Amnesty International has announced that Peter Gabriel will be the 2008 recipient of the international human rights organization's Ambassador of Conscience award. As the fifth beneficiary of the award, the always enigmatic Gabriel has joined the highly esteemed ranks of such notable former recipients as Nelson Mandela, Vaclav Havel, U2, Hilda Morales Trujillo and Mary Robinson. Gabriel is honored for his work in the 1980s on Amnesty's early musical tours as well as his founding of the watchdog organization Witness and the amnesty super-group The Elders. For those of you who don't know, The Elders is an international group of highly influential global personalities who put their heads together to solve "insurmountable problems." You know, HIV, problems in the Middle East, global warming, etc. Its members have included Jimmy Carter, Desmond Tutu and Mandela.

For those of you unable to attend the official presentation ceremony on September 10th, you still have a chance to catch Gabriel at his most personal. Rumors have it that the former Genesis singer may be turning a future recording session into an intimate concert for die-hard fans. The idea comes from a recent Incredible String Band fundraiser, where the group sold tickets to their own recording sessions in order to fund the record at Gabriel's Real World in Box studio.

Let's congratulate Mr. Gabriel by watching hilariously classic Genesis clips (under cut). You gotta love this guy!