(Singer-songwriter, b. 1950) Gabriel left Genesis in 1975. His first solo album produced the intriguing hit ‘Solsbury Hill’, telling of that departure. In 1980, the avant-pop of ‘Games Without Frontiers’ began a run of accessible art rock albums and singles including the political ‘Biko’, 1982’s Peter Gabriel (Security in the US), and 1986’s triumphant world-music influenced So and its ...
(An-dra’-a Gab-re-a’-le) c. 1510–86 Italian composer After spending some time in Munich as a colleague of Lassus, Gabrieli became maestro di cappella at St Mark’s, Venice in 1566. There, with the resources of its great choir at his disposal, he composed an impressive repertory of music for various combinations of voices and instruments. His style – in sacred ...
(Jo-van’-ne Gab-re-a’-le) c. 1553–1612 Italian composer Gabrieli was taught by his uncle Andrea Gabrieli and, like him, was first employed in Munich with Lassus. After Andrea’s death Giovanni became principal composer for St Mark’s, Venice, and he wrote much of his music with its choir (and building) in mind. His musical debt to his uncle is evident in ...
Alternative-rock guitarist Peter Buck (b. 1956) was born in Berkeley, California. After dropping out of college, he moved to Athens, Georgia, where he met singer Michael Stipe while working in a record shop. The pair discovered that they had similar tastes in music: punk rock, Patti Smith and Television. Together with Mike Mills (bass) and ...
Peter Tosh (1944–87), born Winston Hubert McIntosh, was the guitarist in the original Wailing Wailers. His mercurial temperament, provocative advocacy of the Rastafari movement and untimely death drew attention from his role in the most important band in the history of reggae. Tosh grew up in Kingston, Jamaica. His height (6ft 5in/2m) and temperament earned him the nickname ...
Blues-rock guitarist Peter Green was born Peter Greenbaum in Bethnal Green, London in 1946. He began playing guitar at the age of 10. Among his early influences were Hank Marvin, Muddy Waters and B.B. King. After Green played bass in several semi-pro outfits, keyboardist Peter Bardens invited him to play lead in his band. Three months later ...
Peter Frampton (b. 1950) rode a slow-developing wave of popularity that transported him from British teen idol to international pop megastar, only to see the wave crash in a show-business wipeout of legendary proportions. In the ensuing 30 years, Frampton has managed to mix a fair number of successes with disappointments while navigating much calmer musical seas. Frampton got ...
(Pa’-ter Kôr-nal’-yoos) 1824–74 German composer Although gifted as an actor, Cornelius studied music in Berlin and joined Liszt’s circle in Weimar (1852), alongside Bülow, Joachim and others. He was a vociferous literary champion of the ‘New German School’ of Liszt and Wagner, yet his own works are surprisingly un-Wagnerian. They include many attractive Lieder, to his own poetry ...
(Ga-bre-el’ Fô-ra’) 1845–1924 French composer Fauré, a pre-eminent master of French song, studied with Saint-Saëns in 1866, and succeeded him as as chief organist at the Madeleine in 1896. Fauré was appointed Director at the Paris Conservatoire (1905–20) and also served as critic for Le Figaro. He was thus a powerful influence on twentieth-century French music, especially through ...
(Piano, b. 1925) Canadian pianist Oscar Peterson made his name on ‘Jazz At The Philharmonic’ (JATP) tours in the early 1950s, and formed his own trio in 1952. His most famous line-up (1953–58) featured Herb Ellis (guitar) and Ray Brown (bass); he replaced the guitar with more conventional drums from 1958. His extravagant improvisations combined pre-bop and bop elements. ...
(Keyboards, guitar, bass, drums, trumpet, vocals, b. 1963) Born Judge Kenneth Peterson in Buffalo, New York, this child prodigy keyboardist had played on The Ed Sullivan Show by the age of six. His father is soul bluesman James Peterson. At 17, Lucky became Little Milton’s bandleader and then played with Bobby Bland. ...
(Vocals, guitar, b. 1942) Peter Rowan was a member of Bill Monroe And The Blue Grass Boys from 1964 to 1967 and that stint gave him a solid, traditional foundation for everything he did after that, no matter how wild, whether it was the art-rock band Earth Opera (with David Grisman), the folk-rock band Sea Train ...
1824–74, German The German composer Peter Cornelius first intended to be an actor, but instead chose music after studying in Mainz, his home town, and Berlin. In 1852, Cornelius went to Weimar, where he encountered Liszt, then Kapellmeister to the grand duke. While admiring him, Cornelius was wary of the influence of Wagner ...
The city of St Petersburg was founded in 1703 by Peter the Great as his ‘window on the West’ – part of his plan to connect backward Russia to the modern world. A court theatre was included as part of Peter’s modernizing policy, but plays were being performed there for more than 30 years before the first opera was staged. ...
1863–1938, French D’Annunzio’s most famous influence on music was Debussy’s elaborate incidental music for his extraordinarily long play The Martyrdom of Saint Sebastian (1911). In fact, his connections with music were far wider. He was an extravagant eccentric and continually sought the company of musicians. The French pianist Raoul Pugno and the composer Nadia Boulanger collaborated on a setting ...
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David Bowie
Fantastic new, unofficial biography covers
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