Stephen Richard Hackett was born on 12 February 1950 in Pimlico, south London to Peter and June Hackett. He was born one day before his future Genesis bandmate, singer Peter Gabriel. He has a younger brother John who took up the flute and has performed, collaborated, and written with Hackett throughout his solo career. Hackett attended Sloane Grammar School in Chelsea. In the 1950s, the family relocated to Vancouver, Canada but returned home after his parents, his mother in particular, became too homesick.