- He never scored a UK number one single, but "Sledgehammer" topped the US singles chart in 1986. Ironically, it knocked "Invisible Touch" by his former band Genesis off the top spot.
- His famous song "Solsbury Hill" talks about why he decided to leave Genesis while the band was growing at a fast rate.
- His song "Solsbury Hill" is titled after a small hill on the edge of the city of Bath, England. The hill is the site of an ancient dwelling and is now part the UK National Trust.
- In 1999, he reunited with his former Genesis bandmates Phil Collins, Tony Banks, Mike Rutherford and Steve Hackett for a re-recording of the Genesis song "The Carpet Crawlers" (originally from their 1974 album "The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway"), which appears on the Genesis compilation "Turn It On Again: The Hits".
- Some sources state that he suffers from bipolar disorder.
- His video for "Sledgehammer" was voted the second greatest music video of all time for the Channel 4 programme The 100 Greatest Pop Videos (2005). It was beaten to first place by Michael Jackson's "Thriller".
- In March 2003, his final album with Genesis, "The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway", came sixth in Classic Rock Magazine's list of the 30 greatest concept albums of all time.
- Because of his 1980 song "Biko", written about South African civil rights leader Steve Biko, the apartheid government of South Africa banned all of Gabiel's recordings. The ban was lifted following the end of apartheid.
- His bandmate Phil Collins took over vocals from him when he left Genesis in 1975. He sang back-up vocals to Collins on the single "Take Me Home" in 1985. Sting also sang back-up vocals on the same song. In 2016, Gabriel and Sting toured the USA and Canada together.
- His favorite singer is Otis Redding, whose music he has loved since he was a teenager and who inspired his biggest hit, "Sledgehammer".
- Gabriel was discovered by the singer, record industry executive and media personality Jonathan King while he was still at school. He was then the frontman of the group Genesis, who became one of the most influential and popular British progressive rock bands. He left the group for a solo career in 1975 after recording albums including "Foxtrot", "Selling England by the Pound" and the concept album "The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway".
- He lived with the American actress Rosanna Arquette for several years following the end of his first marriage.
- On 29 November 2003, he performed at the "46664" AIDS concert.
- He can play piano, keyboards, percussion, flute, recorder and harmonica, although, by his own admission, none of them particularly well.
- He was the winner of the 2006 Q Lifetime Achievement Award, presented to him by Moby.
- The title character of the BBC comedy series The Life of Rock with Brian Pern (2014) was mainly based on him.
- He is a member and promoter of Amnesty International.
- On 1 November 2004, he was presented with the Music Industry Trusts' Award for his outstanding contribution to the British music industry.
- His song "In Your Eyes" is one of his most famous recordings in the United States and received considerable radio airplay, becoming a Top 30 hit. It was subsequently featured in the film Say Anything (1989). It was later covered by the Australian singer Darren Hayes of Savage Garden fame. It is not so famous in the UK, where it was never released as a single and is rarely played on radio, although it featured on his best-selling album "So". It was also left off his compilation albums "Shaking the Tree" and "Hit".
- On 3rd October 2006, he was the winner of the first Pioneer Award at the BT Digital Music Awards.
- He was ranked #53 on VH1's 100 Greatest Artists of Rock & Roll.
- His third and fourth album were also released in German. The third album was titled "Ein Deutsches album", his fourth "Deutsches album".
- In 2019, he supported a controversial (and unsuccessful) petition organized by Pink Floyd's Roger Waters which opposed Israel hosting the Eurovision Song Contest due to the conflict with Palestine. The petition then prompted a rival petition supported by the likes of Stephen Fry, Rachel Riley, Simon Callow, Sharon Osbourne, Gene Simmons, Al Murray and Tracy-Ann Oberman, who accused the other petition of attacking the "spirit of togetherness".
- He was chosen by Time Magazine in 2008 as one of the 100 most influential people in the world. Placed in the Heroes & Pioneers category, the tribute to him was written by Desmond Tutu.
- His own company, Real World, promotes world musicians and their music.
- He has two daughters: Anna-Marie, born on July 26, 1974, and Melanie, born August 23, 1976.
- His song "Biko" was covered by Simple Minds on their 1989 album "Street Fighting Years".
- His song "Don't Give Up" was covered in 2005 by Bono and Alicia Keys for the charity "Keep a Child Alive". Willie Nelson and Sinéad O'Connor also recorded a version of it for Nelson's 1993 album "Across the Borderline". John Legend and P!nk recorded a version of it for Herbie Hancock's album "The Imagine Project", released in 2010.
- His song "Solsbury Hill" was covered by Erasure on their 2003 album "Other People's Songs".
- He was the winner of the 1987 British Phonographic Industry Awards for British Male Solo Artist and British Video for his song "Sledgehammer" following the success of his multi-million selling album "So". He also won the 1993 Brit Award for British Producer.
- He was awarded the Frankfurt Music Prize in 2006.
- His album "So" was included in College Music Journal's list of the "Top 25 College Radio Albums of All Time" and #1 in the "Top 20 Most-Played Albums of 1986", ranked #14 in Rolling Stone's "100 Best Albums of The 80's" survey and #187 in Rolling Stone's "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time".
- His song "Shock the Monkey" was covered by Coal Chamber with Ozzy Osbourne on the album "Chamber Music" (released in 1999).
- His wife Meabh gave birth to their second son, Luc, on July 5th 2008 weighing in at 7 lbs, 2 oz. They also have a son Isaac born in 2002.
- In 1982, he was one of the first artists to record an album entirely on digital tape and in 2000 he co-founded the first digital music download platform, OD2.
- Peter Weller listened to his song "Red Rain" on headphones inside his costume during filming a scene in RoboCop (1987).
- His song "I Don't Remember" was covered by Marillion frontman Steve Hogarth and the H Band on the album "Live Spirit: Live Body" (released 2002).
- On 21 November 2003, he performed for the BBC's annual Children in Need charity event.
- His father was an electrical engineer and his mother was a musician.
- He is mentioned in the lyrics of the song "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa" by Vampire Weekend.
- Remain friends with Kate Bush.
- Although he left Genesis in 1975, he reunited with the band twice. Once in the early 1980s for a special charity concert (Steve Hackett wasn't there, except for the two encores) and in 1999 to record a song for a greatest hits collection. Steve Hackett was there for that reunion, making it the first time the original five performed together since 1975.
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