Peter Gabriel is an English singer-songwriter, musician and humanitarian activist who rose to fame
as the lead vocalist
and flautist of the progressive rock band Genesis. After leaving Genesis, Gabriel went on to a
successful solo career.
-Wikipedia
Birth Name: Peter Brian Gabriel
Born: February 13th, 1950 (age 74)
From: Chobham, Surrey, England
Height: 5' 11" (180 cm)
Spouse(s): Meabh Flynn (m. 2002)
Jill Moore (m. 1971-1987)
Children: Daughter Anna-Marie born on July 26th, 1974
Daughter Melanie born on August 23rd, 1976
Genre(s):
Progressive rock,
art rock,
experimental rock,
pop rock,
worldbeat
Instrument(s):
Vocals,
keyboards,
piano,
flute,
percussion,
oboe,
drums,
harmonica,
guitar
Occupation(s):
Musician,
singer-songwriter,
record producer,
humanitarian
Active From: 1967-present
Associated Acts:
Genesis,
Kate Bush
Did You Know:
He is a member of Amnesty International
He suffers from bipolar disorder
Quotes:
Concerning iTunes, the deals have mainly been done with the record companies. But the artists, with some exceptions, haven't been very well-represented. This is partly because the record companies have largely been copyright owners.
I love 5.1. Sometimes you can't squeeze everything in comfortably into a stereo picture. There is a lot more space in a 5.1 environment.
I think another thing is that we don't really want exclusivity. We accept that it is in the artist's interest to be on sale in every place where they sell music.
I think it is the weak and the young and the minorities that you need to look after to get a healthy creative environment - to get a lot of choices, a lot of different styles of music, a lot experimental stuff that everyone else feeds off.
I think one of the things about writing in the studio is that the song hasn't matured, if you like, so quite often the vocals are early attempts. Whereas once you've taken it out on the road a bit, you learn more about a song.
I think that you get the mood of a song stronger if you get it right that way. On the other hand, you put some songs out live and they don't catch flight. They just flop. It is hard to tell until they are out there.
I'm a bit cynical that it ever will be addressed properly. I think it is healthy to get some sort of copyright protection. But some of it has gone on forever.
One thing that really appeals to me is this idea of music being a living thing that has an evolution that, in a way, enables the artist to sell a process rather than a piece of product.
The industry does have some influence on who gets other awards. With the Mercury Prize, they don't. Jon comes from the business, but his heart is still very much in the music. Currently, we have about 12 major names that have said they want to be a part of MUDDA.
There was one that we worked on in production called "My Head Sounds Like That." We did it in a couple of shows where we were performing to smaller audiences without production and it was one of the stronger songs.
We had some good cameramen, and Hamish Hamilton, who did the direction, is very talented.
When we started OD2 in 1999, we were really expecting to work more with independents and so on because the major labels were spending millions on their own Pressplay and equivalents online, which haven't been very successful.
Yeah, in the digital world, it is so much easier to put stuff out without a great deal of paraphernalia and fanfare.