Peter Hammill

Born in Ealing in west London and partly trained in Manchester, where he launched Van der Graaf Generator in the late 1960s, Peter Hammill developed a parallel solo trajectory that runs alongside the band's history. His writing initially sits within progressive rock and art rock, with a strong emphasis on vocal tension, dynamic shifts and arrangements ranging from solo piano or guitar to more electric and experimental forms. Hammill released his first proper solo album, Fool’s Mate, in 1971, followed by notable records such as Chameleon in the Shadow of the Night (1973), The Silent Corner and the Empty Stage (1974), Nadir’s Big Chance (1975), Over (1977) and pH7 (1979), which display a move from progressive styles toward tighter formats, at times close to new wave and a nervy rock that occasionally foreshadows post-punk. Over the decades he alternated solo concerts with variable line-ups, including the K Group in the early 1980s, collaborated with Robert Fripp, Gary Lucas and Isildurs Bane, composed the opera The Fall of the House of Usher released in 1991, and maintained a steady discography up to In Translation in 2021, while remaining active with Van der Graaf Generator.