Mike Rutherford turns 75 today – Happy Birthday!

Genesis founding member and Mechanics foreman Mike Rutherford celebrates his 75th birthday today – congratulations!

Tony Banks, Steve Hackett and Peter Gabriel already celebrated their 75th birthdays in the spring – and now it’s Mike Rutherford’s turn.

As a founding member and, in particular, together with Anthony Phillips, he was an integral part of the band’s early years and indispensable to its development. His bass playing had a particularly strong influence on the Big Five era until 1975.

He replaced Steve Hackett as lead guitarist when Hackett left the band in 1977. Rutherford developed an ever-increasing talent for songwriting, which, after two solo albums, eventually led to the formation of his second band, Mike + The Mechanics.

And after the definitive end of Genesis in March 2022, Mike Rutherford continues to be active with the Mechanics and is still writing new songs in 2025. Even a hip replacement surgery did not stop him from touring this year.

We congratulate Mike on his 75th birthday and look forward to new projects and new music – happy birthday!