- Born
- Birth nameMichael John Cleote Crawford Rutherford
- Nicknames
- Alf
- The Dumbledore of rock
- Height6′ 3″ (1.91 m)
- If drummer and singer Phil Collins became the superstar of Genesis, it could be said that Mike Rutherford was the secret weapon on their way to fame, fortune and selling out the world's biggest venues. He wrote the lyrics for their first major international single, Follow You Follow Me, which became a UK top ten and a US top 30 hit. He wrote the lyrics to their second UK top ten single, Turn It On Again, two years later. In 1985, he formed another successful project, Mike and the Mechanics. In 1986, Genesis had their greatest success with Invisible Touch, which featured five international hits, two with lyrics by Rutherford, Land of Confusion and Throwing It All Away. In 1988, he created, with B.A. Robertson, the most critically acclaimed song of his career, The Living Years, which became a huge success for Mike and the Mechanics, earning an Ivor Novello Award and millions of plays on US radio.
Rutherford was from a distinguished family. His father was naval officer Captain William Rutherford. He was sent to one of England's top private schools, Charterhouse, where he met future Genesis bandmates Peter Gabriel and Tony Banks. Rutherford was the band's bass and rhythm guitarist, contributing important parts to the sound but taking a back seat to lead guitarist Anthony Phillips (who was soon replaced by Steve Hackett). The band became renowned throughout the 1970s for their elaborate, classically influenced progressive rock, which gained a growing cult fanbase. Gabriel left in 1975 but the band grew in commercial appeal. When Hackett left in 1977, the band decided not to replace him and Rutherford became their sole guitarist on subsequent studio albums. They would soon move away from their status as a cult band and into mainstream success, becoming one of Britain's biggest bands of the 1980s and early 1990s.
In 2014, Rutherford released his autobiography, The Living Years.- IMDb Mini Biography By: Anonymous
- SpouseAngela Downing(November 13, 1976 - present) (3 children)
- Children
- Doubleneck bass/12-string guitar
- Towering height and slender frame
- One of the founding members of Genesis, with Peter Gabriel, Tony Banks, and Anthony Phillips. They were only 15 and in boarding school when they formed the group. Rutherford was in a band called "The Anon" with Phillips. Gabriel and Banks had a band called "The Garden Wall" with drummer Chris Stewart. These groups merged to form Genesis. Steve Hackett and Phil Collins were hired later to replace Phillips and drummer John Mayhew, respectively.
- His favorite Genesis album is "Genesis" (released in 1983).
- He and Tony Banks are the only people to have played on every Genesis album.
- Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Genesis in 2010.
- Assumed lead guitar duties on Genesis albums from "And Then There Were Three" (1978) onwards, replacing Steve Hackett.
- Despite the media's perception of us, we didn't think of ourselves as a singles band. In our minds we were a band that did long songs but just happened to have a few hits. (On Genesis)
- We are all shocked and devastated by Paul's death. He had a fantastic voice, one of the best rock voices of his generation, and aside from his musical talent, he had such an infectious enthusiasm for the business. Paul loved performing. (On the death of Paul M. Young)
- Abacab, Genesis and Invisible Touch were for me a real pleasure to do. Each one was an adventure we faced without any preconceived ideas. It was, 'Here we go, hope it works and let's see which way it takes us'. And Phil's voice had developed so much. He'd gone from being a drummer who sang to being a great singer.
- After Peter Gabriel left we started to get into individual songs for a while. But Genesis has always worked best when we worked together on stuff that we liked. 'Follow You Follow Me' was a classic example of that and we started writing together again. I think if we hadn't started writing songs like 'Turn It On Again' we would have started to lose our way.
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