by Rena Sherwood

Created on: August 19, 2009

The next artist to be inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame should be Peter Gabriel for many reasons besides his incredibly powerful, unique music. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is one of the very few awards that Peter has yet to receive.

In his ongoing and ever enviable career, he has won the Igor Novello songwriting award, the Midem 2008 Personality of the Year award and countless other awards. He was first eligible as a solo artist back in 2002, which was the 25th anniversary of his first solo album, entitled helpfully "Peter Gabriel." That album contained the popular hit "Solsbury Hill," about his decision to leave the progressive rock group he co-founded, Genesis (yes, THAT Genesis).

Since then, he has had several albums that influenced countless other musicians, poets, writers and visual artists. In his 1980 album (also entitled "Peter Gabriel"), it ushered in the distinctive slightly mis-tuned electronic drum sound that served as the backbone of 1980's pop music. During a session which guest drummer Phil Collins was tuning his drum kit, Peter heard an interesting distorted beat. He had Phil repeat it, then put it on the thunderous opening track, "Intruder".

Peter has written songs that have the rare virtue of sounding better the more times you hear them. The often sparse, extremely flexible lyrics are supported by lush, deeply layered instruments and vocals from very different music styles. He has written about such diverse topics as reincarnation, death, jealousy, the Frog Prince, the thoughts of a political assassin, a wife who commits suicide, the death of Native American culture and even love. He has claimed that his songs are like the frames of coloring books. They set a guide, but do not dictate what the listener is supposed to think. He leaves the listener to, in his own words, "fill in their own colors."

Peter was arguably the first Western rock or pop musician who recognized that music from other cultures should have the chance to be enjoyed by music lovers all around the world. In 1982, he co-founded WOMAD (World Of Music Arts and Dance), which helped get musicians from all around the world into recording studios and then into the hands of Western music lovers.

Peter is also partially responsible for not only defining World Music, but for helping record companies come up with the name. He's not entirely pleased with the choice of "World Music" ("I haven't heard of any good bands coming from Jupiter", he's quipped), but the strange

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