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Created: 01 May 2016

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As frontman for the British progressive-rock band Genesis, Peter Gabriel co-wrote, sang, and acted out elaborate story songs, wearing masks and costumes. Since leaving Genesis in 1975 to begin a solo career, Gabriel has revealed a new array of guises: pop star, soundtrack composer, social activist, and world-music aficionado as well as benefactor, music-video innovator, and multimedia artist.

Gabriel's first solo album was an eponymously titled effort, as were his next three. (The idea, he once explained, was to suggest issues, as one would for a magazine.) The first and second LPs drew attention for the respective singles "Solsbury Hill" and "D.I.Y." The third, produced by Steve Lillywhite, yielded "Games Without Frontiers" (Number 48, 1980) and showed Gabriel striving to break rock conventions: For instance, drummers Jerry Marotta and Phil Collins (Gabriel's former Genesis bandmate) were prohibited from using cymbals.

Gabriel's fourth album, subtitled Security (1982), was the singer's first to go gold; it also gave him his first Top Forty single with "Shock the Monkey." That same year, Gabriel financed the World of Music, Arts, and Dance (WOMAD) Festival, designed to bring African and Far Eastern music - which had increasingly influenced his work - to Western ears. To offset the festival's debt, he staged a Genesis reunion concert and released a WOMAD album, featuring cuts by himself, Robert Fripp (the producer of his second LP), and Pete Townshend alongside world-music sources. The WOMAD Festival became an annual event, and the organization eventually spawned an education program and record label.

Read more: Feature Artist of the Week: Peter Gabriel