Peter Gabriel Photography

Long before he was a solo superstar, Peter Gabriel was the lead singer of Genesis during their classic prog/art-rock era. Following Genesis’s 1975 double-album opus The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway, this singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist left to explore various forms of experimental rock and world music on his own—often with social justice themes.

His first four albums were all self-titled, yet each bore distinct singles such as “Solsbury Hill,” “Games Without Frontiers,” “Biko,” and “Shock the Monkey.” It was 1986’s multi-platinum landmark album So, however, that transformed Gabriel from esoteric art-rocker to international pop star, and helped define the MTV era with classics such as “In Your Eyes,” “Sledgehammer,” “Don’t Give Up,” “Big Time,” and “Red Rain.”

Even while paring down his recording and touring schedule, Gabriel has remained compelling from 1992’s pop-minded Us through 2011’s orchestral New Blood. In 2014, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a solo artist—just four years after his induction with Genesis—by longtime admirer/Coldplay frontman Chris Martin.