An endangered language is a language that is at risk of falling out of use. If it loses all its native speakers, it becomes a dead language. If eventually no one speaks the language at all, it becomes an "extinct language". The danger of extinction to any given language and the rapid increase in language extinction can be seen largely as a result of globalization and neocolonialism, where the economically powerful languages dominate other languages. This type of loss of language can be looked at in reference to Charles Darwin's theory of "survival of the fittest". The more commonly spoken languages dominate the less commonly spoken languages and therefore, the less commonly spoken languages eventually disappear from populations..

The total number of languages in the world is not known. Estimates vary depending on many factors. K. David Harrison, author of "When Languages Die", estimates 6,900 or so languages are spoken on the planet and that more than half of these languages are likely to become extinct over the next century. Harvey also notes that 95% of the world population speak just one or more of 400 languages, while the other 6,509 languages are unevenly distributed among the remaining 5% of the world population. Michael E. Krauss defines languages as "safe" if children will probably be speaking them in 100 years; "endangered" if children will probably not be speaking them in 100 years (approximately 60-80% of languages fall into this category); and "moribund" if children are not speaking them now.

Peter Brian Gabriel (born 13 February 1950) is an English 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. His 1986 album, So, is his most commercially successful, and the album's biggest hit, "Sledgehammer", won a record nine MTV Awards at the 1987 MTV Video Music Awards, and the song is the most played music video in the history of the station.

More recently, Gabriel has focused on producing and promoting world music and pioneering digital distribution methods for music. He has also been involved in various humanitarian efforts. Gabriel has won numerous music awards throughout his career, including three Brit Awards—winning Best British Male in 1987, six Grammy Awards, thirteen MTV Video Music Awards, and in 2007 he 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 was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Genesis in 2010.