Tony Peluso
Encyclopedia
Tony Peluso was an American guitarist
and record producer
. He was lead guitarist for pop duo Carpenters
from 1972 to 1983.
Peluso is probably best known for his fuzz guitar solo on the Carpenters' song "Goodbye to Love
," and his disc jockey
impersonation that opens their "Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft
" and also links the medley of oldies tracks on Side 2 of the Carpenters album Now & Then.
He began his own musical career in 1968, when he formed a band called The Abstracts with three college friends. The band recorded one album for the small Pompeii
label, on which he sang, played guitar and wrote most of the songs. However, the album was not a commercial success, mainly due to poor distribution, and the group disbanded shortly after its release
Peluso later played alongside Bobby Sherman
and Paul Revere & the Raiders
as well as leading the backing band Instant Joy for Mark Lindsay
when Lindsay took a break from Paul Revere & the Raiders.
and John Bettis
had written a new song, "Goodbye to Love
," for the Carpenters. While the Carpenters were working on the song, Richard decided that there should be a fuzz guitar solo on it. He recalled Tony Peluso from a time when Mark Lindsay and Instant Joy opened for the Carpenters. Karen Carpenter
called Tony Peluso and asked him to play a guitar solo. In the DVD Close to You: Remembering The Carpenters
Peluso recalled: "At first I didn't believe that it was actually Karen Carpenter on the phone but she repeated her name again. ...It was at this point that I realized it was really her and that I was speaking to one of my idols." She told him that she and Richard were working on a song called Goodbye to Love
and they were both familiar with his work with another band, and that he'd be perfect for the sound they were looking for. In the studio, Peluso first played something soft and sweet, but then Richard said "No, no, no! Play the melody for five bars and then burn it up! Soar off into the stratosphere! Go ahead! It'll be great!"
Peluso subsequently joined the Carpenters recording and touring band as lead guitarist.
where he recorded artists such as Smokey Robinson
, The Temptations
, the Four Tops
and Michael Jackson
.
Peluso went on to produce and/or engineer for artists such as Kenny Loggins
, Seals and Crofts
, Apollonia Kotero
, Player
, Animotion
, Stephanie Mills
, The Triplets, Bloc, The Fixx
, Dave Koz
and Boyz II Men
.
In 1992, Peluso began working with Gustavo Santaolalla
. They pioneered the Rock en Español
genre. Peluso worked with Latin pop musicians such as Ricky Martin
, and Mexican rock bands such as Molotov
and Cafe Tacuba. In 2005, Santaolalla and Peluso produced the soundtrack to the motion picture Brokeback Mountain
.
Peluso won four Grammy Award
s during his career, and was awarded numerous gold and platinum records representing sales in excess of 150 million units during his diverse music career.
He died at age 60 in Los Angeles
on June 5, 2010, from heart disease
. He is survived by two sons.
Guitarist
A guitarist is a musician who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselves on the guitar while singing.- Versatility :The guitarist controls an extremely...
and record producer
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
. He was lead guitarist for pop duo Carpenters
The Carpenters
Carpenters were an American vocal and instrumental duo, consisting of sister Karen and brother Richard Carpenter. The Carpenters were the #1 selling American music act of the 1970s. Though often referred to by the public as "The Carpenters", the duo's official name on authorized recordings and...
from 1972 to 1983.
Peluso is probably best known for his fuzz guitar solo on the Carpenters' song "Goodbye to Love
Goodbye to Love
"Goodbye to Love" is a song composed by Richard Carpenter and John Bettis. It was released by the Carpenters in 1972. On the "Close to You: Remembering the Carpenters" documentary, Tony Peluso stated that this was one of the first, if not the first, love ballads to have a fuzz guitar solo.Upon...
," and his disc jockey
Disc jockey
A disc jockey, also known as DJ, is a person who selects and plays recorded music for an audience. Originally, "disc" referred to phonograph records, not the later Compact Discs. Today, the term includes all forms of music playback, no matter the medium.There are several types of disc jockeys...
impersonation that opens their "Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft
Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft
"Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft " is a song by Klaatu, originally released in 1976 on their first album 3:47 EST. The following year, The Carpenters covered the song, using a crew of 160 musicians...
" and also links the medley of oldies tracks on Side 2 of the Carpenters album Now & Then.
Career
Peluso came from a musical family, his mother being a successful opera singer and his father being the conductor for NBC radio on the west coast.He began his own musical career in 1968, when he formed a band called The Abstracts with three college friends. The band recorded one album for the small Pompeii
Pompeii
The city of Pompeii is a partially buried Roman town-city near modern Naples in the Italian region of Campania, in the territory of the comune of Pompei. Along with Herculaneum, Pompeii was destroyed and completely buried during a long catastrophic eruption of the volcano Mount Vesuvius spanning...
label, on which he sang, played guitar and wrote most of the songs. However, the album was not a commercial success, mainly due to poor distribution, and the group disbanded shortly after its release
Peluso later played alongside Bobby Sherman
Bobby Sherman
Robert Cabot "Bobby" Sherman, Jr. , is an American singer, actor and occasional songwriter, who became a popular teen idol in the late 1960s and early 1970s.He graduated in 1961 from Birmingham High School in Van Nuys, California...
and Paul Revere & the Raiders
Paul Revere & the Raiders
Paul Revere & the Raiders is an American rock band that saw considerable U.S. mainstream success in the second half of the 1960s and early 1970s with hits such as "Kicks" , "Hungry" , "Him Or Me - What's It Gonna Be?" and the 1971 No...
as well as leading the backing band Instant Joy for Mark Lindsay
Mark Lindsay
Mark Lindsay is an American musician, best known as the singer for the group Paul Revere & the Raiders.-Biography:Lindsay was born in Eugene, Oregon and was the second of eight children...
when Lindsay took a break from Paul Revere & the Raiders.
The Carpenters
In 1972, Richard CarpenterRichard Carpenter (musician)
Richard Lynn Carpenter is an American pop musician, best known as one half of the brother/sister duo The Carpenters, along with his sister Karen Carpenter. He was a producer, arranger, pianist and keyboardist, and occasional lyricist, as well as joining with Karen on harmony...
and John Bettis
John Bettis
John Bettis is an American lyricist who has co-written many famous popular songs over the years. In 2011, John was inducted into both the Songwriters Hall of Fame as well as the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame....
had written a new song, "Goodbye to Love
Goodbye to Love
"Goodbye to Love" is a song composed by Richard Carpenter and John Bettis. It was released by the Carpenters in 1972. On the "Close to You: Remembering the Carpenters" documentary, Tony Peluso stated that this was one of the first, if not the first, love ballads to have a fuzz guitar solo.Upon...
," for the Carpenters. While the Carpenters were working on the song, Richard decided that there should be a fuzz guitar solo on it. He recalled Tony Peluso from a time when Mark Lindsay and Instant Joy opened for the Carpenters. Karen Carpenter
Karen Carpenter
Karen Anne Carpenter was an American singer and drummer. She and her brother, Richard, formed the 1970s duo The Carpenters. She was a drummer of exceptional skill, but she is best remembered for her vocal performances of idealistic romantic ballads of true love...
called Tony Peluso and asked him to play a guitar solo. In the DVD Close to You: Remembering The Carpenters
Close to You: Remembering The Carpenters
Close to You: Remembering The Carpenters is a 100 minute long documentary that was released on DVD by MPI Home Video. It features interviews by Richard Carpenter, John Bettis , Gary Sims , Petula Clark, et al....
Peluso recalled: "At first I didn't believe that it was actually Karen Carpenter on the phone but she repeated her name again. ...It was at this point that I realized it was really her and that I was speaking to one of my idols." She told him that she and Richard were working on a song called Goodbye to Love
Goodbye to Love
"Goodbye to Love" is a song composed by Richard Carpenter and John Bettis. It was released by the Carpenters in 1972. On the "Close to You: Remembering the Carpenters" documentary, Tony Peluso stated that this was one of the first, if not the first, love ballads to have a fuzz guitar solo.Upon...
and they were both familiar with his work with another band, and that he'd be perfect for the sound they were looking for. In the studio, Peluso first played something soft and sweet, but then Richard said "No, no, no! Play the melody for five bars and then burn it up! Soar off into the stratosphere! Go ahead! It'll be great!"
Peluso subsequently joined the Carpenters recording and touring band as lead guitarist.
Later career
Following the death of Karen Carpenter on February 4, 1983, Peluso moved on to record producing. He worked for the next decade at Motown RecordsMotown Records
Motown is a record label originally founded by Berry Gordy, Jr. and incorporated as Motown Record Corporation in Detroit, Michigan, United States, on April 14, 1960. The name, a portmanteau of motor and town, is also a nickname for Detroit...
where he recorded artists such as Smokey Robinson
Smokey Robinson
William "Smokey" Robinson, Jr. is an American R&B singer-songwriter, record producer, and former record executive. Robinson is one of the primary figures associated with Motown, second only to the company's founder, Berry Gordy...
, The Temptations
The Temptations
The Temptations is an American vocal group having achieved fame as one of the most successful acts to record for Motown Records. The group's repertoire has included, at various times during its five-decade career, R&B, doo-wop, funk, disco, soul, and adult contemporary music.Formed in Detroit,...
, the Four Tops
Four Tops
The Four Tops are an American vocal quartet, whose repertoire has included doo-wop, jazz, soul music, R&B, disco, adult contemporary, hard rock, and showtunes...
and Michael Jackson
Michael Jackson
Michael Joseph Jackson was an American recording artist, entertainer, and businessman. Referred to as the King of Pop, or by his initials MJ, Jackson is recognized as the most successful entertainer of all time by Guinness World Records...
.
Peluso went on to produce and/or engineer for artists such as Kenny Loggins
Kenny Loggins
During the next decade, Loggins recorded so many successful songs for film soundtracks that he was referred to as, King of the Movie Soundtrack.He began with "I'm Alright" , "Mr. Night", and "Lead the Way" from Caddyshack...
, Seals and Crofts
Seals and Crofts
Seals and Crofts is a band made up of Jim Seals and Dash Crofts . The soft rock duo was one of the most successful musical acts of the 1970s. They are best known for their hits "Summer Breeze" and "Diamond Girl"...
, Apollonia Kotero
Apollonia Kotero
Apollonia Kotero, born Patricia Kotero on August 2, 1959, is an actress, singer, former model and talent manager. Kotero, born in Santa Monica, California, is of Mexican descent...
, Player
Player (band)
Player is an American rock band that made their mark during the late 1970s. The group scored a few US Hot 100 hits, three of which went into the Top 40 -two of those single releases went Top 10, including the #1 hit "Baby Come Back". That song was written by group members Peter Beckett and J.C....
, Animotion
Animotion
Animotion is a 1980s U.S. New Wave/synthpop band from Los Angeles, California best known for their songs "Obsession" , "Let Him Go", "I Engineer" and "Room to Move"...
, Stephanie Mills
Stephanie Mills
Stephanie Dorthea Mills is an American R&B and soul singer, and a former Broadway star.-Career:Mills began her career appearing in her first play at the age of nine. Two years later, Mills won Amateur Night at the Apollo Theater a record six times...
, The Triplets, Bloc, The Fixx
The Fixx
The Fixx is an English rock band formed in London in 1979. Their hits include "One Thing Leads to Another," "Red Skies," "Stand or Fall," "Saved by Zero," "Sign of Fire," "Are We Ourselves?," "Secret Separation," "Driven Out," "How Much Is Enough?," and "Deeper and Deeper," which was featured on...
, Dave Koz
Dave Koz
Dave Koz is an American smooth jazz saxophonist.- Life and career :Dave Koz was born on March 27, 1963 in Encino, California....
and Boyz II Men
Boyz II Men
Boyz II Men is an American R&B vocal group best known for emotional ballads and a cappella harmonies. They are the most successful R&B group of all time, having sold more than albums worldwide. In the 1990s, Boyz II Men found fame on Motown Records as a quartet, but original member Michael McCary...
.
In 1992, Peluso began working with Gustavo Santaolalla
Gustavo Santaolalla
Gustavo Alfredo Santaolalla is an Argentine musician, film composer and producer. He has won two Academy Awards for Best Original Score in two consecutive years, for Brokeback Mountain in 2005 and Babel in 2006.-Life and career:...
. They pioneered the Rock en Español
Rock en Español
Rock en español is the Spanish-language rock music. While the term is used widely in English, it is used in Spanish mainly to distinguish such music from "Anglo rock." It is a style of rock music that developed in Latin American countries and Latino communities, along with other genres like...
genre. Peluso worked with Latin pop musicians such as Ricky Martin
Ricky Martin
Enrique "Ricky" Martín Morales , better known as Ricky Martin, is a Puerto Rican and Spanish pop singer and actor who achieved prominence, first as a member of the Latin boy band Menudo, then as a solo artist since 1991.During his career he has sold more than 60 million album copies worldwide...
, and Mexican rock bands such as Molotov
Molotov (band)
Molotov is a four-time Latin Grammy Award-winning Mexican rock band formed in Mexico City on September 23, 1995. Their lyrics feature a mixture of Spanish and English, rapped and sung by all members of the group. Musically, Molotov blends heavy basslines with heavy guitar riffs...
and Cafe Tacuba. In 2005, Santaolalla and Peluso produced the soundtrack to the motion picture Brokeback Mountain
Brokeback Mountain
Brokeback Mountain is a 2005 romantic drama film directed by Ang Lee. It is a film adaptation of the 1997 short story of the same name by Annie Proulx with the screenplay written by Diana Ossana and Larry McMurtry...
.
Peluso won four Grammy Award
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
s during his career, and was awarded numerous gold and platinum records representing sales in excess of 150 million units during his diverse music career.
He died at age 60 in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
on June 5, 2010, from heart disease
Heart disease
Heart disease, cardiac disease or cardiopathy is an umbrella term for a variety of diseases affecting the heart. , it is the leading cause of death in the United States, England, Canada and Wales, accounting for 25.4% of the total deaths in the United States.-Types:-Coronary heart disease:Coronary...
. He is survived by two sons.