Peter John Joseph Murphy is an English singer, songwriter, and musician. He is the vocalist for the post-punk goth rock band Bauhaus. After Bauhaus disbanded, Murphy formed Dali's Car with Japan's bassist Mick Karn and released one album, The Waking Hour (1984). He went on to release a number of solo albums, including Should the World Fail to Fall Apart (1986) and Love Hysteria (1988). In 1990, he achieved commercial success with his single "Cuts You Up", which went in the top 60 of the US Billboard Hot 100 which is for the singles sales. His album Deep also reached No. 44 on the Billboard 200. In 1992, Murphy released Holy Smoke, which reached No. 108 on the Billboard 200 chart along: it featured lead single "The Sweetest Drop". 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 No. 173 on the Billboard 200.

Gothic rock is a style of rock music that emerged from post-punk in the United Kingdom in the late 1970s. The first post-punk bands which shifted toward dark music with gothic overtones include Siouxsie and the Banshees, Joy Division, Bauhaus, and the Cure.