Peter Link
Encyclopedia
Peter Link is an American
composer
, lyricist
, music producer, stage director, and presently CEO/Creative Director
of Watchfire Music, an on-line Inspirational record company and music store.
During his career, which spans 40 years, he has been nominated twice for the Tony Award
, including Neil Simon
’s The Good Doctor
and Joseph Papp
’s production of William Shakespeare
’s Much Ado About Nothing
, won the NY Critic’s Drama Desk Award
for Salvation
out of which came his first million-selling record, "If You Let Me Make Love To You, Then Why Can’t I Touch You"
, and worked, mainly as a composer in a number of entertainment mediums ranging from pop music
to Broadway
, television
, ballet
, film
s and Inspirational music.
. He is the son of Lyman Link, a Canadian survivor of World War I
and musician turned accountant, and Virginia Anderson Link, originally from Chicago
, Illinois
. He has one brother, James Charles Link, a now retired accountant also from St. Louis.
He grew up in Kirkwood
, Missouri attending Osage Hills Elementary School, Nipher Middle School and Principia Upper School graduating from high school in 1962. He then attended the University of Virginia
on a track and soccer scholarship for one year and finished up his college education as an English major at Principia College
where he graduated in 1966 and has repeatedly provided externship sponsorships to the school's students.
Having conducted school choirs, directed musical productions and excelled as a drummer throughout his early childhood, he decided to concentrate on directing musicals, so he moved to New York City
and studied acting for two years at The Neighborhood Playhouse
School of the Theater under Sanford Meisner
and graduated in 1968.
Television’s Soap Opera, As The World Turns
, playing legendary Soap star, Eileen Fulton
’s son in the autumn of 1968. He also played a small part in Neil Simon
’s feature film, The Out-of-Towners
, directed by Arthur Hiller
and starring Jack Lemmon
and Sandy Dennis
.
In the winter of 1969, while still working on As The World Turns, Peter was cast as the lead in Hair
on Broadway taking over for writer and original lead, Jerry Ragni, in the role of Berger and playing opposite both Heather McCrae and Diane Keaton
.
He left Hair to perform one of the two leading roles in his own musical, Salvation
, in the spring of 1969 when the show moved uptown to the Jan Hus Theater Salvation proved to be Link's last stage performance, and he moved instead towards a music oriented career.
, collaborating with lyricist and bookwriter, C.C. Courtney. The show debuted at Art D'Lugoff
’s Village Gate. The musical was first directed by Link and performed late at night, at 11:00 pm four nights a week, after the long-running Jacques Brel
performances.
It opened on March 11, 1969 and was given a positive review by New York Times columnist Lawrence Van Gelder
. It was then picked up by producer David Black
, who had produced George M!
, and moved to the Jan Hus Playhouse for its Off-Broadway
run, starting on September 24, 1969 and ending on April 19, 1970 for 239 performances. Out of the show came the hit recorded by Ronnie Dyson
, of Hair, "(If You Let Me Make Love To You Then) Why Can't I Touch You?", which sold over a million copies, hitting the Top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100 chart where it peaked at #8 in 1970
and launched Dyson's recording career. Link received the Drama Desk Award for most promising composer for his work on Salvation.
Link and Courtney then collaborated on Earl of Ruston, which opened Mar 10, 1974, a country-western musical that flopped on Broadway. Citing creative differences, Link left the show before it opened.
, producer of The New York Shakespeare Festival
, hired Link to be Composer-in-Residence at the Shakespeare Festival and The Public Theater. There, Link refined his abilities as a composer for the musical theater and for the next five years composed music for over 40 shows.
Notable are: John Ford Noonan
’s Older People (a Drama Desk Award winner) starring Barnard Hughes
and Will Hare
; the rock opera, The Wedding of Iphigenia with Nell Carter
, Andrea Marcovicci
, Marta Heflin which also played at the Young Vic in London; The Orphan
with Cliff DeYoung
; Comedy Of Errors
with Linda Lavin
, Don Scardino
and Michael Tucker
; and Trelawny of the 'Wells'
at the Lincoln Center with Meryl Streep
, John Lithgow
, Mandy Patinkin
, Michael Tucker
and Mary Beth Hurt
and directed by A.J. Antoon.
While also at the Public Theater, Link composed the score for Joseph Papp's Much Ado About Nothing
, which was presented at the Delacorte Theatre in Central Park
on Broadway and also as a CBS Television Special. This was the longest running Shakespeare production to ever run on Broadway and won for Link his first Tony Award Nomination. The show was directed by A.J. Antoon and starred Sam Waterston
, Kathleen Widdoes
and Barnard Hughes
.
in NYC Nov 11, 1972. On the same weekend Link had his second Broadway show open within three days. That was Michael Cacoyannis’ production of Lysistrata
starring Melina Mercouri
. Not nearly as successful as Much Ado was, Lysistrata received negative reviews and closed in four days.
Next Link, again collaborated with director A.J. Antoon, when he composed the score for Neil Simon’s The Good Doctor which opened Nov 27, 1973 to mostly positive reviews. It starred Christopher Plummer
, Marsha Mason
, Barnard Hughes
, Francis Sternhagen and Rene Auberjenois and won for Link yet another Tony Award nomination for Best Original Score in 1974.
Following his second major success, Link became established as a composer of Broadway plays featuring cinematic scores. Link followed with scores for Ulysses in Nighttown
which opened Mar 10, 1974 under the direction of Burgess Meredith
, starring Zero Mostel
and also James Lipton
’s production of The Mighty Gents written by Richard Wesley
and starring Dorian Harewood
with then newcomer Morgan Freeman
which opened on April 16, 1978.
Link also composed the musical score for King of Hearts
which opened on Broadway October 22, 1978 during the NY newspaper strike of 1978. Though the show was well reviewed in the Boston press, the NY reviews were mixed and the production was hampered by the newspaper strike. The show has been produced often since its Broadway debut and received a rave review from the NY Times during its 2002 production at the Goodspeed Opera
. On Broadway, the show starred Don Scardino
, Bob Gunton
and Millicent Martin
.
The River, a collage of rock, rap and pop gospel, extolling water in spiritual and metaphorical terms and paralleling the cycle of water and the life cycle of man, opened at the Promenade Theater in January 1988. It received a mostly favorable review from Mel Gussow
of the NY Times.
The River won a number of the off-Broadway TOR Awards not only for Best Musical, but also won for Mr. Link Best Director and Best Composer/Lyricist.
with book, music and lyrics by Link drawn from Brent Nicholson Earle
's concept and starring Chad Mitchell and Jenny Burton
. Island was later produced at The Portland Stage Company
in 1980-81 and The Virginia Stage Company
.
On The Road To Babylon was a rock musical which opened to mixed reviews December 1979 at The Milwaukee Rep with book by Richard Wesley
and music and lyrics by Link drawn from a concept by Brent Nicholson Earle
.
Sundown is a contemporary country musical about Doc Holliday
and Wyatt Earp
and the days leading up to the gunfight at the OK Corral with music by Peter Link, lyrics by Larry Rosler and book by Joe Bravaco and Larry Rosler. It was work-shopped at the ASCAP/Disney workshops in NYC and in May 2002 had its world premier receiving rave reviews at the Lyric Stage in Dallas. It played a two month run at the Barter Theater in Virginia in the spring of 2003 and received a new presentation in March 2008 at The Adobe Theater in New Mexico. Its album, produced by Peter Link and starring Broadway veterans, Steve Blanchard
and Judy McLane, was named one of the Top Ten Best Theatrical Albums of 2004 by Jonathan Frank in Talking Broadway.
and Patty Duke
, The Great Niagara with Richard Boone
and Enormous Changes At The Last Minute, a feature film for ABC
, released theatrically in 1982, starring Kevin Bacon
, David Strathairn
, and Ellen Barkin
.
He created and wrote the title song and theme music for Vegetable Soup
, the popular children's television show on racism that rand from 1975 to 1978 on PBS and for which he won several ASIFA Animation Awards. He also composed and performed the scores for High Feather
, a children's television series on nutrition. He has also contributed to other programming for children including Sesame Street
, The Electric Company
and The Big Blue Marble.
Much Ado About Nothing opened, using Link's score, at the open-air Delacorte Theatre in Central Park, was transferred to Broadway and was perceived as the first successful Shakespeare to play without a major star in Broadway history. The CBS broadcast in 1973 was seen by twenty million people.
themes for the Joffrey Ballet
Company's bicentennial ballet Drums, Dreams and Banjos which was choreography by Gerald Arpino
.
His song, "(If You Let Me Make Love To You), Then Why Can’t I Touch You", as recorded by Ronnie Dyson sold over a million records for Columbia Records.
In his early career, his songs were also recorded by Johnnie Mathis ("(If You Let Me Make Love to You Then) Why Can't I Touch You" appeared on Close to You
), Dionne Warwick
(who also used the former Dyson track on From Within
), Peggy Lee
("Let's Get Lost In Now") and even Mae West
(on her rendition of "In Between" from Salvation
).
, City of Angels
, Kiss of the Spider Woman
, and Harvey Schmidt
's and Tom Jones
's Roadside
.
Additionally, Link has worked on a number of other albums and songs with Jenny Burton, Julia Wade, Osceola Davis, Richard Charles Hoh, Don Rebic, Emily Bindiger
, Tom Tipton, Cy Young, and Tom Flowers.
which was Pop/Inspirational/R&B act that played to packed houses in a seven year run at Don’t Tell Mama in New York City. The group won the cabaret awards for Best Vocal Group including the Backstage Bistro Award, The Critic's Choice Award and The MAC Award. They also were the first Gospel group to ever headline in Atlantic City at Resorts International.
The Joy Ride Concert was presented at The DiCapo Opera Theater in NYC June 19 & 20 2006 by Watchfire Music and Faith and Values Media with Link serving as producer and director.
As a director he wrote and directed JOSH
, a one man musical about the late Josh White
starring his son Josh White Jr., and the three highly successful productions of WAITIN’ IN THE WINGS®: The Night The Understudies Take Center Stage, produced by William Spencer Reilly.
In addition to this he produced and wrote with Al Pacino
and directed With Heartfelt Thanks - A Tribute To Lee Strasberg at the Lincoln Center which featured over thirty major stars and Close Upon The Hour, a benefit evening for the American Run for the End of Aids featuring his songs and starring most of the top New York cabaret stars.
He also directed the Movie Guide Awards for television in Hollywood.
He wrote, directed and performed in Please Don’t Let It Rain, a concert of his own music at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park presented by Joseph Papp and starring Andre DeShields
, David Lasley
, and Marta Heflin.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
, lyricist
Lyricist
A lyricist is a songwriter who specializes in lyrics. A singer who writes the lyrics to songs is a singer-lyricist. This differentiates from a singer-composer, who composes the song's melody.-Collaboration:...
, music producer, stage director, and presently CEO/Creative Director
Creative Director
A creative director is a position often found within the graphic design, film, music, fashion, advertising, media or entertainment industries, but may be useful in other creative organizations such as web development and software development firms as well....
of Watchfire Music, an on-line Inspirational record company and music store.
During his career, which spans 40 years, he has been nominated twice for the Tony Award
Tony Award
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...
, including Neil Simon
Neil Simon
Neil Simon is an American playwright and screenwriter. He has written numerous Broadway plays, including Brighton Beach Memoirs, Biloxi Blues, and The Odd Couple. He won the 1991 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for his play Lost In Yonkers. He has written the screenplays for several of his plays that...
’s The Good Doctor
The Good Doctor
The Good Doctor is a comedy with music written by Neil Simon.The Good Doctor is set in Russia during the 19th century and written in the style of Chekhovian comedy. It is composed of a series of scenes in which the only connecting thread is the character of the Writer originally played by...
and Joseph Papp
Joseph Papp
Joseph Papp was an American theatrical producer and director. Papp established The Public Theater in what had been the Astor Library Building in downtown New York . "The Public," as it is known, has many small theatres within it...
’s production of William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
’s Much Ado About Nothing
Much Ado About Nothing
Much Ado About Nothing is a comedy written by William Shakespeare about two pairs of lovers, Benedick and Beatrice, and Claudio and Hero....
, won the NY Critic’s Drama Desk Award
Drama Desk Award
The Drama Desk Awards, which are given annually in a number of categories, are the only major New York theater honors for which productions on Broadway, Off-Broadway, Off-Off-Broadway compete against each other in the same category...
for Salvation
Salvation (musical)
Salvation was a 1969 Off-Broadway rock musical with music, lyrics, and book by Peter Link & C.C. Courtney. It opened on September 24, 1969 at the Jan Hus Playhouse and ending on April 19, 1970 after 239 performances.-Production:...
out of which came his first million-selling record, "If You Let Me Make Love To You, Then Why Can’t I Touch You"
Ronnie Dyson
Ronnie Dyson was an American singer and actor.-Career:Born in Washington, D.C., Dyson grew up in Brooklyn, New York where he sang in church choirs. At just 18 years of age, he won lead part in the Broadway production of Hair debuting in New York in 1968...
, and worked, mainly as a composer in a number of entertainment mediums ranging from pop music
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
to Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
, television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
, ballet
Ballet
Ballet is a type of performance dance, that originated in the Italian Renaissance courts of the 15th century, and which was further developed in France and Russia as a concert dance form. The early portions preceded the invention of the proscenium stage and were presented in large chambers with...
, film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
s and Inspirational music.
Early life, education and family
Link was born in St. Louis, MissouriMissouri
Missouri is a US state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. With a 2010 population of 5,988,927, Missouri is the 18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest. It...
. He is the son of Lyman Link, a Canadian survivor of World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
and musician turned accountant, and Virginia Anderson Link, originally from 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...
, Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
. He has one brother, James Charles Link, a now retired accountant also from St. Louis.
He grew up in Kirkwood
Kirkwood
Kirkwood may refer to:United States:*Kirkwood, California, in Alpine County**Kirkwood Mountain Resort*Kirkwood, Glenn County, California*Kirkwood, Delaware*Kirkwood , Georgia*Kirkwood, Illinois*Kirkwood, Missouri*Kirkwood, New Jersey...
, Missouri attending Osage Hills Elementary School, Nipher Middle School and Principia Upper School graduating from high school in 1962. He then attended the University of Virginia
University of Virginia
The University of Virginia is a public research university located in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States, founded by Thomas Jefferson...
on a track and soccer scholarship for one year and finished up his college education as an English major at Principia College
Principia College
Principia College is a four-year private co-educational liberal arts college in Elsah, Illinois. The campus sits on bluffs overlooking the Mississippi River between Alton and Grafton, located about thirty miles north of St. Louis. In 1934, Principia College graduated its first class as a full...
where he graduated in 1966 and has repeatedly provided externship sponsorships to the school's students.
Having conducted school choirs, directed musical productions and excelled as a drummer throughout his early childhood, he decided to concentrate on directing musicals, so he moved to New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
and studied acting for two years at The Neighborhood Playhouse
Neighborhood Playhouse
The Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre is an actor training school at 340 East 54th Street in New York City, generally associated with the Meisner technique of Sanford Meisner.-History:...
School of the Theater under Sanford Meisner
Sanford Meisner
Sanford Meisner , also known as Sandy, was an American actor and acting teacher who developed a form of Method acting that is now known as the Meisner technique....
and graduated in 1968.
Acting
Upon graduation from The Neighborhood Playhouse, Peter had immediate success as an actor, performing in 10 national network commercials that first summer and landing the role of Tom Hughes in CBSCBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
Television’s Soap Opera, As The World Turns
As the World Turns
As the World Turns is an American television soap opera that aired on CBS from April 2, 1956 to September 17, 2010. Irna Phillips created As the World Turns as a sister show to her other soap opera Guiding Light...
, playing legendary Soap star, Eileen Fulton
Eileen Fulton
Eileen Fulton is an American actress.Fulton is known for her role as Lisa Grimaldi on the CBS soap opera As the World Turns, a role that she played almost continuously for 50 years from May 18, 1960 until the show's cancellation on September 17, 2010.-As the...
’s son in the autumn of 1968. He also played a small part in Neil Simon
Neil Simon
Neil Simon is an American playwright and screenwriter. He has written numerous Broadway plays, including Brighton Beach Memoirs, Biloxi Blues, and The Odd Couple. He won the 1991 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for his play Lost In Yonkers. He has written the screenplays for several of his plays that...
’s feature film, The Out-of-Towners
The Out-of-Towners
The Out-of-Towners may refer to:* The Out-of-Towners , starring Jack Lemmon and Sandy Dennis* The Out-of-Towners , starring Goldie Hawn and Steve Martin* The Out-of-Towners , a 2004 album by Standards Trio...
, directed by Arthur Hiller
Arthur Hiller
Arthur Hiller, OC is a Canadian film director. His filmography includes 33 major studio releases, including the 1970 film Love Story...
and starring Jack Lemmon
Jack Lemmon
John Uhler "Jack" Lemmon III was an American actor and musician. He starred in more than 60 films including Some Like It Hot, The Apartment, Mister Roberts , Days of Wine and Roses, The Great Race, Irma la Douce, The Odd Couple, Save the Tiger John Uhler "Jack" Lemmon III (February 8, 1925June...
and Sandy Dennis
Sandy Dennis
Sandra Dale “Sandy” Dennis was an American theater and film actress. In 1966, she won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?.-Early life:...
.
In the winter of 1969, while still working on As The World Turns, Peter was cast as the lead in Hair
Hair
Hair is a filamentous biomaterial, that grows from follicles found in the dermis. Found exclusively in mammals, hair is one of the defining characteristics of the mammalian class....
on Broadway taking over for writer and original lead, Jerry Ragni, in the role of Berger and playing opposite both Heather McCrae and Diane Keaton
Diane Keaton
Diane Keaton is an American film actress, director, producer, and screenwriter. Keaton began her career on stage, and made her screen debut in 1970...
.
He left Hair to perform one of the two leading roles in his own musical, Salvation
Salvation (musical)
Salvation was a 1969 Off-Broadway rock musical with music, lyrics, and book by Peter Link & C.C. Courtney. It opened on September 24, 1969 at the Jan Hus Playhouse and ending on April 19, 1970 after 239 performances.-Production:...
, in the spring of 1969 when the show moved uptown to the Jan Hus Theater Salvation proved to be Link's last stage performance, and he moved instead towards a music oriented career.
Composer for the musical theater
While performing in both Hair and As The World Turns simultaneously, Link composed the music for the rock musical SalvationSalvation (musical)
Salvation was a 1969 Off-Broadway rock musical with music, lyrics, and book by Peter Link & C.C. Courtney. It opened on September 24, 1969 at the Jan Hus Playhouse and ending on April 19, 1970 after 239 performances.-Production:...
, collaborating with lyricist and bookwriter, C.C. Courtney. The show debuted at Art D'Lugoff
Art D'Lugoff
Art D'Lugoff was an American jazz impresario. He opened The Village Gate, a jazz club in New York City's Greenwich Village, in 1958...
’s Village Gate. The musical was first directed by Link and performed late at night, at 11:00 pm four nights a week, after the long-running Jacques Brel
Jacques Brel
Jacques Brel was a Belgian singer-songwriter who composed and performed literate, thoughtful, and theatrical songs that generated a large, devoted following in France initially, and later throughout the world. He was widely considered a master of the modern chanson...
performances.
It opened on March 11, 1969 and was given a positive review by New York Times columnist Lawrence Van Gelder
Lawrence Van Gelder
Lawrence Van Gelder is an American journalist and instructor in journalism who has worked at several different New York City-based newspapers in his long career. Until 2010 he was senior editor of the Arts and Leisure weekly section of The New York Times...
. It was then picked up by producer David Black
David Black
David or Dave Black may refer to:*Dave Black , baseball player*Dave Black , American author and composer...
, who had produced George M!
George M!
George M! is a Broadway musical based on the life of George M. Cohan, the biggest Broadway star of his day who was known as "The Man Who Owned Broadway." The book for the musical was written by Michael Stewart, John Pascal, and Francine Pascal. Music and lyrics were, of course, by George M...
, and moved to the Jan Hus Playhouse for its Off-Broadway
Off-Broadway
Off-Broadway theater is a term for a professional venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, and for a specific production of a play, musical or revue that appears in such a venue, and which adheres to related trade union and other contracts...
run, starting on September 24, 1969 and ending on April 19, 1970 for 239 performances. Out of the show came the hit recorded by Ronnie Dyson
Ronnie Dyson
Ronnie Dyson was an American singer and actor.-Career:Born in Washington, D.C., Dyson grew up in Brooklyn, New York where he sang in church choirs. At just 18 years of age, he won lead part in the Broadway production of Hair debuting in New York in 1968...
, of Hair, "(If You Let Me Make Love To You Then) Why Can't I Touch You?", which sold over a million copies, hitting the Top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100 chart where it peaked at #8 in 1970
1970 in music
- Events :*January 3**Davy Jones announces he is leaving the Monkees**Former Pink Floyd frontman Syd Barrett releases his first solo album The Madcap Laughs....
and launched Dyson's recording career. Link received the Drama Desk Award for most promising composer for his work on Salvation.
Link and Courtney then collaborated on Earl of Ruston, which opened Mar 10, 1974, a country-western musical that flopped on Broadway. Citing creative differences, Link left the show before it opened.
Composer-in-residence
Joseph PappJoseph Papp
Joseph Papp was an American theatrical producer and director. Papp established The Public Theater in what had been the Astor Library Building in downtown New York . "The Public," as it is known, has many small theatres within it...
, producer of The New York Shakespeare Festival
New York Shakespeare Festival
New York Shakespeare Festival is the previous name of the New York City theatrical producing organization now known as the Public Theater. The Festival produced shows at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park, as part of its free Shakespeare in the Park series, at the Public Theatre near Astor Place...
, hired Link to be Composer-in-Residence at the Shakespeare Festival and The Public Theater. There, Link refined his abilities as a composer for the musical theater and for the next five years composed music for over 40 shows.
Notable are: John Ford Noonan
John Ford Noonan
John Ford Noonan is a prolific American actor, and writer for theater, film and television. Born in New York City in 1943, he wrote his first play, Lazarus was a Lady in 1970 followed by Concerning the Effects of Trimethylchoride in 1971 and other plays such as The Club Champion’s Widow in 1978,...
’s Older People (a Drama Desk Award winner) starring Barnard Hughes
Barnard Hughes
Bernard Aloysius Kiernan “Barnard” Hughes was an American actor of theater and film. Hughes became famous for a variety of roles; his most notable roles came after middle age, and he was often cast as a dithering authority figure or grandfatherly elder.-Personal life:Hughes was born in Bedford...
and Will Hare
Will Hare
Will Hare was an American actor who appeared on television and films, often playing old crusty figures and father/grandpa roles.Hare was born in Elkins, West Virginia, the son of Frances Laetitia and George Thomas Hare.-Career:He had appeared on stage, screen, and television since he was 17...
; the rock opera, The Wedding of Iphigenia with Nell Carter
Nell Carter
Nell Carter was an American singer, and film, stage, and television actress. She won a Tony Award for her performance in the Broadway musical Ain't Misbehavin, as well as an Emmy Award for her reprisal of the role on television...
, Andrea Marcovicci
Andrea Marcovicci
Andrea Louisa Marcovicci is an American actress and singer.- Biography :Marcovicci was born in Manhattan, New York City, the daughter of Helen , a singer, and Eugen Marcovicci, a physician and internist of Romanian descent. In her teens, she decided that she wanted to be a singer, but instead...
, Marta Heflin which also played at the Young Vic in London; The Orphan
The Orphan
This article is about the play. For the 2009 horror film, see Orphan .The Orphan, or The Unhappy Marriage is a domestic tragedy, written by Thomas Otway in 1680. It was first produced at the Dorset Garden Theatre, and starred Mrs. Barry as Monimia, Thomas Betterton as Castalio and Mr. Jo. Williams...
with Cliff DeYoung
Cliff DeYoung
Clifford Tobin DeYoung is an American actor and musician.DeYoung was born in Los Angeles, California. He attended California State University....
; Comedy Of Errors
Comedy Of Errors
Comedy Of Errors was a Glasgow-based progressive rock band formed in January 1984. Their first recording was a demo called "Ever be the Prize", and was recorded at a studio in Blanefield in 1985, and followed by a mini album in 1986....
with Linda Lavin
Linda Lavin
Linda Lavin is an American singer and actress. She is best known for playing the title character in the sitcom Alice and for her Broadway performances.After acting as a child, Lavin joined the Compass Players in the late 1950s...
, Don Scardino
Don Scardino
Don Scardino is an American television director and producer and a former actor.-Acting:Born in New York City, Scardino began his career as an actor. His first Broadway credit was as an understudy in The Playroom in 1965. Additional Broadway acting credits include Johnny No-Trump, Godspell, and...
and Michael Tucker
Michael Tucker
Michael Tucker may refer to:*Michael Tucker , *Michael Tucker , Major League Baseball outfielder*Michael Tucker , film director*Michael S...
; and Trelawny of the 'Wells'
Trelawny of the 'Wells'
Trelawny of the 'Wells' is an 1898 comic play by Arthur Wing Pinero. It tells the story of a theatre star who attempts to give up the stage for love, but is unable to fit into conventional society.-Synopsis:...
at the Lincoln Center with Meryl Streep
Meryl Streep
Mary Louise "Meryl" Streep is an American actress who has worked in theatre, television and film.Streep made her professional stage debut in 1971's The Playboy of Seville, before her screen debut in the television movie The Deadliest Season in 1977. In that same year, she made her film debut with...
, John Lithgow
John Lithgow
John Arthur Lithgow is an American actor, musician, and author. Presently, he is involved with a wide range of media projects, including stage, television, film, and radio...
, Mandy Patinkin
Mandy Patinkin
Mandel Bruce "Mandy" Patinkin is an award-winning American actor of stage and screen and a tenor vocalist. He is a noted interpreter of the musical works of Stephen Sondheim, and is best-known for his work in musical theatre, originating iconic roles such as Georges Seurat in Sunday in the Park...
, Michael Tucker
Michael Tucker
Michael Tucker may refer to:*Michael Tucker , *Michael Tucker , Major League Baseball outfielder*Michael Tucker , film director*Michael S...
and Mary Beth Hurt
Mary Beth Hurt
Mary Beth Hurt is an American actress of stage and screen.-Personal life:Hurt was born Mary Supinger in 1946 in Marshalltown, Iowa, the daughter of Delores Lenore and Forrest Clayton Supinger. Her childhood babysitter was actress Jean Seberg, also a Marshalltown native...
and directed by A.J. Antoon.
While also at the Public Theater, Link composed the score for Joseph Papp's Much Ado About Nothing
Much Ado About Nothing
Much Ado About Nothing is a comedy written by William Shakespeare about two pairs of lovers, Benedick and Beatrice, and Claudio and Hero....
, which was presented at the Delacorte Theatre in Central Park
Central Park
Central Park is a public park in the center of Manhattan in New York City, United States. The park initially opened in 1857, on of city-owned land. In 1858, Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux won a design competition to improve and expand the park with a plan they entitled the Greensward Plan...
on Broadway and also as a CBS Television Special. This was the longest running Shakespeare production to ever run on Broadway and won for Link his first Tony Award Nomination. The show was directed by A.J. Antoon and starred Sam Waterston
Sam Waterston
Samuel Atkinson "Sam" Waterston is an American actor and occasional producer and director. Among other roles, he is noted for his Academy Award-nominated portrayal of Sydney Schanberg in 1984's The Killing Fields, and his Golden Globe- and Screen Actors Guild Award-winning portrayal of Jack McCoy...
, Kathleen Widdoes
Kathleen Widdoes
-Life and career:Widdoes was born in Wilmington, Delaware, the daughter of Bernice and Eugene Widdoes. Widdoes moved to New York City to pursue stage work and studied at the Sorbonne in Paris under a Fulbright scholarship. From 1964 to 1972 she was married to well known actor Richard Jordan, with...
and Barnard Hughes
Barnard Hughes
Bernard Aloysius Kiernan “Barnard” Hughes was an American actor of theater and film. Hughes became famous for a variety of roles; his most notable roles came after middle age, and he was often cast as a dithering authority figure or grandfatherly elder.-Personal life:Hughes was born in Bedford...
.
Broadway
Much Ado About Nothing began its Broadway run at the Winter Garden TheatreWinter Garden Theatre
The Winter Garden Theatre is a Broadway theatre located at 1634 Broadway in midtown Manhattan.-History:The structure was built by William Kissam Vanderbilt in 1896 to be the American Horse Exchange....
in NYC Nov 11, 1972. On the same weekend Link had his second Broadway show open within three days. That was Michael Cacoyannis’ production of Lysistrata
Lysistrata
Lysistrata is one of eleven surviving plays written by Aristophanes. Originally performed in classical Athens in 411 BC, it is a comic account of one woman's extraordinary mission to end The Peloponnesian War...
starring Melina Mercouri
Melina Mercouri
Melina Mercouri , born as Maria Amalia Mercouri was a Greek actress, singer and politician.As an actress she made her film debut in Stella and met international success with her performances in Never on Sunday, Phaedra, Topkapi and Promise at Dawn...
. Not nearly as successful as Much Ado was, Lysistrata received negative reviews and closed in four days.
Next Link, again collaborated with director A.J. Antoon, when he composed the score for Neil Simon’s The Good Doctor which opened Nov 27, 1973 to mostly positive reviews. It starred Christopher Plummer
Christopher Plummer
Arthur Christopher Orne Plummer, CC is a Canadian theatre, film and television actor. He made his film debut in 1957's Stage Struck, and notable early film performances include Night of the Generals, The Return of the Pink Panther and The Man Who Would Be King.In a career that spans over five...
, Marsha Mason
Marsha Mason
Marsha Mason is an American actress and television director.She received four Academy Award nominations as Best Actress for her performances in Cinderella Liberty, The Goodbye Girl, Chapter Two, and Only When I Laugh. She is also known for starring in the 1986 film Heartbreak Ridge.-Life:Mason was...
, Barnard Hughes
Barnard Hughes
Bernard Aloysius Kiernan “Barnard” Hughes was an American actor of theater and film. Hughes became famous for a variety of roles; his most notable roles came after middle age, and he was often cast as a dithering authority figure or grandfatherly elder.-Personal life:Hughes was born in Bedford...
, Francis Sternhagen and Rene Auberjenois and won for Link yet another Tony Award nomination for Best Original Score in 1974.
Following his second major success, Link became established as a composer of Broadway plays featuring cinematic scores. Link followed with scores for Ulysses in Nighttown
Ulysses in Nighttown
Ulysses in Nighttown is a play based on an episode from the novel Ulysses by James Joyce that was adapted by Marjorie Barkentin and contains incidental music by Peter Link. The show opened Off-Broadway in 1958 with Zero Mostel to a long and successful run, earning Mostel an Obie Award...
which opened Mar 10, 1974 under the direction of Burgess Meredith
Burgess Meredith
Oliver Burgess Meredith , known professionally as Burgess Meredith, was an American actor in theatre, film, and television, who also worked as a director...
, starring Zero Mostel
Zero Mostel
Samuel Joel “Zero” Mostel was an American actor of stage and screen, best known for his portrayal of comic characters such as Tevye on stage in Fiddler on the Roof, Pseudolus on stage and on screen in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, and Max Bialystock in the original film version...
and also James Lipton
James Lipton
James Lipton is an American writer, poet, composer, actor and dean emeritus of the Actors Studio Drama School at Pace University in New York City. He is the executive producer, writer and host of the Bravo cable television series Inside the Actors Studio, which debuted in 1994...
’s production of The Mighty Gents written by Richard Wesley
Richard Wesley
Richard Wesley is an African American playwright, and screenwriter for television and cinema. He is an associate professor at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts where he is presently the chair of the Rita and Burton Goldberg Department of Dramatic Writing.Wesley was born in Newark, New...
and starring Dorian Harewood
Dorian Harewood
W. Dorian Harewood is an American actor. He first garnered attention for his portrayal of Simon Haley in the ABC miniseries Roots: The Next Generations.-Career:...
with then newcomer Morgan Freeman
Morgan Freeman
Morgan Freeman is an American actor, film director, aviator and narrator. He is noted for his reserved demeanor and authoritative speaking voice. Freeman has received Academy Award nominations for his performances in Street Smart, Driving Miss Daisy, The Shawshank Redemption and Invictus and won...
which opened on April 16, 1978.
Link also composed the musical score for King of Hearts
King of Hearts (musical)
King of Hearts is a 1978 musical with a book by Joseph Stein, lyrics by Jacob Brackman, and music by Peter Link, orchestrated by Bill Brohn. It is based on the 1966 anti-war cult film of the same name....
which opened on Broadway October 22, 1978 during the NY newspaper strike of 1978. Though the show was well reviewed in the Boston press, the NY reviews were mixed and the production was hampered by the newspaper strike. The show has been produced often since its Broadway debut and received a rave review from the NY Times during its 2002 production at the Goodspeed Opera
Goodspeed Musicals
Goodspeed Musicals, a non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation and advancement of musical theater and the creation of new works, was formed in 1959 to restore the Goodspeed Opera House, located in East Haddam, Connecticut, to its original Victorian appearance. Each year, Goodspeed...
. On Broadway, the show starred Don Scardino
Don Scardino
Don Scardino is an American television director and producer and a former actor.-Acting:Born in New York City, Scardino began his career as an actor. His first Broadway credit was as an understudy in The Playroom in 1965. Additional Broadway acting credits include Johnny No-Trump, Godspell, and...
, Bob Gunton
Bob Gunton
Robert Patrick "Bob" Gunton, Jr. is an American actor. He is known for playing strict, authoritarian characters, with his best known roles as Warden Samuel Norton in the 1994 prison film The Shawshank Redemption, Chief George Earle in 1993's Demolition Man, and President Juan Peron in the original...
and Millicent Martin
Millicent Martin
Millicent Mary Lillian Martin is an English actress, singer and comedienne.Martin was born in Romford, England. She made her Broadway debut opposite Julie Andrews in The Boy Friend in 1954...
.
Off-Broadway
After the Broadway and Off-Broadway success of Salvation, Link continued to work in theaters outside of the Broadway Box.The River, a collage of rock, rap and pop gospel, extolling water in spiritual and metaphorical terms and paralleling the cycle of water and the life cycle of man, opened at the Promenade Theater in January 1988. It received a mostly favorable review from Mel Gussow
Mel Gussow
Melvyn H. Gussow was an American theater critic, movie critic, and author who wrote for The New York Times for 35 years.-Biography:...
of the NY Times.
The River won a number of the off-Broadway TOR Awards not only for Best Musical, but also won for Mr. Link Best Director and Best Composer/Lyricist.
Regional theater productions
Island opened to rave reviews December 1978 at The Milwaukee Repertory TheaterMilwaukee Repertory Theater
Milwaukee Repertory Theater, founded by Mary Widrig John in 1954, as the Fred Miller Theatre Company, is now located on the east bank of the Milwaukee River in the Patty and Jay Baker Theater Complex at 108 E Wells St, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It is home to an eleven member Resident Acting Company...
with book, music and lyrics by Link drawn from Brent Nicholson Earle
Brent Nicholson Earle
Brent Nicholson Earle was an early activist in the effort to promote awareness and prevent the spread of AIDS, notable for his long-distance runs to support his cause and raise money for AIDS service organizations....
's concept and starring Chad Mitchell and Jenny Burton
Jenny Burton
Jenny Burton , is an American female R&B singer who had several hits on the US Billboard dance chart. She was lead singer of the dance music band C-Bank's 1983 Top 5 Hot Dance Music/Club Play single "One More Shot", notable for record producer John Robie's use of a "non-linear" approach to its...
. Island was later produced at The Portland Stage Company
Portland Stage Company
Portland Stage is the only professional LORT theater company in the state of Maine.As such, Portland Stage employs actors and stage managers who are members of Actors' Equity Association, the union of professional actors and stage managers in the United States....
in 1980-81 and The Virginia Stage Company
Wells Theatre
The Wells Theatre is a performing arts venue located in downtown Norfolk, Virginia. It currently houses the which has called the Wells Theatre home for the past 33 years. The Wells Theatre is owned and operated by the City of Norfolk and is part of The Seven Venues.On August 26, 1913, the Wells...
.
On The Road To Babylon was a rock musical which opened to mixed reviews December 1979 at The Milwaukee Rep with book by Richard Wesley
Richard Wesley
Richard Wesley is an African American playwright, and screenwriter for television and cinema. He is an associate professor at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts where he is presently the chair of the Rita and Burton Goldberg Department of Dramatic Writing.Wesley was born in Newark, New...
and music and lyrics by Link drawn from a concept by Brent Nicholson Earle
Brent Nicholson Earle
Brent Nicholson Earle was an early activist in the effort to promote awareness and prevent the spread of AIDS, notable for his long-distance runs to support his cause and raise money for AIDS service organizations....
.
Sundown is a contemporary country musical about Doc Holliday
Doc Holliday
John Henry "Doc" Holliday was an American gambler, gunfighter and dentist of the American Old West, who is usually remembered for his friendship with Wyatt Earp and his involvement in the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral...
and Wyatt Earp
Wyatt Earp
Wyatt Berry Stapp Earp was an American gambler, investor, and law enforcement officer who served in several Western frontier towns. He was also at different times a farmer, teamster, bouncer, saloon-keeper, miner and boxing referee. However, he was never a drover or cowboy. He is most well known...
and the days leading up to the gunfight at the OK Corral with music by Peter Link, lyrics by Larry Rosler and book by Joe Bravaco and Larry Rosler. It was work-shopped at the ASCAP/Disney workshops in NYC and in May 2002 had its world premier receiving rave reviews at the Lyric Stage in Dallas. It played a two month run at the Barter Theater in Virginia in the spring of 2003 and received a new presentation in March 2008 at The Adobe Theater in New Mexico. Its album, produced by Peter Link and starring Broadway veterans, Steve Blanchard
Steve Blanchard
Steve Blanchard is a stage actor best known for his musical theatre roles, being most closely associated with the role of Beast in the musical Beauty and the Beast, which he played both on Broadway and on tour for eleven years...
and Judy McLane, was named one of the Top Ten Best Theatrical Albums of 2004 by Jonathan Frank in Talking Broadway.
Film and television scores
Link has written the film scores for several Movies of the Week for television, Nightmare with Richard CrennaRichard Crenna
Richard Donald Crenna was an American motion picture, television, and radio actor and occasional television director. He starred in such motion pictures as The Sand Pebbles, Wait Until Dark, Body Heat, the first three Rambo movies, Hot Shots! Part Deux, and The Flamingo Kid...
and Patty Duke
Patty Duke
Anna Marie "Patty" Duke is an American actress of stage, film, and television. First becoming famous as a child star, winning an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress at age 16, and later starring in her eponymous sitcom for three years, she progressed to more mature roles upon playing Neely...
, The Great Niagara with Richard Boone
Richard Boone
Richard Allen Boone was an American actor who starred in over 50 films and was notable for his roles in Westerns and for starring in the TV series Have Gun – Will Travel.-Early life:...
and Enormous Changes At The Last Minute, a feature film for ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
, released theatrically in 1982, starring Kevin Bacon
Kevin Bacon
Kevin Norwood Bacon is an American film and theater actor whose notable roles include Animal House, Diner, Footloose, Flatliners, Wild Things, A Few Good Men, JFK, Apollo 13, Mystic River, The Woodsman, Trapped, Friday the 13th, Hollow Man, Tremors, Death Sentence, Frost/Nixon, Crazy, Stupid, Love....
, David Strathairn
David Strathairn
David Russell Strathairn is an American actor. He was nominated for an Academy Award for portraying journalist Edward R. Murrow in Good Night, and Good Luck...
, and Ellen Barkin
Ellen Barkin
Ellen Barkin is an American film, television and theatre actress.-Early life:She was born Ellen Rona Barkin in Bronx, a borough of New York City, New York, the daughter of Evelyn , a hospital administrator who worked at Jamaica Hospital, and Sol Barkin, a chemical salesman...
.
He created and wrote the title song and theme music for Vegetable Soup
Vegetable Soup
Vegetable Soup is an American educational children's television program produced by the New York State Education Department that originally ran on PBS from September 22, 1975 to December 14, 1978.-Concept:...
, the popular children's television show on racism that rand from 1975 to 1978 on PBS and for which he won several ASIFA Animation Awards. He also composed and performed the scores for High Feather
High Feather
High Feather is a 10-episode educational television show which ran on PBS in the 1980s; each episode was 30 minutes long. The program's name came from the Old English expression "High Fettle", meaning enjoying life and cheerfully doing the tasks of living. The heartfelt spirit of the show was...
, a children's television series on nutrition. He has also contributed to other programming for children including Sesame Street
Sesame Street
Sesame Street has undergone significant changes in its history. According to writer Michael Davis, by the mid-1970s the show had become "an American institution". The cast and crew expanded during this time, including the hiring of women in the crew and additional minorities in the cast. The...
, The Electric Company
The Electric Company
The Electric Company is an educational American children's television series that was produced by the Children's Television Workshop for PBS in the United States. PBS broadcast 780 episodes over the course of its six seasons from October 25, 1971 to April 15, 1977...
and The Big Blue Marble.
Much Ado About Nothing opened, using Link's score, at the open-air Delacorte Theatre in Central Park, was transferred to Broadway and was perceived as the first successful Shakespeare to play without a major star in Broadway history. The CBS broadcast in 1973 was seen by twenty million people.
Ballet
In 1976 he extended his musical influence to the ballet world, orchestrating, arranging and composing from Stephen FosterStephen Foster
Stephen Collins Foster , known as the "father of American music", was the pre-eminent songwriter in the United States of the 19th century...
themes for the Joffrey Ballet
Joffrey Ballet
The Joffrey Ballet is a dance company in Chicago, Illinois, founded in 1956. From 1995 to 2004, the company was known as The Joffrey Ballet of Chicago. The company regularly performs classical ballets including Romeo & Juliet and The Nutcracker, while balancing those classics with pioneering modern...
Company's bicentennial ballet Drums, Dreams and Banjos which was choreography by Gerald Arpino
Gerald Arpino
Gerald Arpino was an American dancer and choreographer. He was the artistic director and co-founder of The Joffrey Ballet.-Life and career:...
.
Record production
Link is a producer of recordings works in a number of different genres ranging from Pop to Gospel to Folk, Classical Crossover and occasionally Broadway. The majority of his work was produced at either one of his two New York recording studios, Westrax Recording Studios (1975–2003) or Link Recording Studios (2004-).His song, "(If You Let Me Make Love To You), Then Why Can’t I Touch You", as recorded by Ronnie Dyson sold over a million records for Columbia Records.
In his early career, his songs were also recorded by Johnnie Mathis ("(If You Let Me Make Love to You Then) Why Can't I Touch You" appeared on Close to You
Close to You
Close to You may refer to:A song:*"Close to You" , written by Jerry Livingston, Carl Lampl, and Al Hoffman*"Close to You" , 1990*"Close to You" , 1995...
), Dionne Warwick
Dionne Warwick
Dionne Warwick is an American singer, actress and TV show host, who became a United Nations Global Ambassador for the Food and Agriculture Organization, and a United States Ambassador of Health....
(who also used the former Dyson track on From Within
Dionne Warwick discography
This article presents the discography of American recording artist Dionne Warwick, who is ranked second among female vocalists with the most Billboard Hot 100 chart hits during the rock era with 56.-Studio albums:-Compilation albums:-Live albums:...
), Peggy Lee
Peggy Lee
Peggy Lee was an American jazz and popular music singer, songwriter, composer, and actress in a career spanning six decades. From her beginning as a vocalist on local radio to singing with Benny Goodman's big band, she forged a sophisticated persona, evolving into a multi-faceted artist and...
("Let's Get Lost In Now") and even Mae West
Mae West
Mae West was an American actress, playwright, screenwriter and sex symbol whose entertainment career spanned seven decades....
(on her rendition of "In Between" from Salvation
Salvation (musical)
Salvation was a 1969 Off-Broadway rock musical with music, lyrics, and book by Peter Link & C.C. Courtney. It opened on September 24, 1969 at the Jan Hus Playhouse and ending on April 19, 1970 after 239 performances.-Production:...
).
Watchfire Music
In 2006 Link founded, with James Birch, Watchfire Music, an Inspirational record company and on-line music store specializing in both recorded music and digital sheet music downloads. With over a hundred inspirational artists as well as over a hundred composers creating sheet music, the company has grown steadily to become one of the leaders in the Inspirational Music market. Link has served as Creative Director of the company and has been recently named CEO. Julia Wade is Director of Digital Sheet Music and has recently been named President of Watchfire Music.Westrax Recording Studios
Link also built and owned Westrax Recording Studios, an analog/digital/midi recording studio in New York City for 23 years. Westrax specialized in recording theatrical productions and provided preproduction services for composers. Among the early recordings that came out of Westrax are Forever PlaidForever Plaid
Forever Plaid is an off-Broadway musical revue written by Stuart Ross in New York in 1990 and now performed internationally. The show is a revue of the close-harmony "guy groups" that reached the height of their popularity during the 1950s. Personifying the clean-cut genre are the Plaids...
, City of Angels
City of Angels
City of Angels is a 1998 German-American romantic fantasy drama film directed by Brad Silberling. The film stars Nicolas Cage and Meg Ryan. Set in Los Angeles, California, the film is a remake of Wim Wenders' 1987 German film Wings of Desire , which was set in Berlin, West Germany.- Plot :In Los...
, Kiss of the Spider Woman
Kiss of the Spider Woman
Kiss of the Spider Woman is a 1985 Brazilian-American drama film. It was directed by Argentine-born Brazilian director Héctor Babenco, and adapted by Leonard Schrader from the Manuel Puig novel of the same name...
, and Harvey Schmidt
Harvey Schmidt
Harvey Lester Schmidt is an American composer for musical theatre. He is best known for composing the music for the longest running musical in history, The Fantasticks, which ran off-Broadway from 1960 - 2002.-Biography:...
's and Tom Jones
Tom Jones
Tom Jones is the name of:* Tom Jones , Welsh singer* Tom Jones , Australian politician representing Collie-Wellington district...
's Roadside
Roadside
Many things may be found along the roadside. These include:* Roadside attractions* Roadside memorials* Japanese Roadside Stations- Music :* Roadside Monument, a defunct US-based rock band* "Roadside", a song by Rise Against from The Sufferer & the Witness...
.
Discography
- 1969: SalvationSalvation (musical)Salvation was a 1969 Off-Broadway rock musical with music, lyrics, and book by Peter Link & C.C. Courtney. It opened on September 24, 1969 at the Jan Hus Playhouse and ending on April 19, 1970 after 239 performances.-Production:...
– Cast Album, Peter Link music and lyrics - 1970: (If You Let Me Make Love To You Then) Why Can’t I Touch YouRonnie DysonRonnie Dyson was an American singer and actor.-Career:Born in Washington, D.C., Dyson grew up in Brooklyn, New York where he sang in church choirs. At just 18 years of age, he won lead part in the Broadway production of Hair debuting in New York in 1968...
– Ronnie Dyson, Peter Link lyrics - 1971: Earl of Ruston – Cast Album, Peter Link music
- 1971: The Wedding of Iphigenia – Cast Album, Peter Link lyrics
- 1973: The Good DoctorThe Good DoctorThe Good Doctor is a comedy with music written by Neil Simon.The Good Doctor is set in Russia during the 19th century and written in the style of Chekhovian comedy. It is composed of a series of scenes in which the only connecting thread is the character of the Writer originally played by...
– Peter Link score and songs - 1974: Much Ado About Nothing – CBS Television, Peter Link score
- 1975-1978: Vegetable SoupVegetable SoupVegetable Soup is an American educational children's television program produced by the New York State Education Department that originally ran on PBS from September 22, 1975 to December 14, 1978.-Concept:...
– Peter Link songs and score - 1978: King of HeartsKing of Hearts (musical)King of Hearts is a 1978 musical with a book by Joseph Stein, lyrics by Jacob Brackman, and music by Peter Link, orchestrated by Bill Brohn. It is based on the 1966 anti-war cult film of the same name....
– Original Cast, Peter Link score - 1978: The Mighty Gents – Peter Link songs and score
- 1984: Jenny Burton – Jenny BurtonJenny BurtonJenny Burton , is an American female R&B singer who had several hits on the US Billboard dance chart. She was lead singer of the dance music band C-Bank's 1983 Top 5 Hot Dance Music/Club Play single "One More Shot", notable for record producer John Robie's use of a "non-linear" approach to its...
- 1984: It’s All Right By Me – for the movie Beat StreetBeat Street (soundtrack)Beat Street: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack and Beat Street, Vol. 2: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack are soundtrack albums for the 1984 drama film of the same name. It was released in 1984 by Atlantic Records...
, Peter Link lyrics - 1985: If You Want To (FU12) – for the movie RappinRappinRappin is a municipality in the Vorpommern-Rügen district, in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany.-External links:*...
, Peter Link lyrics - 1987: Souvenirs – Jenny Burton, Peter link producer
- 1994: The Jenny Burton Experience – Jenny Burton, Peter Link Producer
- 1998: The Accidentals Christmas – The AccidentalsThe AccidentalsThe Accidentals are an a cappella octet based in New York. They won the 1995 National Finals of the Harmony Sweepstakes and have released several CDs.-Members:Their members:* Margaret Dorn* Emily Bindiger* Dennis Deal* Bill Mitchell* Marcia Pelletiere...
, Peter Link producer - 2004: Upon The Mountain – Julia Wade, Peter Link producer
- 2005: Sundown – Original Cast, Peter Link composer
- 2005 Northbound Train– Steve BlanchardSteve BlanchardSteve Blanchard is a stage actor best known for his musical theatre roles, being most closely associated with the role of Beast in the musical Beauty and the Beast, which he played both on Broadway and on tour for eleven years...
, Peter Link producer - 2005: Coming Home – Mindy Jostyn, Peter Link producer and orchestration
- 2006: Jenny’s Singles – Jenny Burton, Peter Link producer and writer
- 2006: Shepherd – Bobby Stanton, Peter Link orchestration
- 2006: Africa Plumbridge – Original Cast, Peter Link producer
- 2007: Story For The Ages – Julia Wade, Peter Link producer
- 2007: I Think On These Things – Jenny Burton, Peter Link composer
- 2007: Hymns For Prayer And Reflection – Margaret DornThe AccidentalsThe Accidentals are an a cappella octet based in New York. They won the 1995 National Finals of the Harmony Sweepstakes and have released several CDs.-Members:Their members:* Margaret Dorn* Emily Bindiger* Dennis Deal* Bill Mitchell* Marcia Pelletiere...
, Peter Link producer - 2008: Released – Jenny Burton, Peter Link music and lyrics
- 2008: Ode To Joy – Peter Link full credits
- 2011: Every Day – Julia Wade, Peter Link composer and producer
Additionally, Link has worked on a number of other albums and songs with Jenny Burton, Julia Wade, Osceola Davis, Richard Charles Hoh, Don Rebic, Emily Bindiger
Emily Bindiger
Emily Bindiger is an American singer, belonging to the award-winning a cappella group The Accidentals....
, Tom Tipton, Cy Young, and Tom Flowers.
Concerts
Link Produced and directed the Jenny Burton ExperienceJenny Burton
Jenny Burton , is an American female R&B singer who had several hits on the US Billboard dance chart. She was lead singer of the dance music band C-Bank's 1983 Top 5 Hot Dance Music/Club Play single "One More Shot", notable for record producer John Robie's use of a "non-linear" approach to its...
which was Pop/Inspirational/R&B act that played to packed houses in a seven year run at Don’t Tell Mama in New York City. The group won the cabaret awards for Best Vocal Group including the Backstage Bistro Award, The Critic's Choice Award and The MAC Award. They also were the first Gospel group to ever headline in Atlantic City at Resorts International.
The Joy Ride Concert was presented at The DiCapo Opera Theater in NYC June 19 & 20 2006 by Watchfire Music and Faith and Values Media with Link serving as producer and director.
As a director he wrote and directed JOSH
Josh
Josh is a diminutive of the given name Joshua. "Josh" may also refer to:* Josh, the nom-de-plume of the poet Josh Malihabadi* "Josh", an early pseudonym of Samuel Clemens, better known as Mark Twain* Josh , a Canadian Indian/Pakistani fusion band...
, a one man musical about the late Josh White
Josh White
Joshua Daniel White , better known as Josh White, was an American singer, guitarist, songwriter, actor, and civil rights activist. He also recorded under the names "Pinewood Tom" and "Tippy Barton" in the 1930s....
starring his son Josh White Jr., and the three highly successful productions of WAITIN’ IN THE WINGS®: The Night The Understudies Take Center Stage, produced by William Spencer Reilly.
In addition to this he produced and wrote with Al Pacino
Al Pacino
Alfredo James "Al" Pacino is an American film and stage actor and director. He is famous for playing mobsters, including Michael Corleone in The Godfather trilogy, Tony Montana in Scarface, Alphonse "Big Boy" Caprice in Dick Tracy and Carlito Brigante in Carlito's Way, though he has also appeared...
and directed With Heartfelt Thanks - A Tribute To Lee Strasberg at the Lincoln Center which featured over thirty major stars and Close Upon The Hour, a benefit evening for the American Run for the End of Aids featuring his songs and starring most of the top New York cabaret stars.
He also directed the Movie Guide Awards for television in Hollywood.
He wrote, directed and performed in Please Don’t Let It Rain, a concert of his own music at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park presented by Joseph Papp and starring Andre DeShields
André DeShields
André De Shields is an American actor, singer, dancer, acclaimed novelist, choreographer, and college professor....
, David Lasley
David Lasley
David Lasley is an American singer-songwriter, best known for his contributions as a background singer for such artists as Bonnie Raitt, James Taylor and Luther Vandross....
, and Marta Heflin.