Born on February 12: Steve Hackett, Genesis guitarist for eternity...

Born in 1950 in the Pimlico district of central London, Steve Hackett is the leading exponent of English progressive rock. 

A virtuoso guitarist labeled as “progressive”, Steve Hackett has always favored sophisticated arpeggios over overly-flavored ditties. He was part of now-forgotten bands as Sarabane and Canterbury Glass. In 1971, after an album with his brother John (an experience he would repeat years later), he replaced Anthony Phillips in Genesis when Peter Gabriel was still the lead singer. He took part in the English band's most intellectual albums, such as “Foxtrot” and “Selling England By The Pound”. The emblematic, poetic double album “The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway” also saw the light of day when Steve Hackett was still churning out his often dreamlike chords. Monumental though it is, and despite Brian Eno's pressence as sound engineer, the work has nevertheless taken on an age of its own.

This episode of six albums with Genesis, between 1971 and “Wind And Wuthering” in 1976, still leaves an indelible mark on the guitarist's career. At the heart of various projects such as Squackett and GTR, but mainly under his own name, Steve Hackett has released some twenty studio albums as well as countless live recordings, often drawing on the Genesis repertoire. As recently as 2023, he released “Foxtrot At Fifty” to celebrate the 50th anniversary of... “Foxtrot”.

(Stéphane Soupart - Tr: MH - Photo: © Etienne Tordoir)
Photo: Steve Hackett on stage at the Ancienne Belgique in Brussels (Belgium) on July 2, 2024