Peter Gabriel

With Genesis, Peter Gabriel was the most theatrical of 1970s progressive rockers. On his own, he's been one of the most ambitious and eclectic, incorporating world music and political protest into both his pop-oriented solo albums and his more abstract scores for films. In the late 1980s, Gabriel founded the Real World label, which proved an invaluable channel for international artists of every stripe to ply their trade. His high-tech videos pushed the envelope of what was possible in the visual presentation of music. All this and his shepherding of political causes such as Amnesty International gained him a reputation as a true nobleman/artiste of the pop world.

• pop
• art rock
• 1990s
• 1980s
• 2000s