Peter Gabriel

See also: list of musicians with multiple self-titled albums. He was 61. The 2004 release of Myst IV: Revelation (developed by UbiSoft Montreal) featured a song written especially for the game called "Curtains" (often called 'Portal to Serenia' or 'Portal to Dreamworld'), and he also did a large voice acting part. Terry Knight (Richard Terrance Knapp) was murdered in Killeen, Texas on November 1, 2004. The 2003 videogame Uru: Ages Beyond Myst featured the single "Burn You Up, Burn You Down" in several portions of the game. Grand Funk Railroad reunited again in 1997 to record a benefit album called Bosnia. Recently, Peter Gabriel has been working with video game companies Cyan Worlds and UbiSoft to aid in the sound production of their latest video games. After disbanding a second time, Farner launched a solo career as a Christian recording artist, while Brewer and Frost joined Bob Seger's Silver Bullet Band.

Peter Gabriel is one of the founders of On Demand Distribution (OD2), an online music enterprise, and additionally is co-founder (with Brian Eno) of a musicians union called Mudda, short for "magnificent union of digitally downloading artists.". The band reunited in 1981 with the addition of Dennis Bellinger and released two failed albums. Melanie sang on Gabriel's 2003 Growing Up tour. Farner began a solo career, while the rest of the band became Flint after adding Billy Ellworthy. Peter Gabriel has two daughters from his first marriage, Melanie and Anna, and a son, Isaac, from his second marriage. After finishing Good Singin', Good Playin' (1976) with producer Frank Zappa, Grand Funk Railroad disbanded. It has been reported that he suffers from bipolar disorder, but despite some claims, he never confirmed this information. After a pop-style album, All the Girls in the World Beware!!!, and a revert to "Grand Funk Railroad", the band's fortunes were at an end.

Gabriel's song "We Do What We're Told (Milgram's 37)" from So refers to Milgram's experiment, and in particular the 37 out of 40 subjects who showed complete obedience in one particular experiment. This was followed by two huge hit singles, "We're an American Band" (off We're an American Band) and "The Locomotion" (written by Carole King and Gerry Goffin for Little Eva). He has a long-standing interest in human rights, and launched the Witness program to supply video cameras to human rights activists to expose abuses. After recruiting Craig Frost (keyboards), Grand Funk Railroad released Phoenix in 1972, then shorted their name to Grand Funk. He has also recently been interested in multimedia projects, creating the Xplora and Eve CD-ROMs. In 1972, Grand Funk Railroad fired Knight, who sued for breach of contract, resulting in a protracted legal battle. He created the Real World Studios and record label to facilitate the creation and distribution of such music by various artists, and he has worked to educate Western culture about the work of such musicians as Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and Youssou N'dour. Knight launched an intense advertising campaign to promote Closer to Home, a multi-platinum, smash hit album that was slammed by virtually all music critics.

This influence has increased over time, and he is the driving force behind the WOMAD (World of Music, Arts and Dance) movement. Even with critical pans and lack of radio airplay (at first), the group's first eight albums, released in three years, were successful. Gabriel has been interested in world music for many years, with the first musical evidence appearing on his third album. That record still stands today. It was discovered that he had fallen asleep in front of the microphone, but had continued to sing. A year later, they went on to break The Beatles' record at Shea Stadium, selling out in just 71 hours. He also collaborated with Laurie Anderson on two versions of her composition "Excellent Birds" - one for her album, Mister Heartbreak, and a slightly different version called This is the Picture which appeared on cassette and CD versions of So. In 1987, when presenting Gabriel with an award for his music videos, Anderson related an occasion in which a recording session had gone late into the night and Gabriel's voice began to sound somewhat strange, almost dreamlike. In that same year they had a hit single "Closer To Home," a song that was closer in style to the old Terry Knight & The Pack than it was to GFR.

Another duet, "Don't Give Up" became a hit, however. In 1970 they had sold more albums than any other American band. Their duet of Roy Harper's "Another Day" was discussed for release as a single, but this never came to pass. After a free performance at the 1969 Atlanta Pop Festival, the band was signed by Capitol Records. He has collaborated with singer Kate Bush several times, including an appearance on her television special. Terry Knight soon became their manager and named the band after the Grand Trunk Western Railroad, a famous rail line in Michigan. A follow-up video for the song "Big Time" also broke new ground in music video animation and special effects. Mark Farner (vocals, guitar) and Don Brewer (drums), former members of a local band together, Terry Knight & the Pack, recruited Mel Schacher (bass) from ? & the Mysterians.

The video won numerous awards at the 1987 MTV Music Video Awards, and set a new standard for art in the music video industry. In spite of near-constant critical denigration (Rolling Stone once called them the world's worst rock band), Grand Funk Railroad managed to keep a career going for several years based on constant touring, a loud, simple take on the blues-rock power trio, and strong working class appeal and managed to reach the top of the charts on several occasions. Gabriel's song "Sledgehammer" was accompanied by a visually stunning music video, which was a collaboration with director Stephen Johnson, Aardman Animation, and the Brothers Quay. They are sometimes considered as the first great American Hard Rock outfit and the original "American Band", due to their hit song "We're an American Band". They are usually differentiated by number in order of release, or sleeve design. Grand Funk Railroad was an American Rock and Roll band in the 1970s, originally from Flint, Michigan. He famously refused to title his first four solo albums, since he wanted them to be considered as issues of a magazine instead of individual works. Official Site (http://www.grandfunkrailroad.com/).

"Games Without Frontiers" from his third album and "Shock the Monkey" from his fourth), Gabriel achieved his greatest popularity with songs from the 1986 So album, most notably "Sledgehammer" and "In Your Eyes.". Trunk of Funk - (2001). His first solo success came with the single "Solsbury Hill", an autobiographical piece expressing his thoughts on leaving Genesis. Although early on he achieved critical success and some commercial success (e.g. Classic Masters - (2002). Gabriel has had a long and successful career after unexpectedly leaving the band in 1975, with his position as lead singer then filled by drummer Phil Collins. Very Best Grand Funk Railroad Album Ever - (2001). On one occasion he broke a leg leaping into the crowd, but managed to climb back up onto the stage and finish the performance. Rock Champions - (2001).

During "The Knife", a popular live song from the Trespass album, Gabriel would perform a stunt that, two decades later, became extremely common: stage diving. Super Best - (1999). Genesis quickly become one of the most talked-about bands in the UK, largely due to Gabriel's flamboyant stage presence, which involved numerous bizarre costume changes and comical, dreamlike stories told as the introduction to each song. Thirty Years of Funk : 1969 - 1999 - (1999). He first came to fame as a member of the progressive rock group Genesis, which he founded as a student at Charterhouse School with bandmates Tony Banks, Anthony Phillips, and Mike Rutherford. Collectors - (1993). Peter Brian Gabriel, born February 13, 1950, in Cobham (Surrey), England, is an English musician. Heavy Hitters - (1992).

Real World (http://www.realworld.co.uk/). Capitol Collectors Series - (1991). And through the wire (http://www.deltaforce.net/~jnu/pg/) fan site. The Best of Grand Funk - (1990). Another fan site (http://rec.horus.at/music/gabriel/). Hits - (1977). Fan site (http://www.solsburyhill.org). Grand Funk Hits - (1976).

Official website (http://www.petergabriel.com/). Mark, Don and Mel : 1969 - 71 - (1972). 1994 "SW Live EP" #39 UK. Grand Funk / Live Album - (1970). from "Secret World Live"