Peter Gabriel
Overview
Peter Brian Gabriel is an English singer, musician, and songwriter who rose to fame as the lead vocalist and flautist
Flautist
A flautist or flutist is a musician who plays an instrument in the flute family. See List of flautists.The choice of "flautist" versus "flutist" is the source of dispute among players of the instrument...

 of the progressive rock
Progressive rock
Progressive rock is a subgenre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s as part of a "mostly British attempt to elevate rock music to new levels of artistic credibility." John Covach, in Contemporary Music Review, says that many thought it would not just "succeed the pop of...

 group Genesis
Genesis (band)
Genesis are an English rock band that formed in 1967. The band currently comprises the longest-tenured members Tony Banks , Mike Rutherford and Phil Collins . Past members Peter Gabriel , Steve Hackett and Anthony Phillips , also played major roles in the band in its early years...

. After leaving Genesis, Gabriel went on to a successful solo career. His 1986 album, So
So (album)
So is the fifth studio album by British rock musician Peter Gabriel, released in 1986. Many of its songs reflect a more conventional pop-writing style and became radio hits, while others still retain Gabriel's dark, brooding sense of experimentalism.It is Peter Gabriel's second album produced by...

, is his most commercially successful, and the album's biggest hit, "Sledgehammer
Sledgehammer (song)
"Sledgehammer" is a song by British musician Peter Gabriel from his 1986 album So. It hit number one in Canada on 21 July 1986 where it spent four weeks; number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the United States on 26 July 1986; and number four in the UK singles chart, thanks in part to a...

", won a record nine MTV Awards at the 1987 MTV Video Music Awards
1987 MTV Video Music Awards
The 1987 MTV Video Music Awards aired live on September 11, 1987, honoring the best music videos from May 2, 1986, to May 1, 1987. The show was hosted by MTV VJs Downtown Julie Brown, Carolyne Heldman, Kevin Seal, Michael Tomioka, and Dweezil Zappa, and it took place at the Universal Amphitheatre...

, and the song is the most played music video in the history of the station.

More recently, Gabriel has focused on producing and promoting world music
World music
World music is a term with widely varying definitions, often encompassing music which is primarily identified as another genre. This is evidenced by world music definitions such as "all of the music in the world" or "somebody else's local music"...

 and pioneering digital distribution methods for music.
Quotations

I grieve for you You leave me So hard to move on Still loving what's gone They say life carries on Carries on and on and on and on...

"I Grieve" from City of Angels: Music from the Motion Picture|City of Angels (1998)

Life carries on In the people I meet In everyone that’s out on the street In all the dogs and cats In the flies and rats In the rot and the rust In the ashes and the dust Life carries on and on and on and on.

"I Grieve" from City of Angels (1998)

Did I dream this belief or did I believe this dream how I will find relief I grieve...

"I Grieve" from City of Angels (1998)

You can blow out a candle But you can't blow out a fire Once the flames begin to catch The wind will blow it higher

Oh Biko, Biko, because Biko Yihla Moja, Yihla Moja — The man is dead.

Yihla Moja are Xhosa language|Xhosa words which can be translated "Come Spirit."

And the eyes of the world are watching now.

If looks could kill, they probably will In games without frontiers — war without tears.

Dressing up in costumes, playing silly games Hiding out in tree-tops shouting out rude names — whistling tunes we hide in the dunes by the seaside — whistling tunes we piss on the goons in the jungle. It's a Knockout|It’s a knockout.

The time I like is the rush hour, cos I like the rush The pushing of the people — I like it all so much Such a mass of motion — do not know where it goes I move with the movement and... I have the touch .

 
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