Genesis / Band-Biography

Genesis was founded in 1967 in Charterhouse boarding-school. The band consisted of Peter Gabriel (vocal), Tony Banks (keyboards), Chris Stewart (drums), Anthony Philips (guitar, vocal) and Mike Rutherford (bass, guitar, vocal).

In January 1967 they sent a demo tape to the former student of Charterhouse, Jonathan King, and to Decca Records. King financed Genesis and together they recorded the first album "From Genesis to Revelation", which was published 1968. It wasn´t successful. King wanted Genesis to change their style, but they didn´t want so. This is why they seperated from Jonathan King. Genesis started to prepare for the stage and to play in front of audience. In 1970 Tony Stratton-Smith (Charisma Records) made a contract with them.

The album "Trespass" was published in Octobre 1970, but it sold badly. Anthony Philips left the band und Steve Hackett came. The album "Nursery Cryme" (1971) wasn´t a success either. Until 1971 the band had worn out three drummers. In August 1971 Phil Collins came into the band. 1972 the album "Foxtrot" was published, which was the break-through for Genesis. The album reached the British top 20. Fans often call the three albums "Trespass", "Nursery Cryme" and "Foxtrot" "The Trilogy", because of the cover design made by Paul Whitehead and because of the music style. In 1973 the album "Selling England By The Pound" was published, with which Genesis manifested their success.

On stage Genesis could quickly tie a faithful fan circle. More known became the band when Peter Gabriel had the idea to add masks and costumes to the show. In addition he liked to tell little stories between the songs. So the musicians had time to tune their instruments and it was helpful too for the audience to understand the meaning of the songs. Small wonder that it was still in 1973 that the album "Genesis Live" was published.

´A real masterpiece´ is called the song "Supper´s Ready" - a 24 minutes long history about the fight between the good and the bad. Considering the wishes of the fans the next album "The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway" (1974) was combined with a great, multi-medial show. But after this big tour there was a shock: im May 1975 Peter Gabriel left Genesis. The rest of the band looked for the right substitute. Finally Phil Collins took over the role of lead singer, what should be a lucky shot for Genesis. His salient voice became a distinctive mark of this band. The following albums "Trick Of The Tail", "Wind And Wuthering" (both 1976) and "Seconds Out" (1977) were well absorbed by the fans.

In 1977 Steve Hacket left the band to start a solo career. After that Genesis was a trio. Small wonder that the next album was called "And Then There Were Three..." (1978). They got their first Golden Disc for it. Every following album reached a bigger success: "Duke" (1980), "Abacab" (1981), "Three Sides Live" (1982), "Genesis" (1983), "Invisible Touch" (1986).

Since the middle of the 80s Genesis became a "from time to time"-project. Parallely Phil Collins worked at his solo career and movie projects. Mike Rutherford built up an own band called "Mike and the mechanics". This was no break in popularity for Genesis. With the album "We Can´t Dance" (1991) they reached a world-wide success.

After Phil Collins resigned in the middle of the 90s in order to work only at his solo career, Tony Banks and Mike Rutherford had to look for a new singer. They found Ray Wilson, former lead singer of the band "Stiltskin". "Calling All Stations" (1997) was the last album up to now. Fans reacted differently on it. Some of them liked it, others could not accustom to the new voice. At the moment it seems that Genesis cannot resume to former success. In addition there are rumours that it could be a new Genesis-tour in old formation with Phil Collins, Peter Gabriel, Mike Rutherford and Tony Banks in order to promote a compilation album. But there are no more information about this.

The members of Genesis

Tony Banks (keyboards, 1967 - today)
Mike Rutherford (guitar/bass, 1967 - today)
Ray Wilson (vocal, 1996 - today)
Phil Collins (drums, 1971-1996; vocal, 1976-1996)
Peter Gabriel (vocal, 1967-1975)
Steve Hackett (guitar, 1971-1977)
Anthony Philips (guitar, 1967-1971)