Peter Brown (singer)
Encyclopedia
Peter Brown is an artist
, songwriter
and record producer
. He grew up in Palos Heights, another Chicago
suburb. His mother, Virginia, was artistic and musically talented and gave Peter music lessons at a very young age. Peter’s father, Maurice, was an electronic engineer and unwittingly helped him learn the technical aspects of recording music. He always brought home the latest technological breakthrough - which in those days included CB and ham radios, the first color television and the first stereo record player.
Maurice also purchased a number of tape recorders which Peter played with as a kid. One of these machines, a TEAC A-1200 2-track, had a feature which allowed you to transfer something you had recorded on one track to a second track, while you simultaneously recorded something new on that second track. This was Peter’s first introduction to overdubbing - which was a standard element of making recordings.
, Earth Wind and Fire and Chicago
. He later became proficient playing timbales, conga drums and a large number of other percussion instruments. Peter said that "As a teenager I was in many different “garage” bands and continued to write and record different musical pieces heavily based on percussion."
Keyboards came later and Peter was one of the pioneer users of the musical synthesizer. For a time he was spokesman for the ARP Synthesizer company since he used their products almost exclusively in performances and recordings. He has also been credited as being one of the founders of “House Music
” in the 1970s.
Although music was always a big part of his life, he never thought of it as a possible profession. He always assumed he would become a painter or a graphic artist of some kind. After High School he enrolled in The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Although it was a prestigious school, professors seemed indifferent and the facilities were very rudimentary at the time. Peter said, "I got no real instruction and wondered what I was going to do after four years of this sort of education."
This is about the time Peter met Cory Wade
who eventually became his first producer. "I met Cory Wade by chance through mutual friends." Peter recalled. "Although he was a music producer my friends thought he might also have some connections in the art world and could help me out in some way. But being a music producer he was more interested in hearing about what I was doing musically than as a painter. He encouraged me to send him some of my demos and would critique them. By now I had a 4-track recorder and was able to produce better recordings. I was also in possession of one of the newest musical breakthroughs - a synthesizer. It was very rudimentary by today’s standards but back then it was revolutionary."
It was at this point Peter chose to break away from a career in art and concentrate exclusively on music. Never intending to become an entertainer, Peter envisioned being a song writer, studio musician or producer. It was suggested by Wade, however, that no one could perform his music better than he (Peter) could.
Peter eventually assembled a group of musicians to perform his music, inspiring them with stories of his connections with Cory Wade. Among the original members of the band was Pat Hurley, who sang and played keyboard in the band and who would eventually co-write lyrics with Peter. Tom Dziallo, played bass in the band bass and guitar on all of Peter's albums, and Robert Rans would become Peter's lead keyboard player and primary lyric writing partner for many years. Peter's life long friend, Robert Vavrik, would never join the band but would eventually pen some lyrics with Peter.
Peter recalled, "The musical trend of the time was disco. So even though it was not the type of music I was interested in (or even really liked) I altered my style to fit the times. I continued to send my 4-track demos until one day I got an excited call from Cory saying the last group of songs I sent him contained a definite “hit”. He was excited enough about it that he was going to take it to TK Records
in Hialeah Florida to see if he could make a record deal. I thought he was talking about another song, but he was actually excited about a number called Do You Wanna Get Funky With Me?.”
Cory took the demo to TK Records where there was immediate excitement. Within days Henry Stone
, the president of TK, wanted to release the song just as it was and offered Cory a deal for the single. This would be followed by an album deal if the single was successful. Although naturally excited by the offer, Peter could not stand the idea of releasing his 4-track, home made demo as the actual record.
"I just couldn't believe the sound quality would be good enough. I wanted to re-record the song from scratch in a professional studio. But the record company wanted to release my demo just the way it was. So we eventually compromised. I brought the demo to a recording studio in Florida and transferred it to a 24-track machine. I was then able to fix a few parts I thought were a bit weak and add a few extra parts to it that I thought were important - the guitar and the female vocals in particular. I was also able to create Burning Love Breakdown from scratch to be used as a B side and in the expanded 12” version of the song."
12” singles were something new at that time. They were essentially extended versions of a song meant to be played in discothèques. Some were recorded from scratch and some were just the single or album versions of a song that were lengthened and embellished. They became very popular and added a whole new category of product to the industry.
Henry Stone and everyone at TK Records loved the augmented version Recorded at Studio Center Recording Studios. After hearing it, Peter and Henry Stone made the album deal and settled on a six-month deadline to write new material and record the album.
Peter also photographed the album's somewhat controversial cover and revealed, in a 1978 interview in Rolling Stone
, that he had created the cover's nude model out of cardboard, sheer fabric and ribbons. Until then, no one ever suspected it was not a real person.
Billboard Magazine’s Year End #1 Awards for 1978 named Peter the #1 new male album artist, #3 new album artist and #10 pop male artist. Also #11 pop male album artist, #16 soul artists and #11 soul albums. Cash Box Magazine
’s Year End Awards issue for 1978 named Peter #1Top Male Single Vocalist, #1 Top New Male Single Vocalist and #2 Top Male Album Vocalist along with #3 Crossover R&B Male.
The 1978 Record World Magazine Disco Awards named Peter Outstanding New Performer, Top New Male Vocalist and Top Male Vocalist. He was also nominated by NARAS (The National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences) in 1978 for a Grammy Award for best R&B Vocal Performance for the song Dance With Me. Dance With Me also included a guest vocal performance by Betty Wright
. Also in 1978, Peter's single "Crank It Up" would top off the Billboard Disco Chart at #4.
Peter's first professional performance came on the American Bandstand
television show, hosted by Dick Clark. That year, Peter also took part in the filming of a television special to promote the upcoming movie Foul Play with Goldie Hawn
and Chevy Chase
. He also filmed a segment for the television show 60 minutes
showing the process of how a song is actually recorded in the recording studio. Later years saw him performing on the Mike Douglas Show, American Bandstand
and as a presenter on the American Music Awards
. On tour in 1978, Peter and his band (now with additional members Keith Anderson
, drums, Joe Guzzo, guitar, Mike Hllinger, keyboards and Wildflower
, background vocals) played venues as diverse as New York's Bottom Line
and Madison Square Garden
.
On Peter's second album (recorded at Studio Center and Criteria Recording studios in North Miami, Florida), Stargazer, he was joined by Laura Taylor
and Dan Hartman
(Free Ride, Instant Replay, I Can Dream About You) singing background vocals on the song It's Alright. In an interview with Claes Widlund (Disco Guy of www.disco-disco.com), Peter recalled, "Having Dan Hartman join me singing background vocals for my album was great fun. Then there was the completely unexpected, late night visit by Eartha Kitt
. To this day I'm not sure why she decided to drop in." In the same interview, Joe Guzzo commented saying, "Peter was from a more sophisticated background than some of us others in the band. He was a very intelligent and talented person, and he was more of a quiet person most of the time. He would always appear to think and pause before his sentences came out. He was very serious about his music and was not a wild party animal on the road."
In 1980 Peter released another charting dance song (#6 on Billboard's Disco Chart) called "Can't Be Love - Do It To Me Anyway", which was only released as a 12" single and never appeared on an album. The initial success of his career was soon overshadowed by legal disputes and the eventual bankruptcy of TK Records. After the dust cleared he was able to sign a new record contract with Warner Brothers with the help of a new management team, Wiesner/DeMann Entertainment. The 1983 album was called Back To The Front and was produced by Brown with executive producer Bob Gaudio
(The Four Seasons) and recorded at Gaudio/Valli Recording Studios in Hollywood California. Featured are musical guests Michael Brecker
(saxophone) and Michael Boddicker
(synthesizers). From this album, the song Baby Get's High would reach #6 on Billboard's Disco Chart. Peter would remain with Freddy DeMann
after he started a solo management company who's clients would include Madonna
and Michael Jackson
.
In 1985 Peter wrote Material Girl
, which would become one of Madonna's biggest hits and signature song. It would also make Brown's music publishing company, Minong Publishing one of the year's top music publishers. Peter recalls,"We were trying to write a song for her and we were brainstorming for some musical direction that seemed to suit her. I was driving home when I started humming the chorus to a song. I could hear the whole thing in my head as if it were a finished record. It was all there in a flash, music and lyrics. Living in a material world, living in a material world. It is the one and only time a song has come to me like that - like a gift from heaven. I remember forcing myself to sing it over and over while I made my way home so as not to become distracted by something else and forget it completely. When I got home I quickly played and sang it into a recorder to lock it in. There was her song."
Peter also wrote a song for Agnetha Faltskog
titled "Maybe It Was Magic". Peter Cetera
from the group Chicago
was producing her solo album I Stand Alone, and liked the song very much. Brown also wrote "East Meets West" for the Japanese group Suzi And The Sunsets. Peter's final hit was "They Only Come Out At Night" which hit the number one slot on Billboard Magazine's Dance Chart in April 1984. Peter's fourth and final album was titled Snap and was recorded at Pumpkin Recording Studios in Oak Lawn Illinois, owned by Gary Loizzo
, who was a former member of The American Breed and sang their hit "Bend Me Shape Me" in 1968. This album contained the song "Zie Zie Won't Dance" which spawned Peter's music video by the same name. The video, filmed in London, was nominated for best video (special effects, art direction and editing) along with videos by Madonna
and Bruce Springstein at the second MTV Music Video Awards in 1985.
In the late 1980s a severe case of Tinnitus
prompted Peter to quit the music business in an attempt to preserve his damaged hearing. He began a design company which headed the award-winning redesign of the Chicago Board Options Exchange
Internet site, among other wide ranging design and architectural projects.
Today, Peter continues an entrepreneurial life from his home in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado.
Musician
A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....
, songwriter
Songwriter
A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...
and record producer
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
. He grew up in Palos Heights, another Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
suburb. His mother, Virginia, was artistic and musically talented and gave Peter music lessons at a very young age. Peter’s father, Maurice, was an electronic engineer and unwittingly helped him learn the technical aspects of recording music. He always brought home the latest technological breakthrough - which in those days included CB and ham radios, the first color television and the first stereo record player.
Maurice also purchased a number of tape recorders which Peter played with as a kid. One of these machines, a TEAC A-1200 2-track, had a feature which allowed you to transfer something you had recorded on one track to a second track, while you simultaneously recorded something new on that second track. This was Peter’s first introduction to overdubbing - which was a standard element of making recordings.
Career
Peter became serious about music in his teens and chose to learn the drums. His greatest inspirations in music at the time were SantanaSantana (band)
Santana is a rock band based around guitarist Carlos Santana and founded in the late 1960s. It first came to public attention after their performing the song "Soul Sacrifice" at the Woodstock Festival in 1969, when their Latin rock provided a contrast to other acts on the bill...
, Earth Wind and Fire and Chicago
Chicago (band)
Chicago is an American rock band formed in 1967 in Chicago, Illinois. The self-described "rock and roll band with horns" began as a politically charged, sometimes experimental, rock band and later moved to a predominantly softer sound, becoming famous for producing a number of hit ballads. They had...
. He later became proficient playing timbales, conga drums and a large number of other percussion instruments. Peter said that "As a teenager I was in many different “garage” bands and continued to write and record different musical pieces heavily based on percussion."
Keyboards came later and Peter was one of the pioneer users of the musical synthesizer. For a time he was spokesman for the ARP Synthesizer company since he used their products almost exclusively in performances and recordings. He has also been credited as being one of the founders of “House Music
House music
House music is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in Chicago, Illinois, United States in the early 1980s. It was initially popularized in mid-1980s discothèques catering to the African-American, Latino American, and gay communities; first in Chicago circa 1984, then in other...
” in the 1970s.
Although music was always a big part of his life, he never thought of it as a possible profession. He always assumed he would become a painter or a graphic artist of some kind. After High School he enrolled in The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Although it was a prestigious school, professors seemed indifferent and the facilities were very rudimentary at the time. Peter said, "I got no real instruction and wondered what I was going to do after four years of this sort of education."
This is about the time Peter met Cory Wade
Cory Wade
Corey Nathaniel Wade is an American professional baseball relief pitcher for the New York Yankees of Major League Baseball.-Amateur career:Wade attended Broad Ripple High School....
who eventually became his first producer. "I met Cory Wade by chance through mutual friends." Peter recalled. "Although he was a music producer my friends thought he might also have some connections in the art world and could help me out in some way. But being a music producer he was more interested in hearing about what I was doing musically than as a painter. He encouraged me to send him some of my demos and would critique them. By now I had a 4-track recorder and was able to produce better recordings. I was also in possession of one of the newest musical breakthroughs - a synthesizer. It was very rudimentary by today’s standards but back then it was revolutionary."
It was at this point Peter chose to break away from a career in art and concentrate exclusively on music. Never intending to become an entertainer, Peter envisioned being a song writer, studio musician or producer. It was suggested by Wade, however, that no one could perform his music better than he (Peter) could.
Peter eventually assembled a group of musicians to perform his music, inspiring them with stories of his connections with Cory Wade. Among the original members of the band was Pat Hurley, who sang and played keyboard in the band and who would eventually co-write lyrics with Peter. Tom Dziallo, played bass in the band bass and guitar on all of Peter's albums, and Robert Rans would become Peter's lead keyboard player and primary lyric writing partner for many years. Peter's life long friend, Robert Vavrik, would never join the band but would eventually pen some lyrics with Peter.
Peter recalled, "The musical trend of the time was disco. So even though it was not the type of music I was interested in (or even really liked) I altered my style to fit the times. I continued to send my 4-track demos until one day I got an excited call from Cory saying the last group of songs I sent him contained a definite “hit”. He was excited enough about it that he was going to take it to TK Records
TK Records
TK Records was an American record label started by record distributor, Henry Stone in Miami, Florida, one of several labels that he founded in the 1960s and 1970s...
in Hialeah Florida to see if he could make a record deal. I thought he was talking about another song, but he was actually excited about a number called Do You Wanna Get Funky With Me?.”
Cory took the demo to TK Records where there was immediate excitement. Within days Henry Stone
Henry Stone
Henry Stone is an American record company executive and producer whose career spans the era from R&B in the early 1950s through the disco boom of the 1970s to the present day. He is best known as co-owner and president of TK Records....
, the president of TK, wanted to release the song just as it was and offered Cory a deal for the single. This would be followed by an album deal if the single was successful. Although naturally excited by the offer, Peter could not stand the idea of releasing his 4-track, home made demo as the actual record.
"I just couldn't believe the sound quality would be good enough. I wanted to re-record the song from scratch in a professional studio. But the record company wanted to release my demo just the way it was. So we eventually compromised. I brought the demo to a recording studio in Florida and transferred it to a 24-track machine. I was then able to fix a few parts I thought were a bit weak and add a few extra parts to it that I thought were important - the guitar and the female vocals in particular. I was also able to create Burning Love Breakdown from scratch to be used as a B side and in the expanded 12” version of the song."
12” singles were something new at that time. They were essentially extended versions of a song meant to be played in discothèques. Some were recorded from scratch and some were just the single or album versions of a song that were lengthened and embellished. They became very popular and added a whole new category of product to the industry.
Henry Stone and everyone at TK Records loved the augmented version Recorded at Studio Center Recording Studios. After hearing it, Peter and Henry Stone made the album deal and settled on a six-month deadline to write new material and record the album.
Peter also photographed the album's somewhat controversial cover and revealed, in a 1978 interview in Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
, that he had created the cover's nude model out of cardboard, sheer fabric and ribbons. Until then, no one ever suspected it was not a real person.
Music Career 1977-85
Late in 1977, TK Records announced that sales of the 12” version of "Do Ya Wanna Get Funky With Me" had reached the million dollar mark making it the first gold 12” single in history. Before too long the album would go gold as well.Billboard Magazine’s Year End #1 Awards for 1978 named Peter the #1 new male album artist, #3 new album artist and #10 pop male artist. Also #11 pop male album artist, #16 soul artists and #11 soul albums. Cash Box Magazine
Cash Box magazine
Cashbox magazine was a weekly publication devoted to the music and coin-operated machine industries in the USA which was published from July 1942 to November 16, 1996...
’s Year End Awards issue for 1978 named Peter #1Top Male Single Vocalist, #1 Top New Male Single Vocalist and #2 Top Male Album Vocalist along with #3 Crossover R&B Male.
The 1978 Record World Magazine Disco Awards named Peter Outstanding New Performer, Top New Male Vocalist and Top Male Vocalist. He was also nominated by NARAS (The National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences) in 1978 for a Grammy Award for best R&B Vocal Performance for the song Dance With Me. Dance With Me also included a guest vocal performance by Betty Wright
Betty Wright
Bessie Regina Norris, better known by her stage name, Betty Wright , is a Grammy winning Miami-based soul and R&B singer-songwriter, who won fame in the 1970s with hits such as "Clean Up Woman" and "Tonight Is the Night"...
. Also in 1978, Peter's single "Crank It Up" would top off the Billboard Disco Chart at #4.
Peter's first professional performance came on the American Bandstand
American Bandstand
American Bandstand is an American music-performance show that aired in various versions from 1952 to 1989 and was hosted from 1956 until its final season by Dick Clark, who also served as producer...
television show, hosted by Dick Clark. That year, Peter also took part in the filming of a television special to promote the upcoming movie Foul Play with Goldie Hawn
Goldie Hawn
Goldie Jeanne Hawn is an American actress, film director, producer, and occasional singer. Hawn is known for her roles in Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, Private Benjamin, Foul Play, Overboard, Bird on a Wire, Death Becomes Her, The First Wives Club, and Cactus Flower, for which she won the 1969...
and Chevy Chase
Chevy Chase
Cornelius Crane "Chevy" Chase is an American comedian, writer, and television and film actor, born into a prominent entertainment industry family. Chase worked a plethora of odd jobs before moving into comedy acting with National Lampoon...
. He also filmed a segment for the television show 60 minutes
60 Minutes
60 Minutes is an American television news magazine, which has run on CBS since 1968. The program was created by producer Don Hewitt who set it apart by using a unique style of reporter-centered investigation....
showing the process of how a song is actually recorded in the recording studio. Later years saw him performing on the Mike Douglas Show, American Bandstand
American Bandstand
American Bandstand is an American music-performance show that aired in various versions from 1952 to 1989 and was hosted from 1956 until its final season by Dick Clark, who also served as producer...
and as a presenter on the American Music Awards
American Music Awards
-Conception:The AMAs were created by Dick Clark in 1973 to compete with the Grammys after the move of that year's show to Nashville, Tennessee led to CBS picking up the Grammy telecasts after its first two in 1971 and 1972 were broadcast on ABC...
. On tour in 1978, Peter and his band (now with additional members Keith Anderson
Keith Anderson
Keith Anderson is an American country music artist. Before signing to a record deal, Anderson was one of several co-writers on "Beer Run ", a duet by Garth Brooks and George Jones, released in late 2001. Anderson was signed as a recording artist to Arista Nashville in 2004...
, drums, Joe Guzzo, guitar, Mike Hllinger, keyboards and Wildflower
Wildflower
A wildflower is a flower that grows wild, meaning it was not intentionally seeded or planted. Yet "wildflower" meadows of a few mixed species are sold in seed packets. The term "wildflower" has been made vague by commercial seedsmen who are interested in selling more flowers or seeds more...
, background vocals) played venues as diverse as New York's Bottom Line
Bottom Line
The Bottom Line was a music venue at 15 West Fourth Street between Mercer Street and Greene Street in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City...
and Madison Square Garden
Madison Square Garden
Madison Square Garden, often abbreviated as MSG and known colloquially as The Garden, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in the New York City borough of Manhattan and located at 8th Avenue, between 31st and 33rd Streets, situated on top of Pennsylvania Station.Opened on February 11, 1968, it is the...
.
On Peter's second album (recorded at Studio Center and Criteria Recording studios in North Miami, Florida), Stargazer, he was joined by Laura Taylor
Laura Taylor
Laura Taylor is a Brazilian singer and one of two new singers in Baile Funk band Bonde Do Rolê. Born in Belo Horizonte, Laura lived many years in New Zealand. She was added to the band after a talent search on MTV Brasil discovered her along with fellow new member, Ana Bernardino.-References:...
and Dan Hartman
Dan Hartman
Daniel Earl "Dan" Hartman was an American singer, songwriter and record producer, best known for such songs as: "Free Ride", "I Can Dream About You", "Instant Replay", "Love Sensation", and "Relight My Fire", all of which had world-wide success.-Career:Born in Pennsylvania's capital, Harrisburg,...
(Free Ride, Instant Replay, I Can Dream About You) singing background vocals on the song It's Alright. In an interview with Claes Widlund (Disco Guy of www.disco-disco.com), Peter recalled, "Having Dan Hartman join me singing background vocals for my album was great fun. Then there was the completely unexpected, late night visit by Eartha Kitt
Eartha Kitt
Eartha Mae Kitt was an American singer, actress, and cabaret star. She was perhaps best known for her highly distinctive singing style and her 1953 hit recordings of "C'est Si Bon" and the enduring Christmas novelty smash "Santa Baby." Orson Welles once called her the "most exciting woman in the...
. To this day I'm not sure why she decided to drop in." In the same interview, Joe Guzzo commented saying, "Peter was from a more sophisticated background than some of us others in the band. He was a very intelligent and talented person, and he was more of a quiet person most of the time. He would always appear to think and pause before his sentences came out. He was very serious about his music and was not a wild party animal on the road."
In 1980 Peter released another charting dance song (#6 on Billboard's Disco Chart) called "Can't Be Love - Do It To Me Anyway", which was only released as a 12" single and never appeared on an album. The initial success of his career was soon overshadowed by legal disputes and the eventual bankruptcy of TK Records. After the dust cleared he was able to sign a new record contract with Warner Brothers with the help of a new management team, Wiesner/DeMann Entertainment. The 1983 album was called Back To The Front and was produced by Brown with executive producer Bob Gaudio
Bob Gaudio
Robert John "Bob" Gaudio is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and record producer, and the keyboardist/backing vocalist for The Four Seasons.-Early career:...
(The Four Seasons) and recorded at Gaudio/Valli Recording Studios in Hollywood California. Featured are musical guests Michael Brecker
Michael Brecker
Michael Leonard Brecker was an American jazz saxophonist and composer. Acknowledged as "a quiet, gentle musician widely regarded as the most influential tenor saxophonist since John Coltrane," he has been awarded 15 Grammy Awards as both performer and composer and was inducted into Down Beat Jazz...
(saxophone) and Michael Boddicker
Michael Boddicker
Michael J. Boddicker , is an American film composer and session musician, specializing in electronic music. Three times N.A.R.A.S. Most Valuable Player "Synthesizer" and MVP Emeritus, he was awarded a Grammy as a songwriter for Imagination from Flashdance in 1984...
(synthesizers). From this album, the song Baby Get's High would reach #6 on Billboard's Disco Chart. Peter would remain with Freddy DeMann
Freddy DeMann
Frederick "Freddy" DeMann is a film producer, music executive, and co-founder of Maverick Records. During his music career, he managed two of the century's biggest stars: Michael Jackson and Madonna. During DeMann's tenure, two of...
after he started a solo management company who's clients would include Madonna
Madonna (entertainer)
Madonna is an American singer-songwriter, actress and entrepreneur. Born in Bay City, Michigan, she moved to New York City in 1977 to pursue a career in modern dance. After performing in the music groups Breakfast Club and Emmy, she released her debut album in 1983...
and Michael Jackson
Michael Jackson
Michael Joseph Jackson was an American recording artist, entertainer, and businessman. Referred to as the King of Pop, or by his initials MJ, Jackson is recognized as the most successful entertainer of all time by Guinness World Records...
.
In 1985 Peter wrote Material Girl
Material Girl
"Material Girl" is a song performed by American singer-songwriter Madonna. It was released on January 30, 1985, by Sire Records, as the second single from her second album Like a Virgin. It also appears slightly remixed on the 1990 greatest hits compilation, The Immaculate Collection, and in its...
, which would become one of Madonna's biggest hits and signature song. It would also make Brown's music publishing company, Minong Publishing one of the year's top music publishers. Peter recalls,"We were trying to write a song for her and we were brainstorming for some musical direction that seemed to suit her. I was driving home when I started humming the chorus to a song. I could hear the whole thing in my head as if it were a finished record. It was all there in a flash, music and lyrics. Living in a material world, living in a material world. It is the one and only time a song has come to me like that - like a gift from heaven. I remember forcing myself to sing it over and over while I made my way home so as not to become distracted by something else and forget it completely. When I got home I quickly played and sang it into a recorder to lock it in. There was her song."
Peter also wrote a song for Agnetha Faltskog
Agnetha Fältskog
Agnetha Åse Fältskog is a Swedish recording artist. She achieved success in Sweden after the release of her début album Agnetha Fältskog in 1968, and reached international stardom as a member of the pop group ABBA, which to date has sold over 375 million records worldwide, making it the fourth...
titled "Maybe It Was Magic". Peter Cetera
Peter Cetera
Peter Paul Cetera is an American singer, songwriter, bassist and producer best known for being an original member of the rock band Chicago, before launching a successful solo career...
from the group Chicago
Chicago (band)
Chicago is an American rock band formed in 1967 in Chicago, Illinois. The self-described "rock and roll band with horns" began as a politically charged, sometimes experimental, rock band and later moved to a predominantly softer sound, becoming famous for producing a number of hit ballads. They had...
was producing her solo album I Stand Alone, and liked the song very much. Brown also wrote "East Meets West" for the Japanese group Suzi And The Sunsets. Peter's final hit was "They Only Come Out At Night" which hit the number one slot on Billboard Magazine's Dance Chart in April 1984. Peter's fourth and final album was titled Snap and was recorded at Pumpkin Recording Studios in Oak Lawn Illinois, owned by Gary Loizzo
Gary Loizzo
Gary Loizzo is an American guitarist, singer, recording engineer, and record producer. He is best known for being the lead singer with The American Breed.-Biography:...
, who was a former member of The American Breed and sang their hit "Bend Me Shape Me" in 1968. This album contained the song "Zie Zie Won't Dance" which spawned Peter's music video by the same name. The video, filmed in London, was nominated for best video (special effects, art direction and editing) along with videos by Madonna
Madonna (entertainer)
Madonna is an American singer-songwriter, actress and entrepreneur. Born in Bay City, Michigan, she moved to New York City in 1977 to pursue a career in modern dance. After performing in the music groups Breakfast Club and Emmy, she released her debut album in 1983...
and Bruce Springstein at the second MTV Music Video Awards in 1985.
In the late 1980s a severe case of Tinnitus
Tinnitus
Tinnitus |ringing]]") is the perception of sound within the human ear in the absence of corresponding external sound.Tinnitus is not a disease, but a symptom that can result from a wide range of underlying causes: abnormally loud sounds in the ear canal for even the briefest period , ear...
prompted Peter to quit the music business in an attempt to preserve his damaged hearing. He began a design company which headed the award-winning redesign of the Chicago Board Options Exchange
Chicago Board Options Exchange
The Chicago Board Options Exchange , located at 400 South LaSalle Street in Chicago, is the largest U.S. options exchange with annual trading volume that hovered around one billion contracts at the end of 2007...
Internet site, among other wide ranging design and architectural projects.
Today, Peter continues an entrepreneurial life from his home in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado.
Discography
- 1977 - A Fantasy Love AffairA Fantasy Love AffairA Fantasy Love Affair is the debut album by Peter Brown. The album was recorded in 1976-77 and released in 1978. It charted #9 on Billboards R&B charts and #11 on the Pop chart...
- 1979 - Stargazer
- 1983 - Back to the Front
- 1984 - Snap
Singles
- "Do You Wanna Get Funky With Me" - 1977 (U.S.Billboard Hot 100The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
#18, US R&BHot R&B/Hip-Hop SongsHot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, is a chart released weekly by Billboard in the United States.The chart, initiated in 1942, is used to track the success of popular music songs in urban, or primarily African American, venues. Dominated over the years at various times by jazz, rhythm and blues, doo-wop, soul,...
#3, UKUK Singles ChartThe UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
#43) - "Dance With Me" - 1978 (US #8, R&B #5, UK #57)
- "You Should Do It" - 1978
- "Crank It Up (Funk Town)" - 1979 (IT#39)
- "Stargazer" - 1979
- "Love In Our Hearts" - 1980
- "Can't Be Love-Do It To Me Anyway" - 1980
- "Baby Gets High" - 1982
- "Overnight Sensation" - 1983
- "They Only Come Out At Night" - 1984 (US Dance #1)
- "(Love Is Just) The Game" - 1984
- "Zie Zie Won't Dance" - 1985
See also
- List of Number 1 Dance Hits (United States)
- List of artists who reached number one on the US Dance chart