a Genesis reunion paying off the debts, but later mounted a dozen events a year and had been to more than 40 countries, an educational charity which has made an impact on music teaching in British schools as well as inducing broader perspectives on world musics. The '96 festival featured Zimbabwe's Thomas Mapfumo, Jamaica's Mighty Diamonds, Edinburgh's dance band Shooglenifty, Hen Wlad Fy Mamau from Wales (Celtic traditions, Asian rappers and Afro-dub DJs), and Afro Celtic Sound System, a blend of Baaba Maal's band from Senegal, Irish Uillean pipes and a Breton harpist, producer Simon Emmerson believing that folk traditions ultimately speak the same language. Gabriel built his user-friendly Real World Studios at Box, Wiltshire, and formed the Real World label; the first releases '89 included Passion, a two-disc set of music from Scorsese's film The Last Temptation Of Christ, full of Middle Eastern and West African influences; a compilation album Passion Sources, a Tabu Ley album and Shahen-Shan, devotional Sufi music by Pakistani Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. Youssou N'Dour's The Lion on Virgin was also recorded in Box. Shaking The Tree '90 was a Gabriel best-of on Geffen; Us '92 matched So by reaching no. 2 in the USA; two-disc Secret World Live '94 had an international cast, recorded in Italy. Eve '97 was a CD-ROM album-game on Real World at £40 (over $60 USA) using new versions of four songs ('Come Talk To Me', 'Shaking The Tree' etc), 60 hours of play promised for those who want to see Gabriel reclining in a urinal up to his neck in chocolate, or Sinead O'Connor's head flying past with wings on her ears. Without Frontiers by Daryl Easlea is over 400 pages of 'painstaking biography', so described by Andrew Stuttaford, who nevertheless gave it a lukewarm review in the Wall Street Journal in early 2015. Mr. Stuttaford works in the international financial markets. |