Peter Murphy, English singer-songwriter
Peter John Joseph Murphy (born 11 July 1957) is an English singer, songwriter, and musician. He was the vocalist of the post-punk goth rock band Bauhaus. After Bauhaus disbanded, Murphy formed Dali's Car with Japan's member Mick Karn and released one album The Waking Hour. He later went on to release a number of solo albums, including Should the World Fail to Fall Apart and Love Hysteria. In 1990, he achieved mainstream success with his hit single "Cuts You Up", which topped the American Modern Rock Tracks for 7 weeks. His album Deep also reached #44 on the Billboard 200. In 1992, Murphy released Holy Smoke which reached #108 in the Billboard 200 chart along with his lead single The Sweetest Drop, which peaked #2 in the American Modern Rock Tracks. In 2002, Murphy released Dust with Turkish-Canadian composer and producer Mercan Dede, which utilizes traditional Turkish instrumentation and songwriting, abandoning Murphy's previous pop and rock incarnations, and juxtaposing elements from progressive rock, trance, classical music, and Middle Eastern music, coupled with Dede's trademark atmospheric electronics. In 2014, he released Lion, produced by Killing Joke's Youth, which reached #173 in the Billboard 200.
Thin with prominent cheekbones, a baritone voice, and a penchant for gloomy poetics, he is often called the "Godfather of Goth".