Hackett, Steve

Steve Hackett was born in Pimlico - Central London and attended Sloan Gymnasium.

As a child, he had access to various musical instruments such as a recorder and harmonica . He became interested in guitar for the first time at the age of 12. At 14, he already knew several chords and composed melodies. Hackett was influenced by classical music ( Johann Sebastian Bach ) and opera ( Mario Lanza ) ^[4] . He was also influenced by some blues artists: Danny Kirwan, Peter Green and some guitarists from John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers .

Career start

The first bands Hackett played were Canterbury Glass and Sarabande. Both groups played rock with elements of progressive. Then he, along with his brother John Hackett, who played the flute , played in the band Quiet World, with which he recorded the album The Road . Soon after, he left the group.

Hackett, in search of a new band, posted an ad in Melody Maker magazine. An ad in which he stated that he was looking for musicians "ready to go beyond the existing stagnant forms of music" caught the attention of Genesis vocalist Peter Gabriel . In July 1970, guitarist Anthony Phillips left the band, and Genesis was looking for a replacement. Hackett auditioned and in December 1970 joined the group.

Years with Genesis

Hackett, who had little experience playing on stage, initially had difficulty performing. However, he soon got used to his role and created a unique stage image (he played wearing glasses and hunched over his guitar), which served as a counterweight to Gabriel's extravagant image.

Hackett's first work with Genesis was the album Nursery Cryme , released in November 1971. Hackett had a significant impact on the sound of the group, as can be seen from the songs "The Musical Box" and "The Return of the Giant Hogweed". He became one of the first guitarists to widely use the tapping technique. In particular, his game influenced Eddie Van Halen , who became interested in this technique after attending a Genesis concert in the early 70's ^[5] .

Although Nursery Cryme was not a commercial success, Foxtrot's next album reached number 12 on the English chart. The composition "Horizons", in which Hackett plays solo on a classical guitar, became one of his iconic things.

Foxtrot ushered in the commercial success of Genesis and in 1973 the band released their next album, Selling England by the Pound . On it, Hackett continued to demonstrate and improve his technique of playing by tapping, and also applies a sweep . Both of these techniques can be heard in the song "Dancing with the Moonlit Knight". The song "Firth of Fifth" contains one of Hackett's most famous solos. This song continued to be performed at concerts and after his departure from the group.

Hackett's contribution to The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway's next album was negligible. Much of this was influenced by his divorce. ^[6] In addition, Hackett accidentally injured his hand with a broken glass, due to which the tour in support of the album was delayed. This further increased the tension within the team ^[7] .

In 1975, Hackett was the first Genesis member to release a solo album, Voyage of the Acolyte . In the recording, he was assisted by Mike Rutherford and Phil Collins . He enjoyed freedom in writing songs and was even more disappointed in working with the group.

After Peter Gabriel left, Phil Collins became the vocalist. In this composition, the group records the album A Trick of the Tail . Hackett participated in the writing of several compositions, but he felt intimately within the group.

His disappointment increased as Genesis prepared for the release of the next Wind & Wuthering album. Hackett insisted that more of his material be included in the album, but his request was rejected. "Blood on the Rooftops", which Hackett wrote with Collins, was never played at concerts, and the other song "Please, Don't Touch" was not included in the album. Another song, “Inside and Out,” was released on EP Spot the Pigeon . Hackett remained in the group until the end of the Wind & Wuthering tour, and on October 8, 1977 announced his departure a week before the release of the band's second live album, Seconds Out ^[8] .

Participation in reunions

After Hackett left, the group reunited several times. For the first time since 1975, the classic line-up gathered on October 2, 1982 at the solo concert "Six of the Best" to raise funds for the Peter Gabriel WOMAD festival.

In 1998, the group gathered again for a photo session and a gala dinner to celebrate the release of the 1967-75 Genesis Archive box set. Hackett re-recorded some guitar parts for the box set, and also took part in re-recording the song “The Carpet Crawlers” from The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway for Turn It on Again: The Hits . The rest of the musicians also re-recorded their parts, but together they did not record. However, when Trevor Horn and Art of Noise finished mixing, little was left of their parts except Gabriel and Collins' vocals.

Collins said in an interview in April 2006 that the group had come together in November 2005. At the meeting, the musicians discussed the possibility of reuniting the classical line-up and conducting several concerts, including the full performance of The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway ^[9] . However, on October 18, 2006, it was announced that the group would play with Collins, Banks, Rutherford ^[10] .

In March 2010, Phish guitarist Trey Anastasio made a speech at the introduction ceremony of Genesis to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame . In addition, Phish performed two Genesis songs: "Watcher of the Skies" and "No Reply At All". Despite the fact that Hackett, along with the rest of the band (except Gabriel) was present at the ceremony, they did not speak.

Solo career

Hackett's first album, released after leaving Genesis, was Please Don't Touch (1978). Like Voyage of the Acolyte , most of the album was in progressive rock style ^[1] . However, the album had more songs with vocals. Hackett, who never performed the main vocal part in Genesis, recruited several vocalists, including folk singer Ritchie Havens, rhythm and blues singer Randy Crawford and Steve Walsh from Kansas . Hackett himself sang in the song "Carry on Up the Vicarage", but his part was processed using vocal effects. ^[11] The album reached 38 places on the UK chart and 103 places on the Billboard chart ^[1] .

These albums are followed by Spectral Mornings (1979) and Defector (1980), reaching 22 and 9 places in the UK respectively and 138 and 144 places in the USA. In 1979, Hackett toured for the first time as a solo artist, and in August performs at the festival in Reading . During the tour in support of Defector's album, he performs for the first time since participating in Genesis in the USA.

Hackett's first musical style changes take place on 1981's Cured album. Although the album contained progressive and classical compositions, it was more pop-oriented. The album was recorded without most of the musicians who assisted Hackett in recording previous albums. Only Nick Magnus and John Hackett are involved in the recording. Although the album did not have commercial success in the USA, in the UK it reached 15th place ^[1] .

In the 1980s, Hackett released his first classical music albums: Bay of Kings (1983, # 70 in the UK) ^[1] and Momentum (1988).

In 1983, Hackett took part in recording the album of Brazilian singer Ritchie Voo de Coração . He played the guitar on several tracks and most of the songs from the album became hits on Brazilian radio.

Hackett also released rock albums. So in the 80s there were records Cure (1981), Highly Strung (1983, 16th place in the UK) and Till We Have Faces (1984, 54th place in the UK).

In 1986, Hackett, along with former Yes and Asia guitarist Steve Howe, created the GTR band. The group released the self-titled album, which was produced by another member of Yes and Asia, Jeff Downs . Hackett soon left the group due to financial disagreements. Hackett also worked with other Yes members: Genesis Bill Bruford , bassist Chris Squire (on Chris Squire's Swiss Choir album in 2007) and Trevor Horn , who was producer on The Carpet Crawlers in 1999. He also performed with Rick Wakeman on the Gastank television show in the mid-80s.

In 1996, Hackett released the tribute album Watcher of the Skies: Genesis Revisited , which contained compositions written between 1971–77 (some of which were not implemented by the Genesis group). Hackett also continued his solo career, releasing many albums starting in the 90s, including acoustic ones. In April 1997, he released an album with neoclassical music A Midsummer Night's Dream , accompanied by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra . The album spent several weeks in the Top 10 UK classical charts.

In June 2009, Hackett announced the recording of a new solo album, which will also be attended by many musicians, including former Genesis guitarist Anthony Phillips and Yes bassist Chris Squire. The album, called Out of the Tunnel's Mouth , was due to be released in October 2009, but its release was delayed for legal reasons and ended up being released a month later. Some songs from the album were performed during the European tour.

In August 2009, Alan Hewitt released an authorized biography of Hackett called "Sketches of Hackett." The first edition of the book included a DVD with a 90-minute interview done at Steve's house.

On March 15, 2010, Genesis was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame . Hackett, along with Phil Collins, Tony Banks and Mike Rutherford attended the ceremony, but refused to speak. Hackett expressed a desire to participate in the reunion of the classical composition of Genesis. However, the planned reunion of Genesis did not take place after Gabriel refused to participate in it ^[12] . In 2011, Phil Collins announced his retirement and now the chances of reunion are extremely small.

In 2011, Hackett released the album Beyond the Shrouded Horizon . In 2012, a tour was held in support of the album. ^[13] Beyond the Shrouded Horizon became Hackett's twenty-fourth solo album.

Hackett, along with Chris Squire, organized the Squackett project. On May 29, 2012, the debut album A Life Within A Day was released.

In addition to copyright, during his solo career, Hackett also recorded tributes with the music of his former band Genesis. So, in 1996, the album Genesis Revisited was released, where many invited musicians, mainly from the world of progressive rock, performed the most famous compositions of the legendary group. In October 2012, another similar album, called Genesis Revisited II, was released. Two discs present both the classic Genesis compositions of the Gabrielian period of 1971-1974, and the later ones of 1975-1976 (before leaving the group of Hackett himself).

Hackett was married three times. The marriage with his first wife, Ellen ^[14] , was short-lived. They divorced while Hackett worked on The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway . From him was born the son of Oliver.

On August 14, 1981, Hackett married Brazilian artist and jeweler Kim Pur. ^[15] She painted most of the covers for his solo albums. They divorced on May 18, 2007. ^[16]

On June 4, 2011, Hackett married Joe Lehmann. ^[17]

Steve’s younger brother, John, has been involved in Steve’s solo work as a flutist and second guitar player since the 70s. John appears as a co-author and musician in later works, in particular on the album Sketches of Satie (2000), arranged for flute and guitar.

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