Peter Gabriel, Polar Music Prize Laureate 2009
Peter Gabriel co-founded the group Genesis in 1966 at school. He went on to make 7 albums with Genesis. He left in 1975, but returned to music a year later, since when he has made 11 solo albums. His film soundtrack works include Birdy (1984); The Last Temptation of Christ (1989); Rabbit Proof Fence (2002).
In 1980 Gabriel conceived of, and founded WOMAD (World of Music Arts and Dance), which has presented over 150 festivals in over 40 countries, recently adding Abu Dhabi to the list. In addition, the WOMAD Foundation provides education and workshops to many schools.
Peter Gabriel’s Human Rights work include, the coordination of and participation in the Human Rights Now! Tour, which took place in 1988 with Amnesty International. In 1989 he conceived of, and co-founded Witness.org, giving cameras and computers to human rights activists. Witness has won many awards and pioneered the adoption of video and online technologies in human rights campaigning. The Hub was launched in 2008, providing a platform for human rights video from all over the world (a YouTube for Human Rights).
In 2000 Gabriel co-founded and conceived of the Elders.org with Richard Branson, which Nelson Mandela launched in 2007.
Peter Gabriel’s business interests have been in the field of music, media and technology. In 1987 he founded the Real World Group of companies – Real World Studios, Real World Records and later Real World Multi Media and Real World Films. In 1999, Gabriel was co-founder of OD2 (On Demand Distribution), which became the leading European platform provider for the distribution of on-line music. (It has now become Nokia’s Music Store, having first been acquired by Loudeye of Seattle, Washington). In 2005 Gabriel acquired Solid State Logic with David Engelke, the world’s leading manufacturer of mixing consoles for music recording, broadcast and post-production. He also co-founded thefilter.com and We7.com, and is currently developing several projects, including a visual language for the internet, and the first social network for the dead.
Amongst awards Peter Gabriel has received are the Man of Peace Award, presented by the Nobel Peace Laureates, the ‘Chevalier dans l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres’ and also the Quadriga Award. He has received various lifetime achievement awards, and BT’s Digital Music Pioneer Award, as well as Grammy awards for his music and video work. His ‘Sledgehammer’ video has been voted best video of all time, and his interactive work, EVE, won the ‘Milia D’Or for Multimedia’.
PO Box 55777, SE-114 83 Stockholm, Sweden. Phone: +468 629 53 00. Fax: +468 662 50 00. [email protected] | www.polarmusicprize.org
Additional information about Peter Gabriel can be found at the official Peter Gabriel website: http://petergabriel.com
PO Box 55777, SE-114 83 Stockholm, Sweden. Phone: +468 629 53 00. Fax: +468 662 50 00. [email protected] | www.polarmusicprize.org