From an early age, Peter Gabriel has proven, time and time again, to be extremely interested in all that nature, art and technology had to offer. In Genesis, his was the curious personality, always ready to explore new boundaries and at the same time become the focus of attention on stage, author of many of the band’s lyrics and marvellous lead vocalist. Not having the world’s most dynamic extension Peter nevertheless knew and knows how to use his soulful voice, without a doubt one of the best in the history of rock music, and one which has remained miraculously intact to this day. His solo career kicked off in a low key fashion but blossomed wonderfully, between 1980 and 1982, with his third and fourth albums in which he left his progressive rock heritage behind and pioneered a new path melding electronic and tribal music. Master wordsmith but also capable of seminal instrumental works (above all the OST of The Last Temptation of Christ), Peter decided to hop onto the Pop bandwagon around the middle of the eighties and explore the then new world of promotional videos, innovating it as nobody had before. The enormous success of his So album transformed him into one of the planet’s most recognisable rock stars but, inevitably, marked the decline of his increasingly slow musical output. Nurturing in an almost compulsive fashion a wide range of interests, which led him to being included as one of the planet’s most influential people by Time Magazine in 2008. The masks, videos, world music, soundtracks…the troubled love affairs, civil commitment, technology…the rock star, the guru, passionate advocate of human rights, multimedia genius, free thinker, visionary…how many Peter Gabriels are there? Waiting for a new album, fourteen years and counting now, this book tries to explore all of his many facets.

The Book.