Peter Head
Encyclopedia
Pianist
and singer/songwriter Peter Head (born 1948, Adelaide, Australia) is an Australian rock
musician
. He first came to prominence with Adelaide progressive rock band Headband.
. At 17, he attended art school and opened his own art gallery for a short while with his wife. He relocated to London
at age 19, working and touring with reggae
band run by Boz Burrell (Bad Company
) and moonlighted in various bands and loose formations in a music scene alongside artists such as Georgie Fame
, Alan Price
, The Foundations
and King Crimson
.
, an adventurous progressive blues/rock band, with vocalist Chris Bailey (later of The Angels
) on bass, Mauri Berg (ex Silhouettes) on guitar and backing vocals and Joff Bateman on drums and backing vocals. Headband released three national singles — Land of Supercars/How I Miss The Country (1972) Country Lady/Stay With Me (1972) and A Song For Tooley/Brand New Morning (1973). Album A Song For Tooley (Polydor 2907.008) , featuring Sydney Symphony players and an 110 piece children's choir was released in September 1973.
Headband supported Elton John
and John Mayall
and toured Australia with The Rolling Stones. Headband went their separate ways in 1974.
The original double gatefold
vinyl release of A Song For Tooley (featuring a stunning cover by Adelaide artist Vytas Serelis) is now a highly sought after collector's item, despite various bootleg digital versions available. As of 2009 it trades for approx $400 AUS while singles fetch approx $30 AUS.
, Glenn Shorrock
, and Robyn Archer
. "Headband and Fraternity were in the same management stable and we both split about the same time so the logical thing was to take members from both bands and create a new one...the purpose of the band was for songwriters to relate to each other and experiment with songs so it was a hotbed of creativity" The band had its own theme song — The Mount Lofty Rangers Theme — and featured mainly Head's original compositions.
In 1978, he was honoured with a rock award from radio station 5KA for his contribution to the music industry based on his work with the Rangers.
While touring with Young Mo, Head and script writer Rob George collaborated on bushranger
musical Lofty — An Epic From The Annals of Country Rock, which was staged in 1977 at Her Majesty's Theatre, Adelaide. He was Musical Director, composed the score and performed (with a five piece Mount Lofty Rangers). An original Bon Scott
composition, "I've Been Up In The Hills Too Long", was featured.
In 1978, Head wrote the music for children's musical Fun and Games which was staged at the Arts Centre. Head toured nationally as Musical Director for the hit Robyn Archer
musical, A Star is Torn. He composed soundtrack music for Bob Ellis
' 1992 film, The Nostradamus Kid and for Les Patterson Saves The World. Head had a cameo role as "The Beggar" in Aden Young
's 2007 short film The Rose Of Ba Ziz.
Head teamed up with producer Ted Yanni, another old friend of Bon's. Using the best technology available, Ted isolated the original vocal track from "Round And Round". and then over many months rebuilt an entirely new backing to the song, so it sounds as though it was recorded today rather than yesterday The original version is also included on the CD single. It features former members of Headband and Fraternity. "Carey Gully" celebrates the Mount Lofty Rangers' stomping ground at the time. The whole project has been achieved by many people — musicians and technicians donating time, talent and studios in order to pay tribute to an old friend. The result is one of the best recordings available by Bon Scott displaying a side to his vocal ability that wasn't as evident in subsequent releases.
Bon Scott
and Peter Head had a close and enduring friendship and Head has contributed interviews to Bon Scott and AC/DC biographies by Murray Engleheart and Clinton Walker
It is often speculated that if Bon Scott hadn't joined AC/DC soon after his accident, a solo album of similar material would have been completed. "What most people don't realise is he was hard working, passionate about his music, and a perfectionist willing to work day and night" says Head.
in 1980, performing regularly at Kinselas and Kings Cross
nightclubs such as Round Midnight, The Bourbon and Beefsteak, Paradise and Springfields, both solo and with regular musical cohorts Doug Williams
, Wendy Saddington
, Lucky Starr and Jeff St. John. Head's King Of The Cross recording was inspired by his years working in the Cross, and is rumoured to be based on Abe Saffron
. "Well, the Cross is good, every time you walk down the street there at least ten stories come into your head, all those weird and wonderful people" he explains.
a solo piano/voice album, recorded to recreate the feel of one of Head's legendary late night piano bar performances at the urging of Big Beat Music's founder.
and has played alongside her opening for artists such as Renee Geyer
and in much loved Inner West soul band Slow Hand, which featured the 'duelling keyboards' of Head and organ player Johnny Gauci (2000–05).
Head played in Carmen's bands Automatic Cherry and Honky Tonk Angels (for which he also acted as Musical Director and assembled the band). His son, Joshua Beagley, is a disco funk guitarist, composer, studio producer and DJ. His bands include Confection, Professor Groove and The Booty Affair and Swoop. Beagley contributed guitar to the King Of The Cross recording. Head is responsible for suggesting the name for granddaughter Holiday Sidewinder's band, Bridezilla. The three generations (Head, Carmen and Sidewinder) recently performed together for the first time with at Songs of Sydney, a Creative Festival event held at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney
in 2009.
Head also features on Finnish band Exception To The Rule's 2010 debut album, High And Low
Pianist
A pianist is a musician who plays the piano. A professional pianist can perform solo pieces, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers, solo instrumentalists, or other performers.-Choice of genres:...
and singer/songwriter Peter Head (born 1948, Adelaide, Australia) is an Australian rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
musician
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....
. He first came to prominence with Adelaide progressive rock band Headband.
Early years
Peter Head began playing piano professionally at age of 13 with "Adelaide's first rock'n'roll band", Johnny Mac and the Macmen as well playing to accompany the showgirls at the infamous Hindley Street institution, La Belle, after school. Throughout his teens, he continued piano lessons from a variety of well-known pianists such as Bobby Gebert and Roger Frampton and played modern jazz. He also played many shows accompanying a young Johnny Farnham and Doug AshdownDoug Ashdown
-External links:* * [ Doug Ashdown] at Allmusic...
. At 17, he attended art school and opened his own art gallery for a short while with his wife. He relocated to London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
at age 19, working and touring with reggae
Reggae
Reggae is a music genre first developed in Jamaica in the late 1960s. While sometimes used in a broader sense to refer to most types of Jamaican music, the term reggae more properly denotes a particular music style that originated following on the development of ska and rocksteady.Reggae is based...
band run by Boz Burrell (Bad Company
Bad Company
Bad Company were an English rock supergroup founded in 1973, consisting of two former Free band members — singer Paul Rodgers and drummer Simon Kirke — as well as Mott the Hoople guitarist Mick Ralphs and King Crimson bassist Boz Burrell. Peter Grant, who, in years prior, was a key component of...
) and moonlighted in various bands and loose formations in a music scene alongside artists such as Georgie Fame
Georgie Fame
Georgie Fame is a British rhythm and blues and jazz singer and keyboard player. The one-time rock and roll tour musician, who had a string of 1960s hits, is still a popular performer, often working with contemporaries such as Van Morrison and Bill Wyman.-Early life:Fame took piano lessons from the...
, Alan Price
Alan Price
Alan Price is an English musician, best known as the original keyboardist for the English band The Animals, and for his subsequent solo work....
, The Foundations
The Foundations
The Foundations were a British soul band, active from 1967 to 1970. The group, made up of West Indians, White British, and a Sri Lankan, are best known for their two biggest hits, "Baby Now That I've Found You" , written by Tony Macaulay and John MacLeod; and "Build Me Up Buttercup" The Foundations...
and King Crimson
King Crimson
King Crimson are a rock band founded in London, England in 1969. Often categorised as a foundational progressive rock group, the band have incorporated diverse influences and instrumentation during their history...
.
Headband
In 1970, Head returned to Adelaide and was playing avant garde jazz before forming HeadbandHeadband (band)
Headband were a progressive, blues rock band formed in Adelaide in February 1971 by bass guitarist Chris Bailey; drummer Joff Bateman; singer-songwriter and keyboardist Peter Beagley ; and singer-songwriter and guitarist Mauri Berg. The group supported Elton John , The Rolling Stones at their...
, an adventurous progressive blues/rock band, with vocalist Chris Bailey (later of The Angels
The Angels
The Angels may refer to:*The Angels , an American girl group who had hits in the 1960s*The Angels , an Australian hard rock band*The Angels is the English translation of Los Angeles, California in the U.S.A....
) on bass, Mauri Berg (ex Silhouettes) on guitar and backing vocals and Joff Bateman on drums and backing vocals. Headband released three national singles — Land of Supercars/How I Miss The Country (1972) Country Lady/Stay With Me (1972) and A Song For Tooley/Brand New Morning (1973). Album A Song For Tooley (Polydor 2907.008) , featuring Sydney Symphony players and an 110 piece children's choir was released in September 1973.
Headband supported Elton John
Elton John
Sir Elton Hercules John, CBE, Hon DMus is an English rock singer-songwriter, composer, pianist and occasional actor...
and John Mayall
John Mayall
John Mayall, OBE is an English blues singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist, whose musical career spans over fifty years...
and toured Australia with The Rolling Stones. Headband went their separate ways in 1974.
The original double gatefold
Gatefold
A gatefold is a type of fold used for advertising around a magazine or section, and for packaging of media such as vinyl records.- LP covers :...
vinyl release of A Song For Tooley (featuring a stunning cover by Adelaide artist Vytas Serelis) is now a highly sought after collector's item, despite various bootleg digital versions available. As of 2009 it trades for approx $400 AUS while singles fetch approx $30 AUS.
Mount Lofty Rangers
After Headband split in 1974, Head started up Mount Lofty Rangers, an ever-changing group of notable Adelaide musicians that included Bon ScottBon Scott
Ronald Belford "Bon" Scott was a Scottish-born Australian rock musician, best known for being the lead singer and lyricist of Australian hard rock band AC/DC from 1974 until his death in 1980...
, Glenn Shorrock
Glenn Shorrock
Glenn Barrie Shorrock is an English-born Australian singer-songwriter. He was a founding member of pop groups The Twilights, Axiom and Little River Band as well as being a solo performer....
, and Robyn Archer
Robyn Archer
Robyn Archer AO CdOAL is an Australian singer, writer, stage and director, artistic director, and public advocate of the arts, in Australia and internationally.-Life:Archer was born Robyn Smith in Prospect, South Australia...
. "Headband and Fraternity were in the same management stable and we both split about the same time so the logical thing was to take members from both bands and create a new one...the purpose of the band was for songwriters to relate to each other and experiment with songs so it was a hotbed of creativity" The band had its own theme song — The Mount Lofty Rangers Theme — and featured mainly Head's original compositions.
The Mount Lofty Rangers is the name of the band — so the song goes. But it should be understood that 'band' refers not to a fixed group of musicians, but a band of people who work under that name in any capacity they wish. So we have people like Vytas Serelis who does paintings, posters, films etc. Barry Smith who is a welder and mechanic, Dave Colvill who organises things and many others who see the value of putting their individual talents into an unofficial union of productivity. As far as the music goes, there are over 200 people in the last few years who have worked under that name either recording or performing live, and it is to their credit that the Rangers have built a reputation for producing good, original music.
In 1978, he was honoured with a rock award from radio station 5KA for his contribution to the music industry based on his work with the Rangers.
Stage and screen
Head was the resident Piano Bar artiste for five seasons at the Adelaide Festival Theatre and was Musical Director for a wide array of plays including Young Mo and Hamlet On Ice.While touring with Young Mo, Head and script writer Rob George collaborated on bushranger
Bushranger
Bushrangers, or bush rangers, originally referred to runaway convicts in the early years of the British settlement of Australia who had the survival skills necessary to use the Australian bush as a refuge to hide from the authorities...
musical Lofty — An Epic From The Annals of Country Rock, which was staged in 1977 at Her Majesty's Theatre, Adelaide. He was Musical Director, composed the score and performed (with a five piece Mount Lofty Rangers). An original Bon Scott
Bon Scott
Ronald Belford "Bon" Scott was a Scottish-born Australian rock musician, best known for being the lead singer and lyricist of Australian hard rock band AC/DC from 1974 until his death in 1980...
composition, "I've Been Up In The Hills Too Long", was featured.
In 1978, Head wrote the music for children's musical Fun and Games which was staged at the Arts Centre. Head toured nationally as Musical Director for the hit Robyn Archer
Robyn Archer
Robyn Archer AO CdOAL is an Australian singer, writer, stage and director, artistic director, and public advocate of the arts, in Australia and internationally.-Life:Archer was born Robyn Smith in Prospect, South Australia...
musical, A Star is Torn. He composed soundtrack music for Bob Ellis
Bob Ellis
Bob Ellis is an Australian writer, journalist, film-maker and political commentator. He was a student at the University of Sydney at the same time as other notable Australians including Clive James, Germaine Greer, Les Murray, John Bell, Ken Horler, and Mungo McCallum...
' 1992 film, The Nostradamus Kid and for Les Patterson Saves The World. Head had a cameo role as "The Beggar" in Aden Young
Aden Young
Aden Young is an Australian actor. In recent years he has also turned his hand to filmmaking, directing and writing short films The Rose of Ba Ziz and The Order .- Life and career :Young was born in Toronto, Canada...
's 2007 short film The Rose Of Ba Ziz.
Bon Scott and 'Round and Round and Round' EP
On October 20, 1996, Head, released the Bon Scott 'Round and Round and Round' ep on Head Office Records (with label partner, radio announcer and musicologist David Woodhall). The original tracks were recordings from 1973."The tracks were recorded for $40 which was all the studio time we could afford then" laughs Head. "Bon and I used to help each other out. I'd write music and he'd sing lyrics of my songs. Those were pioneering days. They were recorded at the first 8 track studio in Adelaide. I'd been carting the tapes around for twenty years and then I met Ted Yanni at Round Midnight and we started talking about new technology and what you could do with older material like this.""They were just rough demos and a few weeks later Bon went off to join AC/DC and that seemed to be it ... The fun off finishing off something first started 22 years ago really appealed to me", explained Head. In the case of "Carey Gulley", Woodhall had only a cassette dub. It was well received.
Head teamed up with producer Ted Yanni, another old friend of Bon's. Using the best technology available, Ted isolated the original vocal track from "Round And Round". and then over many months rebuilt an entirely new backing to the song, so it sounds as though it was recorded today rather than yesterday The original version is also included on the CD single. It features former members of Headband and Fraternity. "Carey Gully" celebrates the Mount Lofty Rangers' stomping ground at the time. The whole project has been achieved by many people — musicians and technicians donating time, talent and studios in order to pay tribute to an old friend. The result is one of the best recordings available by Bon Scott displaying a side to his vocal ability that wasn't as evident in subsequent releases.
Bon Scott
Bon Scott
Ronald Belford "Bon" Scott was a Scottish-born Australian rock musician, best known for being the lead singer and lyricist of Australian hard rock band AC/DC from 1974 until his death in 1980...
and Peter Head had a close and enduring friendship and Head has contributed interviews to Bon Scott and AC/DC biographies by Murray Engleheart and Clinton Walker
Clinton Walker
Clinton Walker is an Australian writer, best known for his works on popular music but with a broader interest in social and cultural history and theory....
"Musician Peter Head, former leader of Adelaide's Headband and a virtuoso piano player, befriended Bon. Bon would go to Peter's home after a day shovelling shit, and show him musical ideas he had had during his day's work. Bon's knowledge of the guitar was limited, so Peter began teaching him how to bridge chords and construct a song.Bon Scott's infamous motorcycle accident occurred after a Mount Lofty Rangers rehearsal and he never returned.
One of the songs from these sessions was a beautiful ballad called Clarissa, about a local Adelaide girl. Another was the country-tinged Bin Up in the Hills Too Long, which for me was a sign of things to come with Bon's lyrics; simple, clever, sardonic, tongue-in-cheek. .."
About 11pm on May 3, 1974, at the Old Lion Hotel in North Adelaide, during a rehearsal with the Mount Lofty Rangers, a very drunk, distressed and belligerent Bon Scott had a raging argument with a member of the band. Bon stormed out of the venue, threw a bottle of Jack Daniels on to the ground, then screamed off on his Suzuki 550 motorbike. Three hours later, I received a phone call from his wife, Irene, at Queen Elizabeth Hospital. Bon was in a coma, near death, after a disastrous collision with a car. I drove to the hospital, and there was Bon as I had never seen him; limp, smashed to smithereens, his jaw wired, most of his teeth knocked out, a broken collar bone, several cracked and broken ribs, deep cuts across his throat. He was in a coma for three days. He remained in hospital for 18 days. This happened before Bon was to find fame with AC/DC. Irene tells me that, before Bon went into the coma that night, the nurse sarcastically said to her: "He says he's a singer."
It is often speculated that if Bon Scott hadn't joined AC/DC soon after his accident, a solo album of similar material would have been completed. "What most people don't realise is he was hard working, passionate about his music, and a perfectionist willing to work day and night" says Head.
King Of The Cross
Head moved to SydneySydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
in 1980, performing regularly at Kinselas and Kings Cross
Kings Cross, New South Wales
Kings Cross is an inner-city locality of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is located approximately 2 kilometres east of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the City of Sydney...
nightclubs such as Round Midnight, The Bourbon and Beefsteak, Paradise and Springfields, both solo and with regular musical cohorts Doug Williams
Doug Williams
Doug Williams may refer to:*Doug Williams , Super Bowl XXII MVP*Doug Williams , Australian rules footballer*Doug Williams , English professional wrestler...
, Wendy Saddington
Wendy Saddington
Wendy June Saddington is an Australian blues / soul / jazz singer and was in the bands Chain, Copperwine and the Wendy Saddington Band. She wrote for teen pop newspaper Go-Set from September 1969 – September 1970 as an agony aunt in her weekly "Takes Care of Business" column and as a...
, Lucky Starr and Jeff St. John. Head's King Of The Cross recording was inspired by his years working in the Cross, and is rumoured to be based on Abe Saffron
Abe Saffron
Abraham Gilbert "Abe" Saffron was an Australian nightclub owner and property developer who was reputed to have been one of the major figures in Australian organised crime in the latter half of the 20th century....
. "Well, the Cross is good, every time you walk down the street there at least ten stories come into your head, all those weird and wonderful people" he explains.
In The Key Of Night
In 2003, Head released In The Key Of NightIn the Key of Night
In The Key Of Night is a solo piano/voice album by Australian pianist Peter Head.It was released in 2004 and was recorded to capture the classic feel of Head's late night piano bar shows, at the urging of Big Beat Music....
a solo piano/voice album, recorded to recreate the feel of one of Head's legendary late night piano bar performances at the urging of Big Beat Music's founder.
If you've ever lived and loved the nightlife, chances are, some stage during your carousing, cruising, boozing and late night losing, you'd have come across Peter Head. His self penned sublime songs and lyrics tell tales tall and true ... Head's night time netherworld of ivory tickling in smoke filled rooms, singing wayward songs about wayward people, is unique in Australia, our very own musical journeyman; always outside the crap and corruption of the music industry, always laying down a magical rolling chord, a riff, a poignant lyric, a primal honed voice — frayed at the edges as it is, rasping, growling, crackling and about as soulful as it gets....This excellent set, beautifully recorded with passion and empathy by the adventurous Big Beat Music label shows Peter Head in his best light yet, highlighting his splendid songs like I Don't Believe and Everything Is Everything. Head's fresh interpretations of songs from a few of his heroes like Tom Waits, Randy Newman and Ray Charles are not only commendable, but demonstrate the uniqueness of his voice and his very original phrasing. Not to mention his world class piano playing. A master
Working with his family
Head features on his daughter Loene Carmen's 2009 album It Walks Like LoveIt Walks Like Love
It Walks Like Love is the fourth album from Australian singer/songwriter Loene Carmen. It was released in 2009 on Chiquita Records through Inertia in Australia....
and has played alongside her opening for artists such as Renee Geyer
Renée Geyer
Renée Rebecca Geyer is an Australian singer who has long been regarded as one of the finest exponents of jazz, soul and R&B idioms. She had commercial success as a solo artist in Australia, with "It's a Man's Man's World", "Heading in the Right Direction" and "Stares and Whispers" in the 1970s and...
and in much loved Inner West soul band Slow Hand, which featured the 'duelling keyboards' of Head and organ player Johnny Gauci (2000–05).
Head played in Carmen's bands Automatic Cherry and Honky Tonk Angels (for which he also acted as Musical Director and assembled the band). His son, Joshua Beagley, is a disco funk guitarist, composer, studio producer and DJ. His bands include Confection, Professor Groove and The Booty Affair and Swoop. Beagley contributed guitar to the King Of The Cross recording. Head is responsible for suggesting the name for granddaughter Holiday Sidewinder's band, Bridezilla. The three generations (Head, Carmen and Sidewinder) recently performed together for the first time with at Songs of Sydney, a Creative Festival event held at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney
Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney
The Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney, Australia is an Australian museum solely dedicated to exhibiting, interpreting and collecting contemporary art, both from across Australia and around the world...
in 2009.
Head also features on Finnish band Exception To The Rule's 2010 debut album, High And Low
Selected discography
- 2010: Peter Head & The Mount Lofty Rangers: Lofty
- 2010: Exception To The Rule: High And Low
- 2009: Songs: Songs
- 2009: Loene CarmenLoene CarmenLoene Carmen is an Australian singer/songwriter and actress.-Background:Carmen's father is rock/jazz/blues pianist Peter Head...
: It Walks Like LoveIt Walks Like LoveIt Walks Like Love is the fourth album from Australian singer/songwriter Loene Carmen. It was released in 2009 on Chiquita Records through Inertia in Australia.... - 2003: Peter Head: In The Key Of NightIn the Key of NightIn The Key Of Night is a solo piano/voice album by Australian pianist Peter Head.It was released in 2004 and was recorded to capture the classic feel of Head's late night piano bar shows, at the urging of Big Beat Music....
- 1998: Peter Head: King of the Cross (EP)
- 1996: Bon ScottBon ScottRonald Belford "Bon" Scott was a Scottish-born Australian rock musician, best known for being the lead singer and lyricist of Australian hard rock band AC/DC from 1974 until his death in 1980...
: Round & Round & Round - 1973: HeadbandHeadband (band)Headband were a progressive, blues rock band formed in Adelaide in February 1971 by bass guitarist Chris Bailey; drummer Joff Bateman; singer-songwriter and keyboardist Peter Beagley ; and singer-songwriter and guitarist Mauri Berg. The group supported Elton John , The Rolling Stones at their...
: A Song For Tooley
External links
- Head Office Records
- Peter Head, MySpaceMySpaceMyspace is a social networking service owned by Specific Media LLC and pop star Justin Timberlake. Myspace launched in August 2003 and is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. In August 2011, Myspace had 33.1 million unique U.S. visitors....