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A founding member of the long-running art rock band Genesis, Mike Rutherford also made the occasional excursion into solo projects, most notably the pop combo Mike + the Mechanics. Born October 2, 1950, in Guildford, England, Rutherford formed Genesis while a student at the exclusive secondary school Charterhouse. Beginning with their 1969 debut LP, From Genesis to Revelation, the group earned a devoted cult following for their richly complex, theatrical approach, reaching their creative peak with the 1974 double-album The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway. With the subsequent departure of frontman Peter Gabriel, however, Genesis installed drummer Phil Collins as lead vocalist, pursuing a more concise, pop-oriented direction that resulted in the mainstream chart success of records like 1980's And Then There Were Three and 1981's Abacab. In the meantime, Rutherford issued his first solo effort, 1980's Small Creep's Day, a concept album based on the Peter C. Brown novel; Acting Very Strange fol...