Peter Gabriel was the first singer of Genesis, the band he co-founded at Charterhouse School in Surrey in 1967, and its costumed frontman in the early 1970s. He left in 1975 and began a solo career in 1977 that Wikipedia files under progressive rock, art rock, worldbeat and art pop. This guide to Peter Gabriel follows him from the Genesis years through ten studio albums, from the self-titled debut to “I/O” in 2023.

The short version

Born in Chobham, Surrey, in February 1950, Gabriel sang lead on six Genesis studio albums, from “From Genesis to Revelation” (1969) to “The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway” (1974). His first solo album arrived in February 1977 and gave him a UK hit with “Solsbury Hill”, which reached No. 13 on the Official Singles Chart. The third, released in 1980, was his first No. 1 on the UK Official Albums Chart, and “So” (1986), which Wikipedia names his best-selling album, did the same. He also co-founded the WOMAD festival, first held in 1982, and set up Real World Studios in Wiltshire. After “Us” (1992) and “Up” (2002), “I/O” (2023) took him back to No. 1 in the UK.

From Charterhouse to the Lamb

Genesis grew out of a group of Charterhouse pupils: Gabriel, Tony Banks, Anthony Phillips, Mike Rutherford and Chris Stewart. Phil Collins arrived as drummer in 1970 and Steve Hackett joined on guitar in January 1971, and played on four albums with Gabriel, from “Nursery Cryme” (1971) to “The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway”. At a Dublin show on 28 September 1972, Wikipedia notes, Gabriel sang “The Musical Box” in a red dress and a fox’s head; masks, a bat-wing cape and face paint came later.

During the tour for “The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway” he told the band in Cleveland that he would leave once it was over. The tour ended in May 1975; his statement “Out, Angels Out” followed in August. Genesis carried on with Collins as lead singer, and the 1971-75 line-up of Gabriel, Hackett, Banks, Rutherford and Collins shared a stage again on 2 October 1982 for “Six of the Best”, a one-off concert that raised money for WOMAD.

Four albums called Peter Gabriel

Gabriel gave his first four albums no titles of their own: each is simply called “Peter Gabriel”, so listeners named them after their covers (“Car”, “Scratch” and “Melt”), while “Security” is the title Geffen put on the fourth for the US and Canada; this site numbers them 1 to 4 with those nicknames. Robert Fripp and Tony Levin played on the 1977 debut, recorded mainly in Toronto, and Fripp then produced the second album (1978), as the Discogs page of the UK Charisma LP confirms.

The third album changed the scale. Atlantic, his US label, did not want to release it, and it came out in America on Mercury instead, but in the UK it went to No. 1 on the Official Albums Chart in June 1980. Phil Collins drums on “Intruder” and “No Self Control”, and Wikipedia notes that “Intruder” has been cited as the first prominent use of the gated reverb sound. Kate Bush adds backing vocals to “Games Without Frontiers”, which reached No. 4 on the Official Singles Chart, and the album closes with “Biko”, his protest song against apartheid. On the fourth (1982) he used a Fairlight CMI to sample sounds from many sources, a scrapyard among them.

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Album by album

Ten studio albums, from “Peter Gabriel 1: Car” (1977) to “I/O” (2023); soundtracks and live records are not included. Tap any title for its guide.

The players

Gabriel sings lead on every album here and has worked with a small circle of players for decades. Tony Levin, on bass and Chapman Stick, has played on almost every studio album and tour since the 1977 debut, and guitarist David Rhodes has been with him since 1979. Jerry Marotta was his main drummer before “So”; Manu Katché plays on “So” and “Us” and returns on “I/O”.

Guests shape several records. Kate Bush sings the female lead on “Don’t Give Up” from “So”, Youssou N’Dour joins “In Your Eyes”, Sinéad O’Connor sings on two songs from “Us”, and Brian Eno is among the main contributors to “I/O”. “Scratch My Back” (2010) sets songs by other writers, from David Bowie to Radiohead, for voice and orchestral instruments only, and “New Blood” (2011) gives his own songs the same orchestral treatment.

Where to start

Start with the third album, “Peter Gabriel 3: Melt” (1980), his first UK No. 1. Reviewing it for AllMusic, Stephen Thomas Erlewine hears a record “artier, stronger, more song-oriented than before” and considers it his finest record. Then play “So” (1986), his best-selling album, certified 5x Platinum by the RIAA, and the one Erlewine finds his catchiest and most upbeat.

If you are coming from Genesis, go back to “Peter Gabriel 1: Car” (1977), his first record after the band, with “Solsbury Hill” and the closing “Here Comes the Flood”. For the later Gabriel, “I/O” (2023) is his first album of new songs since “Up” and, in Erlewine’s reading, a direct continuation of it.

Why they matter

Gabriel’s career runs from the centre of 1970s progressive rock to the top of the pop charts. “Sledgehammer” reached No. 4 on the Official Singles Chart in 1986, and its video won nine MTV Video Music Awards the following year, according to Wikipedia. Away from his own records he co-founded WOMAD and uses Real World Studios and the Real World Records label to record and promote music from around the world.

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inducted him with Genesis in 2010 and as a solo artist in 2014, and grammy.com counts seven Grammy wins, among them Best Immersive Audio Album in 2025 for the In-Side Mix of “I/O”. I tell the Genesis side of his story, and where his solo work came from, in my book Beyond the Thames.

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