Peter Cetera

Peter 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. As a solo artist, Cetera has scored six Top-40 singles, including two that reached No. 1 on Billboard's Hot 100 chart.

Cetera's interest in music began at 11 years of age when his parents bought him an accordion instead of the guitar he wanted. When he was 15, some older students from his high school took him to a club to see a band called The Rebel Rockers, which led to his purchasing an acoustic guitar at Montgomery Ward. He eventually took up the electric bass, and with some high school friends—a drummer, guitarist and saxophone player—Cetera began playing the local dance circuit, dividing lead vocals with the guitarist. Cetera played in several groups in the Chicago area, including a popular local rock band named The Exceptions, which toured the Midwest in the mid-1960s. They never released an LP but they did release several singles and a five song seven inch EP titled Rock 'N' Roll Mass.

In December 1967, Cetera arrived early for a show to watch a band called The Big Thing. Impressed by their use of a horn section combined with rock and roll, Cetera left The Exceptions to join The Big Thing within two weeks. The Big Thing, which soon changed its name to The Chicago Transit Authority (and eventually shortened it to Chicago after complaints by the actual CTA), released their self-titled debut album The Chicago Transit Authority on Columbia Records in 1969. Cetera sang lead vocal on three of the eleven songs on the album, with his tenor voice complementing the baritone voices of the two other lead singers in the group, keyboardist Robert Lamm and guitarist Terry Kath.

The follow-up album, Chicago, vaulted the band to popular status throughout the world. The song "25 or 6 to 4" was the first major hit single with Cetera singing lead vocals. Chicago is also notable for featuring Cetera's first songwriting effort, "Where Do We Go From Here?"

As the 1970s progressed, Cetera would become a more prolific songwriter for the group. His biggest singing and songwriting accomplishment with Chicago came in 1976 with their first worldwide No. 1 single, the ballad "If You Leave Me Now." Cetera's next composition in 1977, "Baby, What A Big Surprise," also became a major hit and cemented the band's status in the late 1970s as a "ballad band."

In 1982, David Foster was brought in as producer and the resulting group effort was Chicago 16. The album represented a major comeback for Chicago and leading the way was the hit single co-written (with Foster) and featured Cetera on lead vocals, "Hard to Say I'm Sorry," which went to No. 1 in the charts.

When Chicago 17 was released in 1984, it became the veteran band's most successful selling album in their history, eventually going on to sell over 6 million copies in the United States alone. All four singles released from the album were sung by Cetera, including three which he co-wrote, and all of them charted in the top 20: "Stay the Night," "Hard Habit to Break," "You're the Inspiration" and "Along Comes a Woman."

With the advent of the music video and the growing popularity of MTV, Cetera became the 'face' and public leader of the longtime faceless band that was Chicago.

With his new-found notoriety and popularity, Cetera was interested in recording another solo album. Cetera proposed a working arrangement similar to the one that Phil Collins and Genesis had at the time with Collins still being a member and touring with Genesis while also doing some solo work at the same time. Chicago's management and the rest of the group declined the offer, resulting in Cetera leaving Chicago around July 1985.

Almost immediately, Cetera continued his streak of success. His first single, "Glory of Love" (the theme to the movie "The Karate Kid, Part II"), was a US No. 1 hit in 1986, and achieved similar success throughout the world. It went on to win an ASCAP Award for Most Performed Songs from Motion Pictures and a BMI Film & TV Award for Most Performed Song from a Film. It was also nominated for both an Academy Award and a Golden Globe in the category of Best Original Song, as well as a Grammy Award for Best Pop Vocal Performance by a Male Artist.

His album, Solitude/Solitaire, released in 1986, was also successful, selling over 1 million copies and producing another No. 1 hit single, "The Next Time I Fall", a duet with Amy Grant, which was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Pop Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group. Solitude/Solitaire outsold Chicago 18, the first Chicago album without him.

In 1988 he teamed up with producer Patrick Leonard and released his third solo album, One More Story, who contained the No. 4 hit single "One Good Woman" and "Save Me," the original opening theme for the television show "Baywatch."

In 1992, his final album on Warner Bros. Records, World Falling Down, was released. It featured the Adult Contemporary No. 1 hit, "Restless Heart," as well as two other successful singles: "Even a Fool Can See" and a duet with Chaka Khan, "Feels Like Heaven."

From 2003 until summer 2007, Cetera performed a very limited number of concerts each year with a 40 piece orchestra, playing re-arrangements of songs from throughout his career, including several from his tenure as a member of Chicago.

In December 2007, Cetera embarked on the You Just Gotta Love Christmas tour of the United States. It marked his return to a traditional rock band show, his first since 1996, featured songs from his 2004 Christmas album and from throughout his career.

Cetera has lived in Sun Valley, Idaho, since the mid-1980s, where he routinely participates in numerous sports, including basketball, mountain biking, soccer, ice hockey and motorcycling.

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