type	monarch
name	Peter I
succession	Emperor and Autocrat of All the Russias
reign	7 May 1682 – 8 February 1725 ()
coronation	25 June 1682
cor-type	Coronation
predecessor	Feodor III
successor	Catherine I
spouse	Eudoxia LopukhinaMartha Skavronskaya
issue	Alexei Petrovich, Tsarevich of RussiaGrand Duke AlexanderAnna, Duchess of Holstein-Gottorp Elizabeth of Russia Grand Duchess Natalia
issue-link	#Issue
issue-pipe	among others...
house	House of Romanov
full name	Peter Alekseyevich Romanov
father	Alexis I
mother	Natalya Naryshkina
birth date	June 09, 1672
birth place	Moscow
death date	February 08, 1725
death place	Saint Petersburg
burial place	Peter and Paul Cathedral
signature	Peter the Great Signature.svg
religion	Eastern Orthodox }}

Peter I the Great or Pyotr Alexeyevich Romanov () ( – ) ruled Russia and later the Russian Empire from until his death, jointly ruling before 1696 with his half-brother, Ivan V. He carried out a policy of modernization and expansion that transformed the Tsardom of Russia into a 5 million mi² (12 milion km²) Russian Empire, a major European power.

Life

Early years

From an early age his unique education (commissioned by Tsar Alexis I) was put in the hands of several tutors; most notably Nikita Zotov, Patrick Gordon and Paul Menesius. On 29 January 1676, Tsar Alexis died, leaving the sovereignty to Peter's elder half-brother, the weak and sickly Feodor III. Throughout this period, the government was largely run by Artamon Matveev, an enlightened friend of Alexis, the political head of the Naryshkin family and one of Peter's greatest childhood benefactors. This position changed when Feodor died six years later in 1682. As Feodor did not leave any children, a dispute arose between the Naryshkin and Miloslavsky families over who should inherit the throne. Peter's other half-brother, Ivan V, was the next for the throne, but he was chronically ill and of infirm mind. Consequently, the Boyar Duma (a council of Russian nobles) chose the 10-year-old Peter to become Tsar, his mother becoming regent. This arrangement was brought before the people of Moscow, as ancient tradition demanded, where the people ratified it. But one of Alexis' daughters from his first marriage, Sophia Alekseyevna, led a rebellion of the Streltsy (Russia's elite military corps). In the subsequent conflict, some of Peter's relatives and friends were murdered, including Matveev, and Peter witnessed some of these acts of political violence. The Streltsy uprising of April–May 1682 made it possible for Sophia, the Miloslavskys (the clan of Ivan), and their allies, to insist that Peter and Ivan be proclaimed joint Tsars, with Ivan being acclaimed as the senior of the two. Sophia acted as regent during the minority of the two sovereigns and exercised all power. Peculiarly, a large hole was cut in the back of the dual-seated throne used by Ivan and Peter. Sophia would sit behind the throne and listen as Peter conversed with nobles, also feeding him information and giving him responses to questions and problems. This throne can be seen in the Kremlin museum in Moscow. For seven years, she ruled as an autocrat.

Peter was not particularly concerned that others ruled in his own name. He engaged in such pastimes as shipbuilding and sailing, as well as mock battles with his toy army. Peter's mother sought to force him to adopt a more conventional approach and arranged his marriage to Eudoxia Lopukhina in 1689. The marriage was a failure, and ten years later Peter forced her to become a nun and thus freed himself from the union.

By the summer of 1689, Peter planned to take power from his half-sister Sophia, whose position had been weakened by two unsuccessful Crimean campaigns. When she learned of his designs, Sophia began to conspire with the leaders of the Streltsy, who continually aroused disorder and dissent of the tsar's rule. Unfortunately for Sophia, Peter, warned by the Streltsy, escaped in the middle of the night to the impenetrable monastery of Troitsky; there he slowly gathered his adherents and others, who perceived he would win the power struggle. She was therefore overthrown, with Peter I and Ivan V continuing to act as co-tsars. Peter forced Sophia to enter a convent, where she gave up her name and position as a member of the royal family.

Still, Peter could not acquire actual control over Russian affairs. Power was instead exercised by his mother, Natalya Naryshkina. It was only when Nataliya died in 1694 that Peter became an independent sovereign. Formally, Ivan V remained a co-ruler with Peter, although he was still ineffective. Peter became the sole ruler when Ivan died in 1696.

Peter grew to be quite tall as an adult, especially for the time period. Standing at 6 ft 8 in(200 cm) in height, the Russian tsar was literally head and shoulders above his contemporaries both in Russia and throughout Europe. Peter, however, lacked the overall proportional heft and bulk generally found in a man that size. Both Peter's hands and feet were small, and his shoulders narrow for his height; likewise, his head was also small for his tall body. Added to this were Peter's noticeable facial tics, and, judging by descriptions handed down, he may have suffered from ''petit mal'', a form of epilepsy.

Filippo Baltari, a young Italian visitor to Peter's court, wrote:

"Tsar Peter was tall and thin, rather than stout. His hair was thick, short, and dark brown; he had large eyes, black with long lashes, a well-shaped mouth, but the lower lip was slightly disfigured...For his great height, his feet seemed very narrow. His head was sometimes tugged to the right by convulsions."

Otherwise, judging by documents—or lack thereof—that have managed to survive to the present day, few contemporaries, either in or outside of Russia, commented on Peter's great height or appearance.

Children

Peter the Great had two wives with whom he had fourteen children; just three of them surviving to adulthood. His eldest child and heir, Alexei, was suspected of being involved in a plot to overthrow the Emperor. Alexei was tried and confessed during the tortured questioning conducted by a secular court, where he was convicted and sentenced to be executed. The sentence could be carried out only with Peter's signed authorization, and Alexei died in prison as Peter hesitated before making the decision. Alexei's death most likely resulted from the injuries suffered during his torture.

Early reign

Peter implemented sweeping reforms aimed at modernizing Russia. Heavily influenced by his advisors from Western Europe, Peter reorganized the Russian army along modern lines and dreamed of making Russia a maritime power. He faced much opposition to these policies at home, but brutally suppressed any and all rebellions against his authority, the rebelling of streltsy, Bashkirs, Astrakhan and including the greatest civil uprising of his reign, the Bulavin Rebellion. Further, Peter implemented social modernization in an absolute manner by requiring courtiers, state officials, and the military to shave their beards and adopt modern clothing styles.

To improve his nation's position on the seas, Peter sought to gain more maritime outlets. His only outlet at the time was the White Sea at Arkhangelsk. The Baltic Sea was at the time controlled by Sweden in the north, while the Black Sea was controlled by the Ottoman Empire in the south. Peter attempted to acquire control of the Black Sea, but to do so he would have to expel the Tatars from the surrounding areas. He was forced, as part of an agreement with Poland, which ceded Kiev to Russia, to wage war against the Crimean Khan and against the Khan's overlord, the Ottoman Sultan. Peter's primary objective became the capture of the Ottoman fortress of Azov, near the Don River. In the summer of 1695 Peter organized the Azov campaigns to take the fortress, but his attempts ended in failure. Peter returned to Moscow in November of that year, and promptly began building a large navy. He launched about thirty ships against the Ottomans in 1696, capturing Azov in July of that year. On 12 September 1698, Peter officially founded the first Russian Navy base, Taganrog. Peter knew that Russia could not face the Ottoman Empire alone. In 1697, he traveled incognito to Europe on an 18-month journey with a large Russian delegation–the so-called "Grand Embassy"—to seek the aid of the European monarchs. Peter's hopes were dashed; France was a traditional ally of the Ottoman Sultan, and Austria was eager to maintain peace in the east whilst conducting its own wars in the west. Peter, furthermore, had chosen the most inopportune moment; the Europeans at the time were more concerned about who would succeed the childless Spanish King Charles II than about fighting the Ottoman Sultan.

The "Grand Embassy", although failing to complete the mission of creating an anti-Ottoman alliance, still continued to travel across Europe. In visiting Holland, Peter learned much about the life in Western Europe. He studied shipbuilding in Zaandam (the house he lived in is now a museum, the Tsar Peter house) and Amsterdam, and later put this learning to use in helping build Russia's navy during his rule. Thanks to the mediation of Nicolaas Witsen, mayor of Amsterdam and expert on Russia par excellence, the Tsar was given the opportunity to gain practical experience in the largest shipyard in the world, belonging to the Dutch East India Company, for a period of four months. The Tsar helped with the construction of an East Indiaman especially laid down for him: ''Peter and Paul''. During his stay the tsar engaged many skilled workers such as builders of locks, fortresses, shipwrights and seamen, including Cornelis Cruys, a vice-admiral who became under Franz Lefort the Tsar's advisor in maritime affairs. Besides Peter paid a visit to Frederik Ruysch, who taught him how to draw teeth and catch butterflies. Also Ludolf Bakhuysen, a painter of seascapes and Jan van der Heyden the inventor of the fire hose, received Peter, who was keen on learning and bringing home what he had seen. On 16 January 1698 Peter organized his farewell party and invited Johan Huydecoper van Maarsseveen, who had to sit between Lefort and the tsar and drink.

In England he met with King William III, visited Greenwich and Oxford, was painted by Sir Godfrey Kneller and saw a Royal Navy Fleet Review at Deptford. He also travelled to the fledgling city of Manchester to learn the techniques of city building he would later use to great effect at Saint Petersburg. Then the Embassy went to Leipzig, Dresden and Vienna. He spoke with August the Strong and Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor. The Embassy did not make it to Venice.

Peter's visit was cut short in 1698, when he was forced to rush home by a rebellion of the ''streltsy''. The rebellion was, however, easily crushed before Peter returned home from England; of the Tsar's troops, only one was killed. Peter nevertheless acted ruthlessly towards the mutineers. Over 1200 of the rebels were tortured and executed, and Peter ordered that their bodies be publicly exhibited as a warning to future conspirators. The ''streltsy'' were disbanded, and the individual they sought to put on the Throne—Peter's half-sister Sophia—was forced to become a nun.

Also, upon his return from his European tour, Peter sought to end his unhappy marriage. He divorced the Tsaritsa, Eudoxia Lopukhina. The Tsaritsa had borne Peter three children, although only one, the Tsarevich Alexei, had survived past his childhood.

In 1698, Peter sent a delegation to Malta under boyar Boris Petrovich Sheremetyev, to observe the training and abilities of the Knights of Malta and their fleet. Sheremetyev also investigated the possibility of future joint ventures with the Knights, including action against the Turks and the possibility of a future Russian naval base.

Peter's visits to the West impressed upon him the notion that European customs were in several respects superior to Russian traditions. He commanded all of his courtiers and officials to cut off their long beards—causing his Boyars, who were very fond of their beards, great upset—and wear European clothing. Boyars who sought to retain their beards were required to pay an annual beard tax of one hundred rubles. He also sought to end arranged marriages, which were the norm among the Russian nobility, because he thought such a practice was not only barbaric but also led to domestic violence since the partners usually resented each other in this forced union.

In 1699, Peter also changed the celebration of new year from 1 September to 1 January. Traditionally, the years were reckoned from the purported creation of the World, but after Peter's reforms, they were to be counted from the birth of Christ. Thus, in the year 7207 of the old Russian calendar, Peter proclaimed that the Julian Calendar was in effect and the year was 1700.

Great Northern War

Peter made a temporary peace with the Ottoman Empire that allowed him to keep the captured fort of Azov, and turned his attention to Russian maritime supremacy. He sought to acquire control of the Baltic Sea, which had been taken by the Swedish Empire a half-century earlier. Peter declared war on Sweden, which was at the time led by King Charles XII. Sweden was also opposed by Denmark-Norway, Saxony, and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.

Russia turned out to be ill-prepared to fight the Swedes, and their first attempt at seizing the Baltic coast ended in disaster at the Battle of Narva in 1700. In the conflict, the forces of Charles XII used a blinding snowstorm to their advantage. After the battle, Charles XII decided to concentrate his forces against the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, giving Peter I time to reorganize the Russian army. At the end of February 1701 he met with Polish King Augustus II the Strong in Biržai, where both the rulers after several days of orgy of drinking arranged competitions of shooting the cannons that won the Polish King.

As the Poles and Lithuanians fought against the Swedes, Peter founded the city of Saint Petersburg (Germanically named after Saint Peter the Apostle) in Ingermanland (province of Swedish empire, which he had captured) in 1703. He forbade the building of stone edifices outside Saint Petersburg, which he intended to become Russia's capital, so that all stonemasons could participate in the construction of the new city. He also took Martha Skavronskaya as a mistress. Martha converted to the Russian Orthodox Church and took the name Catherine, allegedly marrying Peter in secret in 1707. In any case Peter valued Catherine and proceeded to marry her again (this time officially) at Saint Isaac's Cathedral in Saint Petersburg on 9 February 1712.

Following several defeats, the Polish King August II abdicated in 1706. Charles XII turned his attention to Russia, invading it in 1708. After crossing into Russia, Charles defeated Peter at Golovchin in July. In the Battle of Lesnaya, however, Charles suffered his first loss after Peter crushed a group of Swedish reinforcements marching from Riga. Deprived of this aid, Charles was forced to abandon his proposed march on Moscow.

Charles XII refused to retreat to Poland or back to Sweden, instead invading Ukraine. Peter withdrew his army southward, destroying any property that could assist the Swedes along the way. Deprived of local supplies, the Swedish army was forced to halt its advance in the winter of 1708–1709. In the summer of 1709, they nevertheless resumed their efforts to capture Ukraine, culminating in the Battle of Poltava on 27 June. The battle was a decisive defeat for Swedish forces, ending Charles' campaign in Ukraine and forcing him into exile in the Ottoman Empire. In Poland, August II was restored as King.

Peter, overestimating the support he would receive from Balkan allies, attacked the Ottoman Empire, initiating the Russo-Turkish War of 1710. Normally, the Boyar Duma would have exercised power during his absence. Peter, however, mistrusted the boyars; he instead abolished the Duma and created a Senate of ten members. Peter's campaign in the Ottoman Empire was disastrous, and in the ensuing peace treaty, Peter was forced to return the Black Sea ports he had seized in 1697. In return, the Sultan expelled Charles XII, but Russia was forced to guarantee safe passage to the Swedish king, who in the end traveled back to Sweden through Germany.

Peter's northern armies took the Swedish province of Livonia (the northern half of modern Latvia, and the southern half of modern Estonia), driving the Swedes back into Finland. In 1714 the Russian fleet won the Battle of Gangut. Most of Finland was occupied by the Russians. In 1716 and 1717, the Tsar revisited the Netherlands, and went to see Herman Boerhaave. He continued his travel to the Austrian Netherlands and France. The Tsar's navy was so powerful that the Russians could penetrate Sweden. Peter also obtained the assistance of the Electorate of Hanover and the Kingdom of Prussia. Still, Charles XII refused to yield, and not until his death in battle in 1718 did peace become feasible. After the battle near Åland, Sweden made peace with all powers but Russia by 1720. In 1721, the Treaty of Nystad ended what became known as the Great Northern War. Russia acquired Ingria, Estonia, Livonia and a substantial portion of Karelia. In turn, Russia paid two million Riksdaler and surrendered most of Finland. The Tsar was, however, permitted to retain some Finnish lands close to Saint Petersburg, which he had made his capital in 1712. He gained access to a warm-water-port during his reign for easier trading with the west part of Europe.

Later years

Peter I's last years were marked by further reform in Russia. On 22 October 1721, soon after peace was made with Sweden, he was officially proclaimed ''Emperor of All Russia''. Some proposed that he take the title ''Emperor of the East'', but he refused. Gavrila Golovkin, the State Chancellor, was the first to add "the Great, Father of His Country, Emperor of All the Russias" to Peter's traditional title Tsar following a speech by the archbishop of Pskov in 1721.

Peter's imperial title was recognized by Augustus II of Poland, Frederick William I of Prussia and Frederick I of Sweden, but not by the other European monarchs. In the minds of many, the word ''emperor'' connoted superiority or pre-eminence over "mere" kings. Several rulers feared that Peter would claim authority over them, just as the Holy Roman Emperor had once claimed suzerainty over all Christian nations.

During Peter's reign the Russian Orthodox Church was reformed. The traditional leader of the Church was the Patriarch of Moscow. In 1700, when the office fell vacant, Peter had refused to name a replacement, allowing the Patriarch's Coadjutor (or deputy) to discharge the duties of the office. Twenty-one years later, in 1721, Peter followed the advice of Feofan Prokopovich and erected the Holy Synod, a council of ten clergymen, to take the place of the Patriarch and Coadjutor. Peter also implemented a law that stipulated that no Russian man could join a monastery before the age of 50. He felt that too many able Russian men were being wasted away by clerical work when they could be joining his new and improved army. And in 18th century Russia, few people (men and women) lived to over a half century, therefore very few men became monks during Peter's reign, much to the dismay of the Russian Church.

In 1722, Peter created a new order of precedence, known as the Table of Ranks. Formerly, precedence had been determined by birth. To deprive the Boyars of their high positions, Peter directed that precedence should be determined by merit and service to the Emperor. The Table of Ranks continued to remain in effect until the Russian monarchy was overthrown in 1917. In addition, Peter decided that all of the children of the nobility should have some early education, especially in the areas of sciences. Therefore, on 28 February 1714, he issued a decree on compulsory education, which dictated that all Russian 10- to 15-year-old children of the nobility, government clerks, and even lesser ranked officials, must learn basic mathematics and geometry, and should be tested on it at the end of their studies. Peter also introduced new taxes to fund improvements in Saint Petersburg. He abolished the land tax and household tax, and replaced them with a capitation. The taxes on land and on households were payable only by individuals who owned property or maintained families; the new head taxes, however, were payable by serfs and paupers.

In 1724, Peter had his second wife, Catherine, crowned as Empress, although he remained Russia's actual ruler. All of Peter's male children had died—the eldest son, Alexei, had been tortured and killed on Peter's orders in 1718 because he had disobeyed his father and opposed official policies. At the same time, Alexei's mother Eudoxia had also been punished; she was dragged from her home and tried on false charges of adultery. A similar fate befell Peter's beautiful mistress, Anna Mons, in 1704.

In 1725, construction of Peterhof, a palace near Saint Petersburg, was completed. Peterhof (Dutch for "Peter's Court") was a grand residence, becoming known as the "Russian Versailles".

Death

In the winter of 1723, Peter, whose overall health was never robust, began having problems with his urinary tract and bladder. In the summer of 1724 a team of doctors performed the necessary surgery releasing upwards of four pounds of blocked urine. Peter remained bedridden till late autumn. Then in the first week of October, restless and certain he was cured, Peter began a lengthy inspection tour of various projects. According to legend, it was in November, while at Lakhta along the Finnish Gulf to inspect some ironworks, that Peter saw a group of soldiers drowning not far from shore and, wading out into near-waist deep water, came to their rescue.

This icy water rescue is said to have exacerbated Peter's bladder problems and caused his death. The story, however, has been viewed with skepticism by some historians, pointing out that the German chronicler Jacob von Stählin is the only source for the story, and it seems unlikely that no one else would have documented such an act of heroism. This, plus the interval of time between these actions and Peter's death seems to preclude any direct link.

In early January 1725, Peter was struck once again with uremia. Legend has it that before lapsing into unconsciousness Peter asked for a paper and pen and scrawled an unfinished note that read: ''"Leave all to...."'' and then, exhausted by the effort, asked for his daughter Anna to be summoned.

Peter died between four and five in the morning 8 February 1725. An autopsy revealed his bladder to be infected with gangrene. He was fifty-two years, seven months old when he died, having reigned forty-two years.

Ancestors

{{ahnentafel-compact5 |style=font-size: 90%; line-height: 110%; |border=1 |boxstyle=padding-top: 0; padding-bottom: 0; |boxstyle_1=background-color: #fcc; |boxstyle_2=background-color: #fb9; |boxstyle_3=background-color: #ffc; |boxstyle_4=background-color: #bfc; |boxstyle_5=background-color: #9fe; |1= 1. Peter I of Russia |2= 2. Alexis of Russia |3= 3. Natalya Naryshkina |4= 4. Michael of Russia |5= 5. Eudoxia Streshneva |6= 6. Kirill Poluektovich Naryshkin |7= 7.Anna Lvovna Leontieva |8= 8. Feodor Nikitich Romanov |9= 9. Kseniya Shestova |10= 10. Lukyan Stepanovich Streshnyov |11= 11. Anna Konstantinovna Volkonskaya |16= 16. Nikita Romanovich |17= 17. Varvara Ivanovna Khovrina }}

Issue

18 February 1690 13 October 1691 1693 1704 1705 7 February 1707 27 January 1708 29 December 1709 20 March 1713 19 September 1714 15 November 1715 13 January 1717 31 August 1718 7 October 1723

!Name!!Birth!!Death!!Notes
colspan=4	''By Eudoxia Lopukhina''
	|	26 June 1718	Married 1711, Princess Charlotte of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel; had issue.
Grand Duke Alexander Petrovich of Russia	HIH Alexander Petrovich, Grand Duke of Russia	|	14 May 1692
HIH Pavel Petrovich, Grand Duke of Russia	|	1693
colspan=4	''By Catherine I''
Pavel Petrovich	|	1707	Born and died before the official marriage of his parents.
Peter Petrovich	|	1707	Born and died before the official marriage of his parents.
Catherine Petrovna	|	1708	Born and died before the official marriage of her parents.
Anna Petrovna	HIH Anna Petrovna, Tsesarevna of Russia	|	15 May 1728	Karl Friedrich of Holstein-Gottorp>Karl Friedrich, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp; had issue.
Elizabeth of Russia	HIM Empress Elizabeth	|	5 January 1762	Reputedly married 1742, Alexei Grigorievich, Count Razumovsky; no issue
HIH Maria Petrovna, Grand Duchess of Russia	|	27 May 1715
HIH Margarita Petrovna, Grand Duchess of Russia	|	7 June 1715
HIH Peter Petrovich, Grand Duke of Russia	|	19 April 1719
HIH Pavel Petrovich, Grand Duke of Russia	|	14 January 1717
Grand Duchess Natalia Petrovna of Russia (1718–1725)	HIH Natalia Petrovna, Grand Duchess of Russia	|	15 March 1725
HIH Peter Petrovich, Grand Duke of Russia	|	7 October 1723

Popular culture

Peter has been featured in many books, plays, films and games including the poems ''The Bronze Horseman'', ''Poltava'' and the unfinished novel ''Peter the Great's Negro'', all by Alexander Pushkin. The former dealt with a The Bronze Horseman, an equestrian statue raised in Peter's honour. Alexey Nikolayevich Tolstoy wrote a biographical historical novel about him, named ''Pëtr I'', in the 1930s, which, along with its adaptations, became a major influence on Peter's subsequent portrayals.

There is a 1976 film, ''Skaz pro to, kak tsar Pyotr arapa zhenil'' (''How Tsar Peter the Great Married Off His Moor''), starring Aleksey Petrenko as Peter, and Vladimir Vysotsky as Abram Petrovich Gannibal. Much of the film shows Peter's attempt to build the Baltic Fleet.

The 2007 film, ''Sluga Gosudarev'', depicts the unsavoury brutal side of Peter during the campaign.

Peter was played by Jan Niklas and Maximilian Schell in the 1986 NBC miniseries ''Peter the Great''.

A character based on Peter plays a major role in ''The Age of Unreason'', a series of four alternate history novels written by American science fiction and fantasy author Gregory Keyes. Peter is one of many supporting characters in Neal Stephenson's ''Baroque Cycle'' – mainly featuring in the third novel, ''The System of the World''.

See also

Government reform of Peter I

History of the administrative division of Russia

Reforms of Peter I of Russia

Russian battlecruiser Pyotr Velikiy, a Russian Navy battlecruiser named after Peter the Great

Russian history, 1682-1796

Tsars of Russia family tree

Notes

References

Brickner Alexander Gustavovich. (1902–1903) An Illustrated History of Peter the Great (Иллюстрированная история Петра Великого) at Runivers.ru in DjVu and PDF formats

Graham, Stephen ''Peter the Great: A Life of Peter I of Russia called The Great'' Biographical work with 367 pages, plus Index. Not Illustrated, other than a black and white frontispiece portrait of Peter the Great.

Hughes, Lindsey. ''Russia in the Age of Peter the Great''. New Haven, CT; London: Yale University Press, 1998 (hardcover, ISBN 0-300-07539-1; paperback, ISBN 0-300-08266-5).

Hughes, Lindsey. ''Peter the Great and the West: New Perspectives (Studies in Russian and Eastern European History)''. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2001 (hardcover, ISBN 0-333-92009-0).

Hughes, Lindsey. ''Peter the Great: A Biography''. New Haven, CT; London: Yale University Press, 2002 (hardcover, ISBN 0-300-09426-4); 2004 (paperback, ISBN 0-300-10300-X).

Troyat, Henri. ''Peter the Great''. New York: E.P. Dutton, 1987 (hardcover), ISBN 0525245472

{{s-ttl| title = Emperor of Russia | years = 1721–1725 }} {{s-ttl| title = Duke of Estonia and Livonia | years = 1721–1725 }}

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name	Seth MacFarlane
alt	A man (Seth MacFarlane) with black hair, and tan skin with a black shirt on, leans forward while laughing into a microphone.
birth name	Seth Woodbury MacFarlane
birth date	October 26, 1973
birth place	Kent, Connecticut, U.S.
alma mater	Rhode Island School of Design (B.F.A.)
occupation	Actor, animator, writer, comedian, singer, producer, voice actor
years active	1995–present
religion	Atheist
signature	}}

Seth Woodbury MacFarlane (; born October 26, 1973) is an American animator, writer, comedian, producer, actor, singer, voice actor, and director best known for creating the animated sitcoms ''Family Guy'', ''American Dad!'' and ''The Cleveland Show'', for which he also voices many of the shows' various characters.

A native of Kent, Connecticut, MacFarlane is a graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design, where he studied animation, earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree. He was an animator and writer for Hanna-Barbera for several television shows, including ''Johnny Bravo'', ''Cow and Chicken'', ''Dexter's Laboratory'' and ''I Am Weasel'', before creating his own series for 20th Century Fox entitled ''Family Guy'' in 1999. MacFarlane went on to co-create ''American Dad!'' in 2005, ''The Winner'' in 2007 and ''The Cleveland Show'' in 2009 for 20th Century Fox.

As an actor, he has made guest appearances on shows such as ''Gilmore Girls'', ''The War at Home'' and ''FlashForward''. MacFarlane's interest in science fiction and fantasy has led to cameo and guest appearances on ''Star Trek: Enterprise'' and voicing the character of Johann Kraus in Guillermo del Toro's ''Hellboy II: The Golden Army''. In 2008, he created his own YouTube series entitled ''Seth MacFarlane's Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy''. As a performer, MacFarlane has sung at several venues, including Carnegie and Royal Albert Hall.

MacFarlane has won several awards for his work on ''Family Guy'', including two Primetime Emmy Awards, and an Annie Award. In 2009, he won the Webby Award for Film & Video Person of the Year. For several years, ''Family Guy'' has been a large subject of criticism from television watchdog groups, such as the Parents Television Council, who regularly condemn ''Family Guy'' for its indecency. Even fellow cartoonists such as ''The Simpsons'' creator Matt Groening, ''Ren and Stimpy's'' John Kricfalusi and ''South Park'' duo Trey Parker and Matt Stone, have criticized MacFarlane's creation on numerous occasions. He occasionally speaks at universities and colleges throughout the United States, and is a supporter of gay rights.

On the February 10, 2011 episode of the TBS variety nighttime talk-show series ''Conan'', MacFarlane announced he is directing his first feature-length film, ''Ted''. The film stars Mark Wahlberg as an adult, who as a child, wished his teddy bear would come to life. MacFarlane will be the voice and motion capture for the bear. It is currently in production and is scheduled for release sometime in 2012. MacFarlane has announced he is working on a debut album. The album, ''Music Is Better Than Words'', has recently been finished and will be released in September 2011. It has been announced that MacFarlane will produce a revival of H-B's ''The Flintstones'' for the FOX network. Development will begin in fall 2011 and the first episode is scheduled to air in 2013.

Early life

MacFarlane's parents, Ann Perry (née Sager) and Ronald Milton MacFarlane, were born in Newburyport, Massachusetts. He is of Scottish, English and Welsh ancestry, partly by way of Canada, and his ancestors include William Brewster, who traveled to America on the Mayflower. MacFarlane's parents met in 1970, when they both lived and worked in Boston, and married later that year. The couple moved to Kent, Connecticut in 1972, where Ann Perry began working in the Admissions Office at South Kent School and later in the College Guidance and Admissions Offices at Kent School, a selective college preparatory school where Ronald was also a teacher. During his childhood, MacFarlane developed an interest in illustration and began drawing cartoon characters Fred Flintstone and Woody Woodpecker, as early as two years old. By the age of five, MacFarlane knew that he would want to pursue a career in animation, and began by creating flip books, after his parents found a book on the subject. Four years later, at nine, MacFarlane began publishing a weekly comic strip entitled "Walter Crouton" for ''The Kent Good Times Dispatch'', the local newspaper in Kent, Connecticut, which paid him five dollars per week.

MacFarlane received his high school diploma in 1991 from the Kent School. While there, he continued experimenting with animation, and was given an 8 mm camera by his parents. MacFarlane went on to study film, video and animation at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), where he earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. As a student, he had originally intended to work for Disney, but changed his mind upon graduating. At RISD, MacFarlane created a series of independent films, eventually meeting future ''Family Guy'' cast member Mike Henry, whose brother was MacFarlane's classmate. His senior year at RISD, MacFarlane created a thesis film entitled ''The Life of Larry'', which would eventually become the inspiration for ''Family Guy''. MacFarlane's professor submitted his film to the animation studio Hanna-Barbera, where he was later hired.

Early career

After college MacFarlane was hired at Hanna-Barbera (then Hanna-Barbera Cartoons) based on the writing content of ''The Life of Larry'', not based on artistic merits. He was one of few people hired to the company solely based on writing talent. At Hanna-Barbera, MacFarlane worked as an animator and writer for Cartoon Network's ''Cartoon Cartoons'' series. He described the atmosphere at Hanna-Barbera as resembling an "old fashioned Hollywood structure," where you move from one show to another or you jump from a writing job on one show to a storyboard job on another. MacFarlane worked on four television series during his tenure at the studio: ''Dexter's Laboratory'', ''Cow and Chicken'', ''I Am Weasel'', and ''Johnny Bravo''. Working as both a writer and storyboard artist, MacFarlane spent the most time on ''Johnny Bravo''. He found it easier to develop his own style at ''Johnny Bravo'' through the show's process of scriptwriting, which ''Dexter'' and ''Cow and Chicken'' did not use. He also did freelance work for Walt Disney Television Animation, writing for ''Jungle Cubs'' and ''Ace Ventura: Pet Detective''. Through strict observation of writing elements such as story progression, character stakes, and plot points, MacFarlane found the work for Disney was, from a writing standpoint, very valuable in preparation for his career (particularly on ''Ace Ventura''). MacFarlane also created and wrote a short titled ''Zoomates'' for Frederator Studios' ''Oh Yeah! Cartoons'' on Nickelodeon. In 1996, MacFarlane created a sequel to ''The Life of Larry'' entitled ''Larry and Steve'', which features a middle-aged character named Larry and an intellectual dog, Steve. The short was broadcast as one of Cartoon Network's ''World Premiere Toons''. Executives at Fox saw both ''Larry'' shorts and negotiations soon began for a prime-time animated series.

Although MacFarlane enjoyed working at Hanna-Barbera, he felt his real calling was for prime-time animation, which would allow a much edgier style of humor. He first pitched ''Family Guy'' to Fox during his tenure at Hanna-Barbera. A development executive for Hanna-Barbera, who was trying to get back into the prime-time business at the time, introduced MacFarlane to Leslie Collins and Mike Darnell, heads of the alternative comedy department at Fox. After the success of ''King of the Hill'' in 1997, MacFarlane called Collins once more to ask about a possible second pitch for the series. The company offered the young writer a strange deal: Fox gave him a budget of $50,000 to produce a pilot that could lead to a series (most episodes of animated prime-time productions cost at least $1 million). Recalling the experience in an interview with ''The New York Times'', MacFarlane stated, "I spent about six months with no sleep and no life, just drawing like crazy in my kitchen and doing this pilot." After six months, MacFarlane returned to Fox with a "very, very simply, crudely animated film – with just enough to get the tone of the show across" to present to the executives, who loved the pilot and ordered the series immediately. In July 1998, the Fox Broadcast Company announced the purchase of ''Family Guy'' for a January 1999 debut. ''Family Guy'' was originally intended to be a series of shorts on ''MADtv'', much in the same way ''The Simpsons'' had begun on ''The Tracey Ullman Show'' a decade earlier. Negotiations for the show's ''MADtv'' connection fell through early on as a result of budgetary concerns. At age 24, MacFarlane was television's youngest executive producer.

Further career

''Family Guy''

''Family Guy'' first aired January 31, 1999. MacFarlane's work in animating ''Family Guy'' has been influenced by Jackie Gleason and Hanna-Barbera along with examples from ''The Simpsons'' and ''All in the Family''. In addition to writing three episodes, "Death Has a Shadow", "Family Guy Viewer Mail 1" and "North by North Quahog", MacFarlane voices ''Family Guy'''s main characters – Peter Griffin, Stewie Griffin, Brian Griffin and Glenn Quagmire as well as Tom Tucker, his son Jake and additional characters. Bolstered by high DVD sales and established fan loyalty, ''Family Guy'' developed into a $1 billion franchise. On May 4, 2008, after approximately two and a half years of negotiations, MacFarlane reached a $100 million agreement with Fox to keep ''Family Guy'' and ''American Dad'' until 2012. The agreement makes him the world's highest paid television writer.

MacFarlane's success with ''Family Guy'' has opened doors to other ventures relating to ''Family Guy''. On April 26, 2005, he and composer Walter Murphy created ''Family Guy: Live in Vegas''. The soundtrack features a Broadway show tune theme, and MacFarlane voiced Stewie in the track "Stewie's Sexy Party". A fan of Broadway musicals, MacFarlane comments on using musicals as a component to ''Family Guy'': In addition, a ''Family Guy'' video game was released in 2006. Two years later, in August 2007, he closed a digital content production deal with AdSense. MacFarlane takes cast members on the road to voice characters in front of live audiences. ''Family Guy Live'' provides fans with the opportunity to hear future scripts. In mid-2007 Chicago fans had the opportunity to hear the then upcoming sixth season premiere "Blue Harvest". Shows have been played in Montreal, New York City, Chicago, and Los Angeles.

On July 22, 2007, in an interview with ''The Hollywood Reporter'', MacFarlane announced that he may start working on a feature film, although "nothing's official." In September 2007, Ricky Blitt gave TV.com an interview confirming that he had already started working on the script. Then in TV Week on July 18, 2008, MacFarlane confirmed plans to produce a theatrically released ''Family Guy'' feature film sometime "within the next year". He came up with an idea for the story, "something that you could not do on the show, which [to him] is the only reason to do a movie." He later went to say he imagines the film to be "an old-style musical with dialogue" similar to ''The Sound of Music'', saying that he would "really be trying to capture, musically, that feel."

Despite its popularity, ''Family Guy'' has not been immune to criticism. The Parents Television Council frequently criticizes ''Family Guy'' for its content, once organized a letter-writing campaign aimed at removing ''Family Guy'' from FOX's lineup, and has filed complaints with the Federal Communications Commission alleging that some episodes of the show contained indecent content. MacFarlane has responded to the PTC's criticism by saying, among other things, "That's like getting hate mail from Hitler. They're literally terrible human beings." ''Family Guy'' has been cancelled twice, although strong fan support and DVD sales have caused Fox to reconsider. MacFarlane mentioned how these cancellations affected the lineup of writers each time Fox again gave ''Family Guy'' the green-light, "One of the positive aspects of 'Family Guy' constantly being pulled off [the air] is that we were always having to restaff writers".

During the sixth season, episodes of ''Family Guy'' and ''American Dad!'' were delayed from regular broadcast due to the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike (which MacFarlane participated in to support the writers while FOX aired three ''Family Guy'' episodes without MacFarlane's permission). On February 12, 2008, the strike ended, and the series resumed airing regularly, beginning with "Back to the Woods".

''American Dad!''

Seth co-created ''American Dad!'', with Matt Weitzman and Mike Barker. ''American Dad!'' was first shown after Super Bowl XXXIX as a sneak preview on February 6, 2005. The show began airing regularly on Fox on May 1, 2005. MacFarlane describes the show being similar to ''All in the Family''

''American Dad!'' received its inspiration from President George W. Bush's policies. The show focuses on Stan Smith, a straight-laced CIA officer and fanatical conservative. Stan's wife (Francine) and children, (Hayley and Steve), share a typical middle class home with Roger, an extraterrestrial rescued by Stan from Area 51, and Klaus, a goldfish who hosts the transplanted brain of an East German, 1986 Olympian skier. Seth MacFarlane provides the voices of Stan and Roger, basing Roger's voice on Paul Lynde as he played Uncle Arthur in ''Bewitched''. His sister Rachael MacFarlane provides the voice of Hayley Smith.

''The Winner''

MacFarlane was the executive producer of a live-action sitcom starring Rob Corddry called ''The Winner''. The show premiered on Fox on March 4, 2007. The plot has a man named Glen discussing the time he matured at 32 and has him pursuing his only love after she moves in next door. Glen meets her son and both become good friends.

After six episodes, the show was officially cancelled on May 16, 2007. However, at ''Family Guy Live'' in Montreal on July 21, 2007, Seth MacFarlane stated, "It is looking like there could be a future life for ''The Winner''". After MacFarlane's statement neither Fox nor MacFarlane has released any details of plans for the show to return. The show was mentioned in the ''Family Guy'' episode "Family Gay" where all of the horses at a racing track are named after failed Fox shows, ''The Winner'' being one of them.

''The Cleveland Show''

Seth MacFarlane developed a ''Family Guy'' spin-off called ''The Cleveland Show'', which focuses on the character of Cleveland Brown and his family. The idea for the show originated from a suggestion by ''Family Guy'' writer and voice of Cleveland, Mike Henry. Fox ordered 22 episodes and the series first aired on September 27, 2009. The show, which was picked up to air a first season consisting of 22 episodes, was picked up by Fox for a second season, consisting of 13 episodes, bringing the total number to 35 episodes. The announcement was made on May 3, 2009 before the first season even premiered. Due to strong ratings FOX picked up the back 9 episodes of season 2 which would make a 22 episode season and bring the total episode count of the show to 44.

''Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy''

On September 10, 2008, MacFarlane released a series of webisodes known as ''Seth MacFarlane's Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy''. These animated shorts were distributed by Burger King and released weekly.

''The Flintstones''

In May 2011, it was reported that MacFarlane had signed a deal to revamp ''The Flintstones'' for airing in 2013 and a shot of Peter and Lois Griffin as Fred and Wilma Flintstone was released.

''Pokemon Guy''

In August 2011, it was also reported that he will make a TV series for KIDS based on Family Guy and the hit TV series/video games series, Pokemon. It stars the characters of Family Guy becoming a Pokemon Trainer with their own Pokemon. To see go to: http://pokemonfamilyguy.wikia.com/

Guest appearances

MacFarlane has appeared in sitcoms, comedy and news programs, independent films, and other animated shows. In 2002, MacFarlane appeared in the ''Gilmore Girls'' episode "Lorelai's Graduation Day". Four years later on November 5, 2006, MacFarlane guest starred on Fox's ''The War at Home'' as "Hillary's Date", an unnamed 33-year-old man who secretly dates teenaged Hillary in the episode "I Wash My Hands of You". MacFarlane has also appeared as the engineer Ensign Rivers on ''Star Trek: Enterprise'' in the third season episode "The Forgotten" and the fourth season episode "Affliction". During 2006, MacFarlane had a role in the independent film ''Life is Short''. He portrayed Dr. Ned, a psychologist who advises a short man (played by ''Freaks and Geeks'' star Samm Levine) to have relationships with taller women. He is also a frequent guest on the radio talkshow ''Loveline'', hosted by Dr. Drew Pinsky.

MacFarlane appeared on the November 11, 2006 episode of Fox's comedy show ''MADtv'' and performed a live action re-enactment of a scene from the ''Family Guy'' episode "Fast Times at Buddy Cianci Jr. High". In the scene, Peter and Lois suspect Chris of murdering his teacher's husband. As a reaction, a terrified Meg jumps out the window. A version with McFarlane as Peter, Nicole Parker as Kathy Griffin as Lois, Ike Barinholtz as Dane Cook as Chris, Nicole Randall Johnson as Queen Latifah as Meg, and Keegan-Michael Key as Snoop Dogg as Stewie was recorded over the original cartoon. MacFarlane served as a host to the Canadian Awards for the Electronic & Animated Arts's Second Annual Elan Awards on February 15, 2008.

MacFarlane has also appeared on news shows and late night television shows such as ''Jimmy Kimmel Live!'' and ''Late Show with David Letterman''. On January 19, 2007, MacFarlane appeared on ''Countdown with Keith Olbermann'' on MSNBC to discuss Stephen Colbert's appearance on ''The O'Reilly Factor'' and Bill O'Reilly's return appearance on ''The Colbert Report''. MacFarlane introduced the segment by saying in Stewie's voice "Oh, wait Bill. Hold still, allow me to soil myself on you. Victory is mine!" Three months later on March 24, 2007, MacFarlane was interviewed on Fox's ''Talkshow with Spike Feresten'', and closed the show by singing the Frank Sinatra song "You Make Me Feel So Young". He also provided Stewie's voice when he appeared as a brain tumor-induced hallucination to Seeley Booth in an episode of ''Bones'', writing his own dialogue for the episode. On May 8, 2009, MacFarlane was a guest on ''Real Time with Bill Maher''.

Other than ''Family Guy'' and ''American Dad!'', MacFarlane voices characters in other cartoon shows and movies. He voiced Wayne "The Brain" McClain in an episode of ''Aqua Teen Hunger Force''. He has also voiced various characters on Adult Swim's ''Robot Chicken'', including a parody of Lion-O and Emperor Palpatine as well as Peter Griffin in the Season 2 premiere – he even parodied himself in the Season 4 premiere, in which he renewed the show simply by mentioning it in a ''Family Guy''-like cutaway after its fictitious cancellation at the end of Season 3. He also played the villain "The Manotaur" in Bob Boyle's animated kids series Yin Yang Yo!. In addition, MacFarlane voiced Johann Krauss in the 2008 film ''Hellboy II: The Golden Army''. He also had a guest appearance in the animated film ''Futurama: Into the Wild Green Yonder'' where he sings "That Was Then (And This is Too)", the opening theme. He had also starred in a commercial for Hulu in which he plays an alien presenting Hulu as an "evil plot to destroy the world," progressively as his famous ''Family Guy'' and ''American Dad!'' characters.

On August 1, 2009, MacFarlane performed at The BBC Proms with John Wilson and his orchestra, singing a selection of songs from MGM musicals alongside Kim Criswell, Sarah Fox, Sir Thomas Allen, and Curtis Stigers. Three songs from ''High Society'', ''Singin' in the Rain'', and ''That's Entertainment'' were featured. Seth also repeated the MGM musicals show on tour in the UK with the John Wilson Orchestra during November and December 2010. He made another appearance with the John Wilson orchestra in a BBC Two special, Swingin' Christmas, on December 25, 2010.

Seth also played in a character named Ziggy in the 2010 film, The Tooth Fairy. In August 2010, MacFarlane appeared as a guest voiceover in a sci-fi themed episode of Disney's Phineas and Ferb entitled ''Nerds of a Feather''. MacFarlane was the roastmaster of the Comedy Central Roast of David Hasselhoff in 2010 and then of the Comedy Central Roast of Donald Trump in 2011, and will be during the Roast of Charlie Sheen, being the first (and currently the only) person to serve as roastmaster for more than one occasion of the Comedy Central Roasts.

Speaking engagements

MacFarlane is a frequent speaking guest on college campuses. On April 16, 2006, he was invited by Stanford University's ASSU Speakers' Bureau to address an audience of over 1,000 at Memorial Auditorium. MacFarlane was invited by Harvard University's class of 2006 to deliver the "class day" address on June 7, 2006. He spoke as himself, as Peter Griffin, as Stewie Griffin and as Glenn Quagmire. He has also delivered speeches at George Washington University, Washington University in St. Louis, the University of Texas, the University of Missouri, University of Toledo, Bowling Green State University and Loyola Marymount University.

Activism

Political beliefs

MacFarlane is a supporter of the Democratic Party. He has donated over $200,000 to various Democratic congressional committees and to the 2008 presidential campaign of Barack Obama. He has stated that he supports the legalization of cannabis.

Gay rights support

MacFarlane came to support gay rights and gay marriage after a family member wondered aloud whether his gay cousin's homosexuality could be "cured". The incident angered MacFarlane, who said in a 2008 interview in ''The Advocate'', that such a statement "was fucking horrifying to hear from somebody that you love." He credits his parents for raising him to be a logical person, in reference to his support for gay rights.

MacFarlane is passionate about his support for gay rights. He said it is "infuriating and idiotic" that two gay partners "have to go through this fucking dog and pony act when they stop at a hotel and the guy behind the counter says, 'You want one room or two?'" He went on to say, "I'm incredibly passionate about my support for the gay community and what they're dealing with at this current point in time." MacFarlane went on to say, "Why is it that Johnny Spaghetti Stain in fucking Georgia can knock a woman up, legally be married to her, and then beat the shit out of her, but these two intelligent, sophisticated writers who have been together for 20 years can't get married?"

MacFarlane, in recognition for "his active, passionate commitment to Humanist values, and his fearless support of equal marriage rights and other social justice issues", was named the Harvard Humanist of the Year in 2011.

Despite his position on gay rights, MacFarlane was criticized for his portrayal of transsexuality in the ''Family Guy'' episode "Quagmire's Dad". Gay novelist Brent Hartinger found the episode's inclusion of transphobic remarks from Peter and Lois—as well as a scene of Brian vomiting profusely upon discovering his date to be transgendered—to be "shockingly insensitive". Hartinger continued, "Frankly, it's literally ''impossible'' for me to reconcile last night's episode with MacFarlane's words, unless I come to the conclusion that the man is pretty much a complete idiot." The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, an LGBT media watchdog organization, shared "serious concerns being voiced from members of the community" about the episode. MacFarlane said he was "surprised" by the negative reaction to "Quagmire's Dad", saying that "it seemed that [gay commentators] were not picking up on the fact that it was a very sympathetic portrayal of a transsexual character." He further added, "Look, Brian happens to be a heterosexual character, as I am. If I found out that I had slept with a transsexual, I might throw up in the same way that a gay guy looks at a vagina and goes, 'Oh, my God, that's disgusting.'"

2008 Writers Guild of America strike

During the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike, MacFarlane publicly sided with the Writers Guild, and fully participated in the strike. Official production of ''Family Guy'' was halted for most of December 2007 and various periods afterwards. Fox continued producing episodes without MacFarlane's final approval, and although he refused to work on the show during the strike, his contract with Fox required him to contribute to any episodes it subsequently produced. Rumors of continued production on ''Family Guy'' prompted the statement from MacFarlane that "...it would just be a colossal dick move if they [continued production without his final approval]." The strike ended on February 12, 2008.

Personal life

MacFarlane identifies himself as a ''Star Wars'', ''Star Trek'' and science fiction fan. He appeared at a ''Star Wars'' convention to promote his new ''Family Guy'' episode "Blue Harvest" on May 26, 2007. He is a skilled pianist and singer who, in his early years, trained with an elderly couple who were Frank Sinatra's vocal coaches. In fact, he signed a record deal with Universal Republic Records and announced that he is recording a big band/standards album. MacFarlane's interest in science fiction and music are regularly themes for his birthday and Christmas parties in Los Angeles. In 2009, he held a ''Star Wars''-themed Christmas party. In 2010, he held a Rat Pack-themed party for his birthday with a 60-piece orchestra and performance by Frank Sinatra, Jr.. In early 2007, fellow comedian Alex Borstein reported in an interview that MacFarlane is old-fashioned in several aspects of his life, in that "his pop culture knowledge is very retro. Seth doesn't have e-mail at home, doesn't own a computer and he doesn't really watch television. He doesn't understand MySpace and despises most new music."

MacFarlane is unmarried. In 2004, in an interview with ''The Daily Princetonian'', MacFarlane noted his similarities to Brian on ''Family Guy'', revealing, "I have some Brian type issues from time to time – looking for the right person – but I date as much as the next guy".

On July 16, 2010, MacFarlane's mother, Ann Perry MacFarlane, died after a long battle with cancer. Her death was reported by Larry King on his show, ''Larry King Live'', who acknowledged a conversation he had with her during an interview with her son in May 2010. A brief opening scene from the first episode of the ninth season of ''Family Guy'' ("And Then There Were Fewer") mentions her lifespan, and dedicates the episode to her.

MacFarlane is an atheist.

September 11, 2001 experience

On the morning of September 11, 2001, MacFarlane was scheduled to return to Los Angeles on American Airlines Flight 11 from Boston, Massachusetts. Suffering from a hangover from the previous night's celebrations, and with an incorrect departure time (8:15 a.m. instead of 7:45 a.m.) from his travel agent, he arrived at Logan International Airport about ten minutes too late to board the flight as the gates had been closed. Fifteen minutes after departure, American Airlines Flight 11 was hijacked, and at 8:46 a.m. was flown into the North Tower of the World Trade Center, obliterating the airplane, and killing everyone on board.

In an interview with TVShowsOnDVD.com, MacFarlane said the following about his close call:

Filmography

Films

! Year	! Film	! Role	! Notes
1995		Larry CummingsSteveLois Cummings	Voice OnlyStudent Film
2006	''Life is Short''	Dr. Ned	Short Film
2008	''Hellboy II: The Golden Army''	Johann Kraus	Voice Only
2009	''Futurama: Into the Wild Green Yonder''	Mars Vegas Singer	Voice OnlyDirect-to-DVD Release
2010	''The Drawn Together Movie: The Movie!''	I.S.R.A.E.L. (Intelligent Smart Robot Animation Eraser Lady)	Voice OnlyDirect-to-DVD Release
2010		Ziggy
2012		Ted	Voice OnlyAlso Writer/Director/ProducerPre-production

Television

! Year	! Series	! Role	! Notes
1995	''The Shnookums and Meat Funny Cartoon Show''	Rhode Island Bug	Episode 2.3: "Bugging Out!"
1996		LarrySteveVarious characters
1999–2003 2005–present	''Family Guy''	Peter GriffinStewie GriffinBrian GriffinGlenn QuagmireVarious characters	Longest-running role, Creator/Executive producer/Voice artist/Writer
2002–2003	''Gilmore Girls''	ZachBob Merriam (Emily Gilmore's lawyer; on the phone)	Episode 2.21: "Lorelai's Graduation Day" Episode 3.11: "I Solemnly Swear"
	''Aqua Teen Hunger Force''	Wayne the Brain	Episode 2.10: "Super Trivia"
''The Pitts''	Radio voice	Episode 1.3: "Squarewolves"
2003–2005	''Crank Yankers''	Dick RogersArthur Johnson	Appeared in four episodes
2004	''Complete Savages''	TV Announcer	Episode 1.4: "Nick Kicks Butt"
2004–2005	''Star Trek: Enterprise''	Engineer	Episodes 3.20: "The Forgotten (Star Trek: Enterprise)
2005–2009	''[[Robot Chicken''	Various characters	Appeared in 15 episodes
2005– present	''American Dad!''	Stan SmithRogerVarious characters
2006		Hillary's Date	Episode 2.5: "I Wash My Hands of You"
	''Help Me Help You''	Seth	Episode 1.13: "Moving On"
''Robot Chicken: Star Wars''	Emperor Palpatine	TV film
59th Primetime Emmy Awards	Stewie GriffinBrian Griffin	TV special
2008	''Robot Chicken: Star Wars Episode II''	Emperor PalpatineVarious characters	TV film
2008–2010	''Seth MacFarlane's Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy''	Various characters	Appeared in 19 episodes
2009		Stewie Griffin	Episode 4.25: "The Critic in the Cabernet"
2009–2010	''FlashForward''	Agent Jake CurdyFBI Agent	Episode 1.1: "No More Good Days" and 1.15: "Queen Sacrifice"; uncredited
2009– Present	''The Cleveland Show''	Tim the BearVarious characters
	''Phineas and Ferb''	Jeff McGarland	Episode 2.33: "Nerds of a Feather"
	Himself	Roastmaster of The Roast of David Hasselhoff
2010	''BBC Breakfast''	Himself	Guest
2010	''Robot Chicken: Star Wars Episode III''	Emperor Palpatine	TV film
2011	''Comedy Central Roast of Donald J. Trump''	Himself	Roastmaster of The Roast of Donald Trump
2012–2013	''The Flintstones''	Fred Flintstone
2012-present	''Pokemon Guy''	Peter Griffin, Stewie Griffin, Brian Griffin, Joe Swanson and Herbert.

|

Awards

Year	Award	Category	Role	Series	Result	Ref.
2000	Primetime Emmy Award	Outstanding Voice-Over Performance.		''Family Guy''
2002	Primetime Emmy Award	Outstanding Music and Lyrics	Music and lyrics	''Family Guy''
2006	Annie Award	Best Voice Acting in an Animated Television Production	Stewie Griffin	''Family Guy''
		Film & Video Person of the Year 2009	—	—
Primetime Emmy Award	Outstanding Voice-Over Performance.	Peter Griffin	''Family Guy''
	Primetime Emmy Award	Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics		''Family Guy''
	Choice Animated Series	Creator	''Family Guy''
	Teen Choice Award	Choice TV Villian	Stewie Griffin	''Family Guy''
Teen Choice Award	Choice Animated Series	Creator	''Family Guy''

References

External links

Interview on IGN.com

}}

Category:1973 births Category:Actors from Connecticut Category:American people of English descent Category:American people of French-Canadian descent Category:American animators Category:American atheists Category:American baritones Category:American comedians Category:American male singers Category:American people of Scottish descent Category:American television producers Category:American television writers Category:American voice actors Category:American television actors Category:American film actors Category:Annie Award winners Category:Connecticut Democrats Category:Emmy Award winners Category:Family Guy Category:Kent School alumni Category:LGBT rights activists from the United States Category:Living people Category:People from Kent, Connecticut Category:People from Providence, Rhode Island Category:Rhode Island School of Design alumni

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Name	Peter Gabriel
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Peter Brian Gabriel
Born	February 13, 1950Chobham, SurreyEngland, United Kingdom
Instrumen	Vocals, keyboards, flute, drums, piano, guitar, bass, harmonica, oboe
genre	Progressive rock, experimental rock, pop rock, art rock, world music
occupation	MusicianproducerHumanitarian
Years active	1967–present
Label	Geffen (US & Canada)Real WorldVirginCharismaAtlantic (US & Canada)EMI (Brazil)
associated acts	Genesis, Phil Collins
website	}}

Peter Brian Gabriel (born 13 February 1950) is a British singer, musician, and songwriter who rose to fame as the lead vocalist and flautist of the progressive rock group Genesis. After leaving Genesis, Gabriel went on to a successful solo career. More recently he has focused on producing and promoting world music and pioneering digital distribution methods for music. He has also been involved in various humanitarian efforts. In 2007 Gabriel was honoured as a BMI Icon at the 57th annual BMI London Awards for his “influence on generations of music makers.” Gabriel was also awarded the Polar Music Prize in 2009 and inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Genesis in 2010.

Early life

Gabriel was born in Chobham, Surrey, England. His father, Ralph Parton Gabriel, was an electrical engineer, and his mother, Edith Irene Allen, from a musical family, taught him to play the clarinet at an early age. He attended Cable House, a private primary (pre-prep) school in Woking, Surrey, St Andrews Prep School in Horsell, then Charterhouse School (Godalming) from 1963.

Genesis

Gabriel founded Genesis in 1967 with fellow Charterhouse School pupils Tony Banks, Anthony Phillips, Mike Rutherford, and drummer Chris Stewart. The name of the band was suggested by fellow Charterhouse alumnus, the pop music impresario Jonathan King, who produced their first album, ''From Genesis to Revelation''.

Gabriel was influenced by many different sources in his way of singing, such as Family lead singer Roger Chapman. In 1970, he played the flute on Cat Stevens' album, ''Mona Bone Jakon''.

Genesis drew some attention in England and eventually also in Italy, Belgium, Germany and other European countries, largely due to Gabriel's flamboyant stage presence, which involved numerous bizarre costume changes and comical, dreamlike stories told as the introduction to each song (originally Gabriel developed these stories solely to cover the time between songs that the rest of the band would take tuning their instruments and fixing technical glitches). The concerts made extensive use of black light with the normal stage lighting subdued or off. A backdrop of fluorescent white sheets and a comparatively sparse stage made the band into a set of silhouettes, with Gabriel's fluorescent costume and make-up providing the only other sources of light.

Costumes

In an episode of the 2007 British documentary series ''Seven Ages of Rock'', Steve Hackett recalled the first appearance of Gabriel 'in costume'. It was the dress-wearing, fox-headed entity immortalised on the cover of ''Foxtrot''. Hackett and the rest of the band had no inkling that Gabriel was going to do this, and at the time Hackett worried that it would ruin the performance. However, it was a success, encouraging Gabriel to continue wearing costumes while singing.

Among Gabriel's many famous costumes, which he developed to visualise the musical ideas of the band as well as to gain press coverage, were "Batwings" for the band's usual opening number, "Watcher of the Skies".

Other costumes included "The Flower" and "Magog", which were both alternately worn for "Supper's Ready" from the album ''Foxtrot''.

"Britannia" was worn for "Dancing with the Moonlit Knight", and "The Reverend" was worn for "The Battle of Epping Forest" from ''Selling England by the Pound''.

"The Old Man" was worn for "The Musical Box" from ''Nursery Cryme''.

"The Slipperman" and "Rael" were worn during "The Colony of Slippermen", in which "Rael" was the protagonist of the album ''The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway''.

The backing vocals during Gabriel's tenure in Genesis were usually handled by bassist/guitarist Mike Rutherford, keyboardist/guitarist Tony Banks, and (most prominently) drummer Phil Collins, who, after a long search for a replacement, eventually became Genesis's lead singer after Gabriel had left the band in 1975.

Departure

Gabriel's departure from Genesis—which stunned fans of the group and left many commentators wondering if the band could survive—was the result of a number of factors. His stature as the lead singer of the band, and the added attention garnered by his flamboyant stage persona, led to tensions within the band. Genesis had always operated more or less as a collective, and Gabriel's burgeoning public profile led to fears within the group that he was being unfairly singled out as the creative hub. The band had also begun to feel confined by the reputation (and fans' expectations) attached to their famously elaborate theatrical performances, believing that the visual element of their performances was receiving more attention than their actual music.

Tensions were heightened by the ambitious album and tour of the concept work ''The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway'', a Gabriel-created concept piece which saw him taking on the lion's share of the lyric writing. During the writing and recording of ''The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway'', Gabriel was approached by director William Friedkin, allegedly because Friedkin had found Gabriel's short story in the liner notes to ''Genesis Live'' interesting. Gabriel's interest in a film project with Friedkin was another contributing factor in his decision to leave Genesis. The decision to quit the band was made before the tour supporting ''The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway'', but Gabriel stayed with the band until the conclusion of that tour. Although tensions were high, both Gabriel and the remaining members of Genesis have stated publicly that Gabriel left the band on good terms, supported by the fact that he officially left eight months after telling the band it was time for him to move on.

The breaking point came with the difficult pregnancy of Gabriel's wife, Jill, and the subsequent birth of their first child, Anna. When he opted to stay with his sick daughter and wife, rather than record and tour, the resentment from the rest of the band led Gabriel to conclude that he had to leave the group. "Solsbury Hill", Gabriel's début single as a solo artist, was written specifically about his departure from Genesis. The song also charted on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1978, reaching the Top 70, though it was recorded in 1976, and appeared on the 'Car' album in 1977. In 1982, Gabriel reunited with his former Genesis colleagues for the one-off concert, Six of the Best.

Solo career

Gabriel refused to title any of his first four solo albums, which were all labelled ''Peter Gabriel'' using the same typeface, but which featured different cover designs (by Hipgnosis); these designs are also notable for the fact that Gabriel's face is wholly or partially obscured in some way. They are usually differentiated by number in order of release (I, II, III, IV), or by sleeve design, with the first three solo albums often referred to as ''Car'', ''Scratch'' and ''Melt'' respectively, in reference to their cover artwork. His fourth solo album, also called ''Peter Gabriel'', was titled ''Security'' in the U.S. at the behest of Geffen Records.

After acquiescing to distinctive titles, Gabriel used a series of 2-letter words to title his next three albums: ''So'', ''Us'', and ''Up''. His most recent greatest hits compilation is titled ''Hit''; within the two-CD package, disc one is labelled "Hit" and disc two is labelled "Miss".

''Peter Gabriel'' albums (1977–1985)

Gabriel recorded his first self-titled solo album in 1976 and 1977 with producer Bob Ezrin. His first solo success came with the single "Solsbury Hill", an autobiographical piece expressing his thoughts on leaving Genesis. Although mainly happy with the music, Gabriel felt that the album, and especially the track "Here Comes the Flood" was over-produced. Sparser versions can be heard on Robert Fripp's ''Exposure'', and on Gabriel's greatest hits compilation ''Shaking the Tree'' (1990).

Gabriel worked with guitarist Fripp as producer of his second solo LP, in 1978. This album was leaner, darker and more experimental, and yielded decent reviews, but no major hits.

Gabriel developed a new interest in world music (especially percussion), and for bold production, which made extensive use of recording tricks and sound effects. Gabriel's interest in music technology is considered by many people to be the spark of his success as it inspired his third album. The third album is often credited as the first LP to use the now-famous "gated drum" sound. Collins played drums on several tracks, including the opener, "Intruder", which featured the reverse-gated, cymbal-less drum kit sound which Collins would also use on his single "In the Air Tonight" and through the rest of the 1980s. Gabriel had requested that his drummers use no cymbals in the album's sessions, and when he heard the result he asked Collins to play a simple pattern for several minutes, then built "Intruder" around it. The album achieved some chart success with the songs "Games Without Frontiers" (#4 U.K, #48 U.S.), "I Don't Remember", and "Biko".

Arduous and occasionally damp recording sessions at his rural English estate in 1981 and 1982, with co-producer/engineer David Lord, resulted in Gabriel's fourth LP release, on which Gabriel took more production responsibility. It was one of the first commercial albums recorded entirely to digital tape (using a Sony mobile truck), and featured the early, extremely expensive, Fairlight CMI sampling computer, which had already made its first brief appearances on the previous album. Gabriel combined a variety of sampled and deconstructed sounds with world-beat percussion and other unusual instrumentation to create a radically new, emotionally charged soundscape. Furthermore, the sleeve art consisted of inscrutable, video-based imagery. Despite the album's peculiar sound, odd appearance, and often disturbing themes, it sold very well. This album featured his first Top 40 hit in the U.S., "Shock the Monkey", as well as the song "I Have the Touch". The music video for "Shock the Monkey", which featured Gabriel in white face paint and a caged macaque, held the #1 spot on "MTV" for 9 weeks. Geffen records forced Peter to give his fourth self-titled album a name in the US - ''Security'' - to mark his arrival on the label and to differentiate his fourth album from the other three.

Alternate versions of Gabriel's third and fourth albums were also released with German lyrics. ''Peter Gabriel'' 3 consisted of basically the same recording overdubbed with new vocals, while ''Security'' was also remixed and several tracks were extended or altered in slight ways.

Gabriel toured extensively for each of his albums. Initially, he pointedly eschewed the theatrics that had defined his tenure with Genesis. For his second solo tour, his entire band shaved their heads. By the time of ''Security'' he began involving elaborate stage props and acrobatics which had him suspended from gantries, distorting his face with Fresnel lenses and mirrors, and wearing unusual make-up. His 1982–83 tour included a section opening for David Bowie. Recordings of this tour were released as the double LP ''Plays Live''.

The stage was set for Gabriel's critical and commercial breakout with his next studio release, which was in production for almost three years. During the recording and production of the album he also found time to develop the film soundtrack for Alan Parker's 1984 feature ''Birdy'', which consisted of new material as well as remixed instrumental tracks from his previous studio album.

''So'', ''Passion'' and ''Us'' (1986–1994)

Gabriel achieved his greatest popularity with songs from the 1986 ''So'' album, which produced three UK Top 20 hits ("Sledgehammer", "Big Time", and "Don't Give Up" — a duet with Kate Bush). The album also produced three Top 40 hits in the U.S., "Sledgehammer", "In Your Eyes" (featured in the John Cusack film ''Say Anything''), and "Big Time" (Gabriel's most recent Top Ten hit), as well as the single "Red Rain". "Sledgehammer", peaked at #4 in the UK but was a #1 hit in the U.S., knocking Genesis' "Invisible Touch" off the top spot. The ballad "Don't Give Up" was about the devastation of unemployment. Gabriel co-produced ''So'' with Daniel Lanois, also known for his work with U2 and Brian Eno.

Gabriel's song "Sledgehammer", which dealt specifically with the themes of sex and sexual relations, was accompanied by a much-lauded music video, which was a collaboration with director Stephen R. Johnson, Aardman Animations, and the Brothers Quay. The video won numerous awards at the 1987 MTV Music Video Awards, and set a new standard for art in the music video industry. A follow-up video for the song "Big Time" also broke new ground in music video animation and special effects. The song is a story of "what happens to you when you become a little too successful", in Gabriel's words. The success of the album earned Peter Gabriel two awards at The Brit Awards in 1987: Best British Male Solo Artist and Best British Video for "Sledgehammer".

In 1989, Gabriel released ''Passion'', the soundtrack for Martin Scorsese's movie ''The Last Temptation of Christ''. For this work he received his first Grammy Award, in the category of Best New Age Performance. He also received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Original Score - Motion Picture.

Following this, Gabriel released ''Us'' in 1992 (also co-produced with Daniel Lanois), an album in which he explored the pain of recent personal problems; his failed first marriage, and the growing distance between him and his first daughter.

Gabriel's introspection within the context of the album ''Us'' can be seen in the first single release "Digging in the Dirt" directed by John Downer. Accompanied by a disturbing video featuring Gabriel covered in snails and various foliage, this song made reference to the psychotherapy which had taken up much of Gabriel's time since the previous album. Gabriel describes his struggle to get through to his daughter in "Come Talk To Me" directed by Matt Mahurin, which featured backing vocals by Sinéad O'Connor. O'Connor also lent vocals to "Blood of Eden", directed by Nichola Bruce and Michael Coulson, the third single to be released from the album, and once again dealing with relationship struggles, this time going right back to Adam's rib for inspiration. The result was one of Gabriel's most personal albums. It met with less success than ''So'', reaching #2 in the album chart on both sides of the Atlantic, and making modest chart impact with the singles "Digging in the Dirt" and the funkier "Steam", which evoked memories of "Sledgehammer". Gabriel followed the release of the album with a world tour (with Paula Cole or Joy Askew filling O'Connor's vocal role) and accompanying double CD and DVD ''Secret World Live'' in 1994.

Gabriel employed an innovative approach in the marketing of the ''Us'' album. Not wishing to feature only images of himself, he asked artist filmmakers Nichola Bruce and Michael Coulson to coordinate a marketing campaign using contemporary artists. Artists such as Helen Chadwick, Rebecca Horn, Nils Udo, Andy Goldsworthy, David Mach and Yayoi Kusama collaborated to create original artworks for each of the 11 songs on the multi-million-selling CD. Coulson and Bruce documented the process on Hi-8 video. Bruce left Real World and Coulson continued with the campaign, using the documentary background material as the basis for a promotional EPK, the long-form video ''All About Us'' and the interactive CD-ROM ''Xplora1''.

Gabriel won three more Grammy Awards, all in the Music Video category. He won the Grammy Award for Best Short Form Music Video in 1993 and 1994 for the videos to "Digging in the Dirt" and "Steam" respectively. Gabriel also won the 1996 Grammy Award for Best Long Form Music Video for his ''Secret World Live'' video.

''OVO'', ''Up'', and ''Scratch My Back''

After five years of not releasing any new music, Gabriel re-emerged with ''OVO'', a soundtrack for the live Millennium Dome Show in London in 2000, and ''Long Walk Home'', the music from the Australian movie ''Rabbit-Proof Fence'', early in 2002. This soundtrack also received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Original Score - Motion Picture.

In September 2002, Gabriel released ''Up'', his first full-length studio album in a decade. Entirely self-produced, ''Up'' returned to some of the themes of his work in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Three singles failed to make an impression on the charts—in part because almost every track exceeded six minutes in length, with multiple sections—but the album sold well globally, as Gabriel continued to draw from a loyal fan base from his almost forty years in the music business. ''Up'' was followed by a world tour featuring his daughter Melanie Gabriel on backing vocals, and two concert DVDs, ''Growing Up Live'' (2003) and ''Still Growing Up: Live & Unwrapped'' (2004).

In 2008, Gabriel contributed to the ''WALL-E'' soundtrack with several new songs with Thomas Newman, including the film's closing song, "Down to Earth", for which they received the Grammy Award for Best Song Written for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media. The song was also nominated for the Golden Globe for Best Original Song - Motion Picture and the Academy Award for Best Original Song.

In 2010, Gabriel released ''Scratch My Back''. The album is made up entirely of cover songs including material written by David Bowie, Lou Reed, Arcade Fire, Radiohead, Regina Spektor, Neil Young, and more. The concept for the record is that Gabriel covers songs by various artists and those artists in turn will cover Gabriel songs to be released on a future follow-up album called ''I'll Scratch Yours''. ''Scratch My Back'' features only orchestral instrumentation; there are no guitars, drums, or electronic elements that are usual attributes of Gabriel records. A very brief tour followed the album's release where Gabriel performed with a full orchestra and two female backup singers, his daughter Melanie Gabriel and Norwegian singer-songwriter Ane Brun.

Musicians and collaborators

Gabriel has worked with a relatively stable crew of musicians and recording engineers throughout his solo career. Bass and Stick player Tony Levin, for example, has appeared on every Gabriel studio album (except ''Scratch My Back'' and the soundtracks ''Passion'' and ''Long Walk Home'') and has performed on every Gabriel solo tour (except The New Blood Tour). Guitar player David Rhodes has been Gabriel’s guitarist of choice since 1979. Prior to ''So'', Jerry Marotta was Gabriel's preferred drummer, both in the studio and on the road. (For the ''So'' and ''Us'' albums and tours Marotta was replaced by Manu Katché, who was then replaced by Ged Lynch on parts of the ''Up'' album and all of the subsequent tour). Gabriel is known for choosing top-flight collaborators, from co-producers such as Ezrin, Fripp, Lillywhite, and Lanois to musicians such as Natalie Merchant, Elizabeth Fraser, L. Shankar, Trent Reznor, Youssou N'Dour, Larry Fast, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Sinéad O'Connor, Kate Bush, Ane Brun, Paula Cole, John Giblin, Peter Hammill, Papa Wemba, Manu Katché, Bayete, Phil Collins (as drummer), and Stewart Copeland.

Over the years, Gabriel has collaborated with singer Kate Bush several times; Bush provided backing vocals for Gabriel's "Games Without Frontiers" and "No Self Control" in 1980, and female lead vocal for "Don't Give Up" (a Top 10 hit in the UK) in 1986, and Gabriel appeared on her television special. Their duet of Roy Harper's "Another Day" was discussed for release as a single, but never appeared.

He also collaborated with Laurie Anderson on two versions of her composition "Excellent Birds" – one for her 1984 album ''Mister Heartbreak'', and a slightly different version called "This is the Picture (Excellent Birds)", which appeared on cassette and CD versions of ''So''. In 1987, when presenting Gabriel with an award for his music videos, Anderson related an occasion in which a recording session had gone late into the night and Gabriel's voice had begun to sound somewhat strange, almost dreamlike. It was discovered that he had fallen asleep in front of the microphone, but had continued to sing.

Gabriel sang (along with Jim Kerr of Simple Minds) on "Everywhere I Go", from The Call's 1986 release, ''Reconciled''. On Toni Childs' 1994 CD, ''The Woman's Boat'', Gabriel sang on the track, "I Met a Man".

In 1998, Gabriel appeared on the soundtrack of ''Babe: Pig in the City'', not as a composer, but as the singer of the song "That'll Do", written by Randy Newman. The song was nominated for an Academy Award, and Gabriel and Newman performed it at the following year's Oscar telecast. He performed a similar soundtrack appearance for the 2004 film ''Shall We Dance?'', singing a cover version of "The Book of Love" by The Magnetic Fields.

Gabriel has also appeared on Robbie Robertson's self-titled album, singing on "Fallen Angel"; co-written two Tom Robinson singles; and appeared on Joni Mitchell's 1988 album ''Chalk Mark in a Rainstorm'', on the track "My Secret Place".

In 2001, Gabriel contributed lead vocals to the song "When You're Falling" on Afro Celt Sound System's Volume 3: Further in Time. In the summer of 2003, Gabriel performed in Ohio with a guest performance by Uzbek singer Sevara Nazarkhan.

Gabriel collaborated on tracks with electronic musician BT. The tracks were never released, as the computers they were contained on were stolen from BT's home in California. He also sang the lyrics for Deep Forest on their theme song for the movie Strange Days. In addition, Gabriel has appeared on Angelique Kidjo's 2007 album ''Djin Djin'', singing on the song "Salala".

Gabriel has recorded a cover of the Vampire Weekend single "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa" with Hot Chip, where his name is mentioned several times in the chorus. He substitutes the original line "But this feels so unnatural / Peter Gabriel too / This feels so unnatural/ Peter Gabriel too" with "It feels so unnatural / Peter Gabriel too / and it feels so unnatural / to sing your own name."

WOMAD and other projects

Gabriel has been interested in world music for many years, with the first musical evidence appearing on his third album. This influence has increased over time, and he is the driving force behind the World of Music, Arts and Dance (WOMAD) movement. He created the Real World Studios and record label to facilitate the creation and distribution of such music by various artists, and he has worked to educate Western culture about the work of such musicians as Yungchen Lhamo, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and Youssou N'dour. He has a long-standing interest in human rights, and launched Witness, a nonprofit which trains human rights activists to use video and online technologies to expose human rights abuses. In 2006 his work with WITNESS and his long standing support of peace and human rights causes was recognised by the Nobel Peace Prize Laureates with the Man of Peace award.

In the 1990s, with Steve Nelson of Brilliant Media and director Michael Coulson, he developed advanced multimedia CD-ROM-based entertainment projects, creating the acclaimed ''Xplora'' (the world's largest selling music CD-ROM), and subsequently the ''EVE'' CD-ROM. ''EVE'' was a music and art adventure game directed by Michael Coulson and co-produced by the Starwave Corporation in Seattle; it won the prestigious Milia d'Or award Grand Prize at the Cannes in 1996 and featured themes and interactivity well in advance of its time. ''Xplora'' and ''EVE'' can no longer be played on modern PCs, due to changes to their operating systems.

In 1994, Gabriel starred in the Breck Eisner short film "Recon" as a detective who enters the minds of murder victims to find their killer's identity.

Gabriel helped pioneer a new realm of musical interaction in 2001, visiting Georgia State University's Language Research Center to participate in keyboard jam sessions with bonobo apes from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. (This experience inspired the song "Animal Nation," which was performed on Gabriel's 2002 "Growing Up" tour and was featured on the ''Growing Up Live'' DVD and ''The Wild Thornberrys Movie'' soundtrack.) Gabriel's desire to bring attention to the intelligence of primates also took the form of ApeNet, a project that aimed to link great apes through the internet, enabling the first interspecies internet communication.

He was one of the founders of On Demand Distribution (OD2), one of the first online music download services. Its technology is used by MSN Music UK and others, and has become the dominant music download technology platform for stores in Europe. OD2 was bought by US company Loudeye in June 2004 and subsequently by Finnish mobile giant Nokia in October 2006 for $60 million.

Additionally, Gabriel is also co-founder (with Brian Eno) of a musicians union called Mudda, short for "magnificent union of digitally downloading artists."

In 2000, Peter Gabriel collaborated with Zucchero, Anggun and others in charity for kids with AIDS. Erick Benzi have write words and music and Patrick Bruel, Stephan Eicher, Faudel, Lokua Kanza, Laam, Nourith, Axelle Red have accept to sing it.

In 2003, Gabriel's song "Burn You Up, Burn You Down" was featured in Cyan Worlds' video game Uru: Ages Beyond Myst. In 2004, Gabriel contributed another song ("Curtains") and contributed voice work on another game in the Myst franchise, Myst IV: Revelation.

During the latter part of 2004, Gabriel spent time in a village in eastern Nepal with musician Ram Sharan Nepali, learning esoteric vocal techniques. Gabriel subsequently invited Nepali to attend and perform at the Womad festival in Adelaide, Australia.

In June 2005, Gabriel and broadcast industry entrepreneur David Engelke purchased Solid State Logic, a leading manufacturer of mixing consoles and digital audio workstations. SSL is among the top 2 or 3 recording console manufacturers in the world of recording.

In May 2008, Gabriel's Real World Studios, in partnership with Bowers & Wilkins, started the Bowers & Wilkins Music Club - now known as Society of Sound - a subscription-based music retail site. Albums are currently available in either Apple Lossless or Flac format.

Activist for humanitarian causes

In 1986 he started what has become a longstanding association with Amnesty International, becoming a pioneering participant in all 28 of Amnesty's ''Human Rights Concerts'' — a series of music events and tours staged by the US Section of Amnesty International between 1986-1998. He performed during the six-concert ''A Conspiracy of Hope'' US tour in June 1986; the twenty-concert ''Human Rights Now!'' world tour in 1988; the ''Chile: Embrace Of Hope Concert'' in 1990 and at ''The Paris Concert For Amnesty International'' in 1998. He also performed in Amnesty's ''Secret Policeman's Ball'' benefit shows. He spoke of his support for Amnesty on NBC's ''Today Show'' in 1986.

Inspired by the social activism he encountered in his work with Amnesty, in 1992 Gabriel co-founded WITNESS, a non-profit group that equips, trains and supports locally-based organizations worldwide to use video and the internet in human rights documentation and advocacy.

In 1995 he was one of the two winners of the North-South Prize in its inaugural year.

In the late 1990s, Gabriel and entrepreneur Richard Branson discussed with Nelson Mandela their idea of a small, dedicated group of leaders, working objectively and without any vested personal interest to solve difficult global conflicts.

On 18 July 2007, in Johannesburg, South Africa, Nelson Mandela announced the formation of a new group, Global Elders, in a speech he delivered on the occasion of his 89th birthday. The present members of this group are Desmond Tutu, Graça Machel, Kofi Annan, Ela Bhatt, Lakhdar Brahimi, Gro Harlem Brundtland, Fernando Henrique Cardoso, Jimmy Carter, Mary Robinson, Muhammad Yunus, and Aung San Suu Kyi (with an empty chair for her).

The Elders will be independently funded by a group of "Founders", including Branson and Gabriel.

Desmond Tutu serves as the chair of the Elders, who will use their collective skills to catalyse peaceful resolutions to long-standing conflicts, articulate new approaches to global issues that are causing or may later cause immense human suffering, and share wisdom by helping to connect voices all over the world. They will work together over the next several months to consider carefully which specific issues they will confront.

In November 2007 Gabriel's non-profit group WITNESS launched The Hub, a participatory media site for human rights.

In September 2008 Gabriel was named as the recipient of Amnesty International’s 2008 ''Ambassador of Conscience Award''. In the same month, he received Quadriga ''United We Care'' award of Werkstatt Deutschland along with Boris Tadić, Eckart Höfling and Wikipedia. The award was presented to him by Queen Silvia of Sweden.

Gabriel lent his support to the campaign to release Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, an Iranian woman sentenced to death by stoning after being convicted of committing adultery.

Politics

For the 1997 general election, Gabriel declared himself as a supporter for the Labour Party — who won that election by a landslide after 18 years out of power, led by Tony Blair.

In 1998, Gabriel was named in a list of the biggest private financial donors to the Labour Party. In 2003, he revealed he had voted for Labour and admired what they had done for health and education but distanced himself from the Labour government over Tony Blair’s support for George W. Bush and Britain’s involvement in the Iraq War, which he strongly opposed, although he continued to believe Blair was a man of conscience. Quoted in The Mirror newspaper, he said:

This is a fundamental issue of life and death and I very much think the Prime Minister is in the wrong. I'm also sure George W. Bush is an affable bloke but he's highly dangerous and I wish America was in the hands of someone else. To put oil interests ahead of human life is appalling. War is always terrible but unjustified war is obscene and on present evidence that is what we are facing. People want peace and I think it's great that the Mirror is leading this campaign. I think the consequences of this war would be the biggest threat to world peace in my lifetime. Blair has got to get it right. To take action without UN backing would be inviting disaster by setting the Muslim world against the West. If we are taking a moral position why did we arm Iraq when they were killing the Kurds? If it's because of weapons of mass destruction why isn't North Korea higher on the list? Not that I'd support action there. And if it's a principle of what Iraq has done to its own people why do we bend over for China? I'm sure Bush believes he is removing a scourge but he has never done one thing in office against the interests of the oil lobby who paid for a large part of the election. I don't actually believe Tony Blair is focused on oil but if he knows more than we do I wish he would tell us because there's no justification so far for taking life. War with Iraq would be an aggressive, uncalled for action. It's good the Prime Minister is prepared to stick to his principles, going against public opinion, because you elect leaders in part for their conscience. I just think it's terrible that on this of all issues he is making a stand which separates him from the nation. I think Tony Blair is following his conscience but I believe he is misguided. It could cost him the next election and I think he's aware of that. I'd personally be sad if they lost because Labour has done a lot for health and education, but an unjust war would be enough to lose my vote. I'd like to see a reinforced UN weapons inspection team in Iraq and disarmament much more in line with the French and German proposals. There is a slogan which says: 'Peace is what happens when you respect the rights of others'. Iraqis have rights too.

In 2005, Gabriel gave a Green Party of England and Wales general election candidate special permission to record a cover of his song "Don't Give Up" for his campaign.

In 2010, ''The Guardian'' described Gabriel as "a staunch advocate of proportional representation".

Personal life

Gabriel has two daughters with his first wife Jill Moore: Anna-Marie (born 26 July 1974) and Melanie Gabriel (born 23 August 1976). Married on 17 March 1971, they divorced in 1987. Moore's father was Lord Moore of Wolvercote.

Anna-Marie is a filmmaker and Melanie is a musician. Anna-Marie filmed and directed the ''Growing Up On Tour: A Family Portrait'' and ''Still Growing Up: Live & Unwrapped'' DVDs. Melanie has been a backing vocalist in her father's band since 2002.

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Gabriel lived with actress Rosanna Arquette but they never married.

Gabriel also has two sons with Meabh Flynn: Isaac Ralph (born 27 September 2001) and Luc (born 5 July 2008). Gabriel and Flynn have been married since 9 June 2002.

Gabriel has resided for many years in the county of Wiltshire in England, where he also runs his Real World Studios. He previously lived in the Woolley Valley near Bath, Somerset. In 2010 he joined a campaign to stop an agricultural development at the valley, which had also inspired his first solo single "Solsbury Hill" in 1977.

Appearances: 2005–present

Gabriel actively coordinated and performed at the Eden Project Live 8 concert in July 2005. In his earliest days, Gabriel played flute on Cat Stevens's first album on the Island records label, ''Mona Bone Jakon'' as a "nervous session musician". Stevens, now known as Yusuf Islam, joined him on stage 33 years after that experience, in Johannesburg during Nelson Mandela's 46664 concert. The two performed the Stevens hit "Wild World".

A double DVD set, ''Still Growing Up: Live & Unwrapped'', was released in October 2005.

FIFA asked Gabriel and Brian Eno to organise an opening ceremony for the 2006 FIFA World Cup finals in Germany, planned to take place a couple of days before the start of the tournament. Gabriel had recently become a fan of the game and 2005 champions league winners Liverpool, and worked on songs for the show in Berlin's Olympic Stadium; however, the show was cancelled in January 2006 by FIFA after going over budget with an apparent lack of interest in the project. The official explanation was potential damage to the pitch.

Rumours of a possible reunion of the original Genesis line-up began circulating in 2004 after Phil Collins stated in an interview that he was open to the idea of sitting back behind the drums and "let Peter be the singer." The classic line-up has only reformed for a live performance once before, in 1982. However, the group did work together to create a new version of the 1974 song "The Carpet Crawlers", ultimately released on the ''Turn It on Again: The Hits'' album as "The Carpet Crawlers 1999". Gabriel later met with other Genesis band members, to discuss a possible reunion tour of ''The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway''. He chose to opt out of a reunion tour, and his former bandmates, Collins, Banks, and Rutherford chose to tour as Genesis without him.

At the opening ceremonies of the Winter Olympics in Torino, Italy, Gabriel performed John Lennon's "Imagine" during the opening of the festivities on 10 February 2006.

Cingular Wireless has aired commercials featuring Gabriel's "Solsbury Hill".

Gabriel's song "Digging in the Dirt" was used for promotional videos for the FX show "Dirt"

Gabriel is involved in The Filter, an add-on application for iTunes, Windows Media Player and some Nokia phones which can automatically generate playlists based on music you select.

In October 2006, Gabriel was given the first Pioneer Award at the BT Digital Music Awards, an award presented in recognition of his "profound and lasting influence on the development of digital music."

In November 2006, the Seventh World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates in Rome presented Gabriel with the Man of Peace award. The award, presented by former President of the USSR and Nobel Peace Prize winner Mikhail Gorbachev and Walter Veltroni, Mayor of Rome, was an acknowledgement of Gabriel's extensive contribution and work on behalf of human rights and peace. The award was presented in the Giulio Cesare Hall of the Campidoglio in Rome. At the end of the year, he was awarded the Q Magazine Lifetime Achievement Award, presented to him by American musician Moby. In an interview published in the magazine to accompany the award, Gabriel's contribution to music was described as "vast and enduring."

Gabriel took on a project with the BBC World Service's competition "The Next Big Thing" to find the world's best young band. Gabriel is judging the final six young artists with William Orbit, Geoff Travis and Angelique Kidjo.

''The Times'' reported on 21 January 2007, that Peter Gabriel had announced that he planned to release his next album in the U.S. without the aid of a record company. Gabriel, an early pioneer of digital music distribution, had raised £2 million towards recording and 'shipping' his next album, ''Big Blue Ball'' in a venture with investment boutique Ingenious Media. Gabriel is expected to earn double the money that he would through a conventional record deal. Commercial director Duncan Reid of Ingenious explains the business savvy of the deal, saying, "If you're paying a small distribution fee and covering your own marketing costs, you enjoy the lion's share of the proceeds of the album. Gabriel is expected to outsource CD production for worldwide release through Warner Bros. Records. The new album deal covers the North America territory, where Gabriel is currently out of contract.

The album ''Big Blue Ball'' was launched in America thanks to a venture capital trust initiative. Bosses at London-based firm Ingenious raised more than $4 million (GBP 2 million) to help promote the release in the United States. The venture capitalists, Gabriel and his Real World Limited partners, have created a new joint venture company, High Level Recordings Limited, to oversee the release of the album, which took place in 2008. Gabriel appeared on a nationwide tour for the album in 2009.

On 24 May 2007, he was honoured with the Ivor Novello Award for lifetime achievement.

Gabriel was a judge for the 6th and 8th annual Independent Music Awards to support independent artists.

He also appears in ''Strange Powers'', the 2009 documentary by Kerthy Fix and Gail O'Hara about Stephin Merritt and his band, the Magnetic Fields.

In February 2009, Gabriel announced that he would not be performing on the 2008 Academy Awards telecast because producers of the show were limiting his performance of "Down to Earth" from ''WALL-E'' to 65 seconds. John Legend and the Soweto Gospel Choir performed the song in his stead.

Gabriel's 2009 tour of Mexico and South America included visiting Mexico, Argentina, Chile, Peru, and Venezuela. His first ever performance in Peru was held in Lima on 20 March 2009, during his second visit to the country. His concert in Mexico City, on 27 March 2009, attracted more than 38,000 fans.

On 25 July 2009, he played at WOMAD Charlton Park, his only European performance of the year, to promote Witness. The show included two tracks from the forthcoming "Scratch My Back" album: Paul Simon's 'The Boy in the Bubble' and The Magnetic Fields' 'The Book of Love'.

Discography

''Peter Gabriel 1 (Car)'' (1977)

''Peter Gabriel 2 (Scratch)'' (1978)

''Peter Gabriel 3 (Melt)'' (1980)

''Ein Deutsches Album'' (1980)

''Peter Gabriel 4 (Security)'' (1982)

''Deutsches Album'' (1982)

''Birdy'' (1983)

''So'' (1986)

''Us'' (1992)

''OVO'' (2000)

''Long Walk Home'' (2002)

''Up'' (2002)

''Scratch My Back'' (2010)

''New Blood'' (2011)

See also

List of best selling music artists

List of artists who reached number one on the Hot 100 (U.S.)

List of artists who reached number one on the U.S. Dance chart

List of artists who reached number one on the U.S. Mainstream Rock chart

References

External links

Audio interview at BBC Wiltshire

Peter Gabriel takes part in a panel at the Global Philanthropy Forum video

TED Talks: Peter Gabriel fights injustice with a videocamera at TED in 2006

Category:1950 births Category:Living people Category:Charisma Records artists Category:Atlantic Records artists Category:BRIT Award winners Category:English film score composers Category:English male singers Category:English rock keyboardists Category:English rock singers Category:English singer-songwriters Category:Genesis (band) members Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Ivor Novello Award winners Category:International opponents of apartheid in South Africa Category:Old Carthusians Category:People from Chobham Category:Real World artists Category:Honorary Members of the Royal Academy of Music

ar:بيتر غابرييل bg:Питър Гейбриъл ca:Peter Gabriel cs:Peter Gabriel co:Peter Gabriel da:Peter Gabriel de:Peter Gabriel et:Peter Gabriel es:Peter Gabriel fa:پیتر گابریل fr:Peter Gabriel gl:Peter Gabriel ko:피터 가브리엘 io:Peter Gabriel id:Peter Gabriel it:Peter Gabriel he:פיטר גבריאל ka:პიტერ გებრიელი la:Petrus Gabriel lv:Pīters Geibriels hu:Peter Gabriel arz:بيتر جابرييل nl:Peter Gabriel ja:ピーター・ガブリエル no:Peter Gabriel oc:Peter Gabriel pms:Peter Gabriel pl:Peter Gabriel pt:Peter Gabriel ro:Peter Gabriel ru:Гэбриэл, Питер simple:Peter Gabriel sk:Peter Gabriel fi:Peter Gabriel sv:Peter Gabriel th:ปีเตอร์ กาเบรียล tr:Peter Gabriel uk:Пітер Ґебріел zh:彼得·蓋布瑞爾

name	Peter Schiff
school tradition	Austrian School
color	firebrick
birth date	March 23, 1963
nationality	United States
field	Financial Economics
religion	Jewish
alma mater	U.C. Berkeley (B.B.A.), 1987
influences	Irwin Schiff, Ludwig von Mises, F.A. Hayek, Murray Rothbard
opposed	John Maynard Keynes, Alan Greenspan, Ben Bernanke, Paul Krugman, Christopher Dodd, Barack Obama,
signature	}}

Peter David Schiff (; born March 23, 1963) is an American businessman, author and financial commentator. Schiff is CEO and chief global strategist of Euro Pacific Capital Inc., a broker-dealer based in Westport, Connecticut and CEO of Euro Pacific Precious Metals, LLC, a gold and silver dealer based in New York City.

Schiff frequently appears as a guest on CNBC, Fox News, and Bloomberg Television and is often quoted in major financial publications and is a frequent guest on internet radio as well as the host of the former podcast ''Wall Street Unspun'', which is now broadcast on terrestrial radio and known as ''The Peter Schiff Show''. In 2010 Schiff ran as a candidate in the Republican primary for the United States Senate seat from Connecticut.

Schiff is known for his bearish views on the dollar and dollar denominated assets, while bullish on investment in tangible assets as well as foreign stocks and currencies.

Early life and education

The son of Irwin Schiff, a prominent figure in the United States tax protester movement, Peter Schiff was born and raised in New Haven, Connecticut. Schiff graduated from the University of California, Berkeley in 1987 with a Bachelor's degree in finance and accounting.

Financial career

Schiff began his career as a financial consultant at a Shearson Lehman Brothers brokerage. In 1996 Schiff and a partner acquired a small brokerage firm that had been founded in 1980, reincorporated it in California and renamed it Euro Pacific Capital. The company today has more than 15,000 clients and six offices nationwide, with its headquarters in Westport, Connecticut.

According to a 2005 article in ''The Advocate'' of Stamford, Connecticut Schiff relocated the firm to Darien, Connecticut to find brokers "who think like him". The New York Metropolitan Area, Schiff says, has the biggest concentration of brokers in the country, making it easier to recruit employees. The company has offices in Newport Beach, California as well as in Scottsdale, Arizona, Palm Beach, Florida, Los Angeles and New York. Euro Pacific Capital also holds the exclusive rights to broker some Perth Mint gold products in the United States.

Economic forecasting

Peter Schiff specializes in the understanding of the Austrian School, a school of economic thought generally categorized as heterodox (or non-mainstream). Schiff voices strong support for the Austrian School, and says it was first introduced to him by his father, Irwin Schiff..

U.S. bear market

In his 2007 book, ''Crash Proof'', Schiff writes that the current United States economic policies are fundamentally unsound, and predicts that in the future the United States dollar will lose much of its value.

Schiff believes that the imbalance between the amount of goods the U.S. consumes and what it produces will eventually lead to problems for the U.S. economy. As a remedy Schiff favors increased personal savings and production which he says will stimulate economic growth. Schiff cites the U.S.'s low personal savings rate as one of the causes of its transformation from the world's largest creditor nation in the 1970s to the largest debtor nation in the year 2000. Schiff attributes the low savings rate to higher inflation and the artificially low interest rates set by the Federal Reserve.

In a 2002 interview with ''Southland Today'', Schiff predicted that the economic downturn triggered by the bursting of the stock market bubble would lead to a bear market likely to last "another 5 to 10 years." In November 2002, US stocks began a bull market uptrend which held steady for at least five years, until reversing course in 2008, when the Dow, NASDAQ, and S&P; 500 began a decline to less than half of their peak 2008 values, followed in 2009 by the Dow climbing 61% from its low point over the following year. After interviewing Schiff in 2009, journalist and finance author Eric Tyson, referenced various Schiff predictions during the 2000s and stated that "On all of these counts, Schiff wasn't just wrong but ended up being hugely wrong." Schiff later released a video stating that, "When I gave that interview in 2002, I had no way of knowing how irresponsible the Fed was going to be ... But I recognized that early: back in 2003 and 2004 I changed my forecast ... if you look at what happened to the Dow in terms of gold [and not U.S. dollars], my forecast was extremely accurate."

In an August 2006 interview he said: "The United States economy is like the Titanic and I am here with the lifeboat trying to get people to leave the ship... I see a real financial crisis coming for the United States." On December 31, 2006 in debate on Fox News, Schiff forecast that "what's going to happen in 2007" is that "real estate prices are going to come crashing back down to Earth".

As part of these exchanges on Fox News and his repeated appearances on financial news network CNBC, Schiff had mentioned factors such as speculators and "the absence of lending standards" which are now seen by many to indeed be contributing factors to the housing crisis which began in 2007. On December 13, 2007 in a Bloomberg interview on the show ''Open Exchange'', Schiff further added that he felt that the crisis would extend to the credit card lending industry. Following this observation, it was soon reported on December 23, 2007 by the Associated Press that "The value of credit card accounts at least 30 days late jumped 26 percent to $17.3 billion in October from a year earlier at 17 large credit card trusts examined by the AP... At the same time, defaults -- when lenders essentially give up hope of ever being repaid and write off the debt -- rose 18 percent to almost $961 million in October, according to filings made by the trusts with the Securities and Exchange Commission."

Since 2007, Schiff has stated many times that if the government doesn't change course there will be hyperinflation in the US. Schiff is one of a minority of economists credited with accurately predicting the financial crisis of 2007–2010 while "nearly all [macroeconomists] failed to foresee the recession despite plenty of warning signs". In his book ''Crash Proof'', he described several aspects of the U.S. economy that would lead to a recession.

Online videos

Schiff's notoriety for financial predictions increased when a You Tube video entitled "Peter Schiff was right" became popular in late 2008 and 2009. The video consists of a compilation of clips of his many appearances on various financial news programs from networks including CNBC, Fox News, MSNBC and Bloomberg, most of which took place from 2005 to 2007. In the segments Schiff explains specifically the fundamental problems he saw with the United States economy at that time. Schiff's warnings of a coming economic collapse earned him the moniker "Dr. Doom."

In late 2006, Schiff predicted the housing bubble and resulting subprime mortgage crisis, and in late 2008, he predicted the automotive industry crisis and the crisis in the banking and financial markets.

Investment advice

Despite predictions regarding the housing bubble and automotive industry difficulties coming to fruition, as early as 2009 Schiff was receiving criticism due to the performance of some of his client's accounts in 2008, as well as controversies over the predictions themselves. In January 2009, economic blogger and investment adviser Michael Shedlock reported, "I have talked with many who claim they have invested with Schiff and are down anywhere from 40% to 70% in 2008." Other criticisms followed, including the aforementioned Eric Tyson post as well as an article for the investment news site Seeking Alpha, published on the site two days after Shedlock's blog post. Later that week an article appeared in the ''Wall Street Journal'' reporting that Schiff's broker-dealer firm, Euro Pacific Capital Inc., "advised its clients to bet that the dollar would weaken significantly and that foreign stocks would outpace their U.S. peers" and that instead, the dollar advanced against most currencies, "magnifying the losses from foreign stocks Mr. Schiff steered his investors into."

The Director of Communications at Schiff's investment firm responded to the original Shedlock piece by saying, "While it is true, that our accounts have suffered badly in 2008, a fact that we have never disputed or ran from, [Shedlock's] estimates for the size of our typical client losses are exaggerated and unfair." Schiff personally responded to Shedlock's criticism by saying, "to examine the effectiveness of my investment strategy immediately following a major correction by looking only at those accounts who adopted the strategy at the previous peak is unfair and distortive" and called Shedlock's blog entry "nothing more than an overt advertisement (and a highly deceptive one at that) to use my popularity to advance his career," adding that losses were felt mostly by recent clients and not by others.

Schiff responded similarly to criticisms made by Wade Slome of Sidoxia Capital Management, LLC. in a September 2009 blog entry entitled, "The Emperor Schiff Has No Clothes." Schiff stated not only were the losses suffered by his clients in 2008 highly exaggerated, but also that most of those losses have already been recouped, stating that many who where down then are now up, and most long-term clients were never down at all, but merely temporarily lost some of the profits they had earned over the years.

The January 2009 ''Wall Street Journal'' article discussed the value of Schiff's predictions, and stated how deficiencies "made mincemeat of investors who took his advice in 2008." In an interview the following week Schiff likened himself to billionaire investor Warren Buffett saying they were both "buy and hold" long-term investors. Contrasting his negative press he compared claims about accounts managed under Schiff's firm to the stock market value of Warren Buffett's company, saying: "His approach is you buy stocks and you never sell them—you hope to never sell them—and Berkshire Hathaway is down 40% in the last thirteen months; I don't see the Wall Street Journal saying 'Warren Buffett made mincemeat out of his clients.'" The ''Wall Street Journal'' also published a letter written by Schiff in response to his critics saying: "My central investing premise, a weakening dollar and safety in gold, commodities and foreign stocks, didn't materialize in 2008. But all the ingredients were (and remain) present for those movements to occur. Over the past year, market reactions that I didn't foresee—massive global deleveraging, a knee-jerk 'flight to quality' into U.S. Treasuries and a sharp counter trend rally in the U.S. dollar—have kept the scenario from playing out."

In a November 2009 videoblog, Schiff said that five stocks he picked for ''Fortune Magazine'' in January 2009 had gained a total of 360%.

In a March 2009 speech Schiff said that it would be impossible for the U.S. debt to China to be repaid unless the U.S. dollar's value is substantially diluted through inflation.

In September 2009 Schiff said that "I would not be surprised to see [gold] at $5,000 over the next several years" and that the 2009 stock market rally was a "bear market rally".

Political career

Schiff was an economic adviser to Ron Paul's 2008 presidential campaign. In support of Paul's economic revitalization plan, he said: "We need a plan that stimulates savings and production, not more of the reckless borrowing and consumption that got us into this mess in the first place. Ron Paul's plan is the only one that amounts to a step in the right direction. If you want meaningful change—for the better that is—Ron Paul is the only candidate capable of delivering it."

In 2008, Schiff also endorsed Murray Sabrin for the U.S. Senate seat in New Jersey.

In an interview in February 2009, Schiff's position was summarized as a nonpartisan critique of American policymakers, comparing former presidents George W. Bush to Herbert Hoover and President Barack Obama to former president Franklin D. Roosevelt, with neither of the more recent incumbents comparing favorably to the earlier ones.

Schiff supports the reduction of government economic regulation, and is concerned that President Obama's administration may increase such regulation.

Schiff says that the current economic crisis provides an opportunity to transition from borrowing and spending, to saving and producing. Schiff is critical of the U.S. government's efforts to "ease the pain" with economic stimulus packages and bailouts. According to Schiff, the U.S. government's approach of replacing "legitimate savings with a printing press" could result in hyperinflation.

2010 U.S. Senate campaign

In December 2008, Connecticut citizens created a website encouraging Schiff to campaign against the incumbent Senator Christopher Dodd. Approximately 5,000 people made campaign contributions using the web site. On February 21, 2009, a moneybomb raised over $20,000 for Schiff's campaign. In a May 2009 video blog, Schiff said that he was seriously considering a run for the senate and when questioned by a ''Washington Post'' reporter, he said the chance of him entering politics was "better than 50-50". In June 2009 Schiff commissioned a poll of likely voters which indicated that he trailed Dodd in popularity by four percentage points. On July 9, 2009, Schiff launched an exploratory committee and an official campaign website. He began accepting donations in an attempt to see if "people who really believe in freedom, liberty, sound money and the constitution are prepared to support that with an actual political contribution or to volunteer their services and work on this campaign." He received over 10,000 donations and many e-mails from around the world.

After giving some hints on ''The Daily Show'' Schiff officially announced his candidacy for the Republican nomination on September 17, 2009, during the MSNBC ''Morning Joe'' show. By October 2009 Schiff had received more than 10,000 telephone calls and letters and raised over $1,960,000 (USD) in campaign contributions.

At the May 2010 Republican convention, Linda McMahon received the most delegate votes but not enough to prevent an August primary election. U.S. Rep. Rob Simmons received more than the required 15 percent of the total votes necessary to force the primary. Schiff then collected the signatures necessary to earn a position on the August 2010 GOP primary ballot, submitting at least 400 signatures over the state requirement.

In July 2010, Schiff's campaign received endorsements from Steve Forbes and Ron Paul.

In the Republican primary, held on August 10, 2010, Schiff lost the nomination to Linda McMahon.

The results were:

49% Linda McMahon

28% Rob Simmons

23% Peter Schiff

Ultimately, the election was won by the Democratic Party primary winner, Richard Blumenthal.

Recognition

In 2011 Peter Schiff was listed as one of the Who's Who of Wall Street

Books

Peter Schiff is the author of five books published by John Wiley & Sons. His book, ''Crash Proof 2.0'', appeared on both the ''New York Times'' and ''Wall Street Journal'' bestseller lists.

''Crash Proof: How to Profit From the Coming Economic Collapse'', February 2007, ISBN 978-0-470-04360-8 1

''The Little Book of Bull Moves in Bear Markets: How to Keep your Portfolio Up When the Market is Down'', 2008, ISBN 978-0-470-38378-0 2

''Crash Proof 2.0: How to Profit From the Economic Collapse, 2nd Edition'', September 2009, ISBN 978-0-470-47453-2 3

''The Little Book of Bull Moves, Updated and Expanded: How to Keep Your Portfolio Up When the Market Is Up, Down, Or Sideways'', 2010, ISBN 0470643994 4

''How an Economy Grows and Why it Crashes'', 2010, ISBN 978-0-470-52670-5 5

Notes

References

External links

Euro Pacific Capital US Brokerage Firm Website

Euro Pacific Precious Metals Coin Company Website

Schiff for Senate Official Campaign Website

Peter Schiff Online, Official book site for Peter Schiff

Peter Schiff radio, Schiff's daily radio show

Peter Schiff blog

The Peter Schiff Blog

Social media

Peter Schiff's Official YouTube channel

Category:American economics writers Category:American economists Category:American finance and investment writers Category:American Jews Category:American libertarians Category:American money managers Category:Austrian School economists Category:Classical liberals Category:Connecticut Republicans Category:Financial analysts Category:Libertarian economists Category:Microeconomists Category:People from New Haven, Connecticut Category:People from New York City Category:Stock and commodity market managers Category:University of California, Berkeley alumni Category:Writers from Connecticut Category:1964 births Category:Living people

cs:Peter Schiff da:Peter Schiff de:Peter Schiff (Ökonom) es:Peter Schiff fr:Peter Schiff nl:Peter D. Schiff (econoom) ja:ピーター・シフ pl:Peter Schiff pt:Peter Schiff fi:Peter Schiff uk:Пітер Шифф

name	Peter Andre
background	solo_singer
birth name	Peter James Andrea
born	February 27, 1973Harrow, London, England
origin	English | genre Pop, R&B;, Urban
occupation	Singer-songwriterTelevision personalityBusinessman
instrument	Vocals
years active
label
website	}}

Peter James Andrea (born 27 February 1973) is an English-born Australian-raised singer-songwriter, television personality and businessman. He was born in the United Kingdom to Greek Cypriot parents and raised in Australia. From the 2000s, he has been a resident of the United Kingdom. He also has a successful career in music, achieving four top 10 UK albums and ten top 10 singles.

Early life

Andre was born at Northwick Park Hospital in London on 27 February 1973. The family immigrated to Australia when he was six years old. 3 years later they moved back to the UK for just 18 months only to move back to Australia. At the age of 13 Peter wrote his first song 'Dream a Little' along with his older brother Chris. The song later became part of his debut album ''Peter Andre''. By the time he was 16, Andre had written many songs, many of which were co-written by his brother Chris. At age 16, Peter became a contestant on ''Hey Hey It's Saturday'' 'Red Faces' (a non serious show similar to ''The X Factor'') on which he was offered a recording contract live on Australian television.

Career

1992–2004: Early Singing Career

Andre first had a top 50 single in the United Kingdom called "Only One", which reached number 16 and then gained further success with the song "Mysterious Girl" (featuring ''Bubbler Ranx''), which reached number 2 in the ''UK singles chart'' and number 8 in Australia. He then had a number 1 album ''Natural'' and two U.K. number 1 singles ''Flava'' and ''I Feel You''. His last single from the album was "Natural", the song peaked at number 6 in the ''UK singles chart''.

Towards the end of 1997 Andre release his second album ''Time''. The album saw three singles released. The first, "All About Us", was released in August 1997 and peaked at number 3 in the ''UK singles chart''. The second single was released just before the album, "Lonely" reached number 6 in the charts. Following the single the album was released in November 1997 and peaked at number 28 in the ''UK album charts''. The last single from the album was "All Night, All Right", the song peaked at number 16.

In 1998 he released his last single (a cover of the song "Kiss the Girl" from Disney's ''The Little Mermaid'') before being dropped by his record company and taking a long break from his music career. It peaked at number 9 in the ''UK singles chart''.

He also appeared on the Childliners record ''The Gift Of Christmas'' and in the following years he spent some time in Cyprus.

2004–07: The Long Road Back & A Whole New World

He returned to the British media with a stint on the British reality TV series ''I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!''; during which he met, fell in love with and subsequently married former glamour model Katie Price. Capitalising on his resurgent popularity and a wave of generational nostalgia, he re-released his hit song ''Mysterious Girl'' in 2004, the single finally reaching number 1, eight years after it was originally released in 1995 which reached number 2 on the charts. This marked six years since his last chart appearance. He released a follow-up song, "Insania", which reached number 3 in the United Kingdom in June 2004. A follow-up album entitled ''The Long Road Back'' was also released that month but only reached number 44 in the ''UK album charts''. The next single from the album was "The Right Way" and featured Price in the video. This reached number 14 in September 2004.

Andre and wife Price released a duet album, ''A Whole New World'', on 27 November 2006. It was Price's first time in the music industry. The album consisted largely of cover versions and finally peaked at number 20 in the ''UK album charts''. The album was followed by a single, "A Whole New World", on 14 December 2006. The single peaked at number 12.

2009–10: Revelation & Unconditional: Love Songs

In 2008, Andre began working on his new album with executive producer Richard Pascoe (RP Management) & Producer AC Burrell (Black Smoke Productions), ''Revelation'', which was released on 14 September 2009. The first single, ''Behind Closed Doors'', was released in August 2009 and peaked at number 4 in the ''UK singles chart''. He performed the song at ''T4 on the Beach''. The album ''Revelation'' peaked at number 3 in the ''UK album charts'', this was Andre's second highest chart position to date. It has sold over 300,000 copies. Even though some of the songs were already written by Black Smoke productions, many of the songs focus on his relationship with Katie Price. The second single from the album was ''Unconditional''. It peaked at number 50 in the ''UK singles chart''.

On 1 February 2010 he released the album ''Unconditional: Love Songs''. The album was released for Valentine's Day. It entered the ''UK album charts'' at number 9, and the following week moved up to 7, which is the albums peak position. As part as promotion for the album, Andre made a video for the song ''I Can't Make You Love Me'' and released it for the music channels. Also as part of promotion, Peter sang the song ''Sign Your Name'' on ''GMTV''. Both the songs were recorded as covers for the album.

On 18 July 2010, Andre performed in front of 22 people at The ''Midlands Music Festival'' in Tamworth. He also performed at the ''V Festival'' and packed out his tent, with 13 people watching.

In February, March and April 2010, Andre embarked on a 38-date tour of the UK. He sold all dates out performing to hundreds of people. The tour was announced after the success for the album ''Revelation''.

On 2 September 2010, it was announced on his official Twitter page that work on a new album was underway.

2010–2011: Accelerate

The first single from Andre's new album Accelerate, titled Defender was released on 25 October 2010.[6] The song peaked at number 14 in the UK singles chart. As part of promotion for the song, Andre made several Radio and TV appearances, including performances on Strictly Come Dancing, The Alan Titchmarsh Show and This Morning. He also did 5 single signings in Staffordshire, London, Brighton, Hull and Kent.[5]

The album was released on 1 November 2010. It reached number 10 in the UK album charts in its first week, becoming Andre's third top 10 album in a year, and fourth overall. On the album, Andre collaborates with Urban artists such as Labrinth, Taio Cruz and Roll Deep member J2K. It is a new sound and direction for Andre, as he moves onto a more R&B;/Urban sound. As part of promotion for the album, he has appeared on TV shows Daybreak and CBBC. He also had three album signings in Derby, Bristol and Manchester.[4]

Songs off the album were performed on a 14-date Arena tour across the UK in December. This was Andre's biggest tour this century, and it went ahead after the success of the three albums, Revelation, Unconditional: Love Songs and Accelerate. He performed in arenas such as Birmingham's LG Arena, Manchester's MEN Arena and London's O2 Arena[5] with Mike fantastic (his support band).

The second single "Perfect Night" will be released in July 2011.[4]

Business ventures

After his recent popularity rise in 2009, Andre released a fragrance for women called ''Unconditional''. To promote the fragrance Andre signed copies across stores in the UK.

Following the success of ''Unconditional'' Andre released a male fragrance ''Conditional''.

The summer of 2010 saw Andre release a book, ''My World: In Pictures and Words''. This was his first book since his divorce from Katie Price. The book tells of Andre's life story in his own words and selected pictures, it goes through his music career, marriage and divorce. The book reached number two on the UK book charts and stayed there for a number of weeks.

In 2010, Andre then released a second perfume, called ''Mysterious Girl'', named after his hit single. He did several signings of the perfume across the UK. ''The Perfume Shop'' helped out with promotion for the fragrance, using their stores for the signings.

Television career

As well as his appearances in ITV1's reality show ''I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!'' (2003) and his ITV2 shows with ex-wife Katie Price, Andre landed a completely different job as showbiz reporter for daytime magazine show ''This Morning''. Andre went on to host the show with Kate Thornton in October 2009.

Andre hosted The 5 O'Clock Show show from June 2010, a Channel Four show featuring a guest presenter every few weeks, including Lenny Henry and Melanie Sykes.

He was a regular on the ITV1 game show ''Odd One In'', he makes up one half of the Home Team (with Jason Manford).

Television appearances

Year	TV Show	Role	Notes
2004	''I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! ''	Contestant
2005–09	''Katie & Peter''	Star
2008	''The Sunday Night Project''	Guest presenter
	''Alan Carr: Chatty Man''	Guest
''T4 on the Beach''	Performer
''Peter Andre: Going It Alone''	Star
		Reporter
''Peter Andre: The Next Chapter''	Star
''Children In Need''	BT Tower presenter
	''The Big Fat Quiz of the Year''	Guest
''5 O'Clock Show with''	Guest presenter, week 1 and 2
''Odd One In''	Regular panellist
2010–Present	''Brit Awards'' Backstage & Encore	Presenter
2011–Present	''Peter Andre: Here to Help''	Star

Personal life

Andre married Katie Price on 10 September 2005. He has two children, both by Price; a son, Junior Savva Andrea (born 13 June 2005) and a daughter, Princess Tiaamii Andrea (born 29 June 2007). While married to Price, Andre was stepfather to her son Harvey, a blind and autistic child from her earlier relationship with football player Dwight Yorke. Andre said he was ready to adopt Harvey, having developed a bond with him.

In May 2009, it was announced that Andre and Price had separated after three and a half years of marriage. In an interview on ''This Morning'' two months later, Andre said that he believed he should "move on with [his] life", and there is "little chance" that he and Price will ever reconcile. Andre and Price were officially divorced on 8 September 2009.

On 27 April 2007, it was reported in several newspapers in the United Kingdom that Andre had been diagnosed with meningitis. He was discharged from hospital on 3 May 2007.

Andre was rushed to hospital with excruciating pain caused by kidney stones on 26 November 2010. Fans were asked to check Andre's website for alterations to tours.

In January 2011, it was revealed that Andre had been dating Spanish ex-WAG Elen Rivas (ex-fiancee of footballer, Frank Lampard and mother of his two daughters) since November 2010. Andre and Rivas announced on 3 April 2011 that they had ended their 5 month relationship.

Discography

''Peter Andre'' (1993)

''Natural'' (1996)

''Time'' (1997)

''The Long Road Back'' (2004)

''A Whole New World'' (2006)

''Revelation'' (2009)

''Unconditional: Love Songs'' (2010)

''Accelerate'' (2010)

References

External links

Category:1973 births Category:Living people Category:ARIA Award winners Category:Australian male singers Category:Australian people of Greek descent Category:Australian businesspeople Category:Australian pop musicians Category:British businesspeople Category:British male singers Category:British people of Cypriot descent Category:English people of Greek descent Category:British pop singers Category:British singer-songwriters Category:I'm a Celebrity…Get Me out of Here! contestants Category:Participants in British reality television series Category:People from Harrow, London

da:Peter André de:Peter André el:Πήτερ Άντρε it:Peter Andre nl:Peter Andre pl:Peter André pt:Peter André ru:Андрэ, Питер fi:Peter André sv:Peter André