Genesis
Biography Genesis
Genesis
During their storied careers, Genesis have released 15 original studio albums, Tony Banks six, Phil Collins eight and Mike Rutherford has released two solo albums as well as nine as Mike + The Mechanics. The combined record sales, including additional live albums, movie soundtracks and box sets, are in excess of 250 million copies globally and contain songs including “The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway,” “Sussudio,” “Against All Odds,” “All I Need is a Miracle,” “In the Air Tonight,” “I Can’t Dance,” “That’s All,” “Land of Confusion,” “The Living Years,” “Invisible Touch” and countless other hits.
The history of Genesis can be traced back to 1965, when the young members of the Garden Wall and the Anon, two bands composed of students from the Charterhouse School in Godalming, Surrey, came together to form a new joint group. Featuring Gabriel, Banks, Rutherford, and fourth founding member Anthony Phillips, the quartet originally called itself the New Anon before settling on Genesis. Early on, Genesis favored a folk-inspired progressive pop sound that carried through its initial singles and first two albums, From Genesis to Revelation and Trespass. Shortly after the latter album's 1970 release, Phillips and original drummer John Mayhew bowed out from the act. The two were soon replaced by Collins on drums and Hackett on guitar.
With its classic lineup in place, Genesis embarked on the most successful period of its early career. For the next several years, the band released a series of eccentric progressive rock albums such as Nursery Cryme, Foxtrot, and Selling England by the Pound that firmly established its reputation for fantastic lyrical narratives and epic "prog-rock" orchestration. The artistic flair for which Genesis quickly became known was also furthered by the members' remarkably theatrical live performances, which typically featured state-of-the-art visual effects and creative stagecraft helmed by unrelenting showman Gabriel. The culmination of Genesis's early progressive stage act came with the 1974 release of The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway, an expansive concept album with a complex story and a full cast of characters that marked the band's first major commercial success. At the conclusion of the album's exhausting tour, however, Gabriel announced his decision to leave the group.
After Gabriel's departure, Collins was elected to take on his duties as lead singer and frontman. Under Collins's direction, the band gradually distanced itself to some degree from its progressive roots and came to embrace a more pop-inspired sound. Although Hackett also elected to leave the band in 1977, Genesis's commercial success only grew as it released increasingly pop-oriented albums such as Duke (1980) and Abacab (1981). Its greatest success came with Invisible Touch (1986), which featured the smash hit "Tonight, Tonight, Tonight." Genesis continued producing albums until the release of Calling All Stations in 1997. After that, the group essentially disbanded, later reuniting only for a 2007 reunion tour and a 2014 BBC documentary. Rutherford and Collins reunited once again in 2021 for the The Last Domino? Tour. Collins stated that this would serve as the band's farewell tour. (Source: ebsco.com)
