Peter Gabriel Ambassadors of Conscience 2008

Peter co-founded the group Genesis in 1966 at school. He went on to make 7 albums with Genesis. He left in 1975, but returned to music a year later, since when he has made 11 solo albums. In addition his film soundtrack works include Birdy (1984); The Last Temptation of Christ (1989); Rabbit Proof Fence (2002).

In 1980 Peter had the idea of a festival to present music, arts and dance of the world and invited a group of enthusiasts to form WOMAD which has presented over 150 festivals in over 40 countries. The WOMAD Foundation has provided education and workshops to many schools.

Human Rights work include, coordination of, and participation in, Human Rights Now! Tour, which took place in 1988 with Amnesty International. In 1989, having met many human rights victims who were unable top have their stories told and dealt with he proposed creating an organisation that would give cameras and computers to human rights activists. This became Witness.org and was founded with the Reebok Human Rights foundation and Human Rights First. The Hub has just been launched, providing a platform for human rights video from all over the world (a kind of YouTube for Human Rights).

As a response to a growing number of global problems that weren’t being adequately addressed by national governments in 2000 he conceived of and co-founded the Elders.org with Richard Branson, which Nelson Mandela launched in 2007.

Peter has followed his interest in technology and is involved in companies in the field of music, media and technology.

Amongst awards he has received are the Man of Peace award, presented by the Nobel Peace Laureates, and the ‘Chevalier dans l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres’. He has received various lifetime achievement awards and BT’s Digital Music Pioneer Award, as well as Grammy awards for his music and video work. His ‘Sledgehammer’ video has been voted best video of all time, and his interactive work Eve, won the Milia D’Or for Multimedia.

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2008
Peter Gabriel

2006
Nelson Mandela

2005
U2

2004
Mary Robinson
Hilda MoralesTrujillo

2003
Václav Havel