Peter Garrett of Midnight Oil has quit

SYDNEY, Australia (Midnight Oil Fans Website) - Peter Garrett, the energetic lead singer of Australian rock band Midnight Oil, has quit.

With his distinctive bald head, wild dancing and strident voice, Garrett was one of the most recognizable Australian singers of the last generation.
"The last 25 years have been incredibly fulfilling for me, and I leave with the greatest respect for the whole of Midnight Oil," he said in a statement on the band's Web site. "The band has brought a lot of pleasure and meaning to people's lives, including my own. Who could ask for more?"

But Garrett, a committed environmental activist, said it was "time for me to move on and immerse myself in those things which are of deep concern to me and which I have been unable to fully apply myself to up to now."

Besides his singing career, Garrett served as president of the Australian Conservation Foundation between 1989-93. He also was on the international board of environmental group Greenpeace.

In recent years, Garrett has focused his activities closer to home, with particular emphasis on campaigns against genetic engineering, coastal development and the nuclear industry.

Midnight Oil's protest song about Aboriginal land rights, "Beds are Burning," was a hit around the world and the band played it at the closing ceremony of the 2000 Sydney Olympics.
The remaining band members said they planned to continue making music together "in another guise at some point down the track."