Peter Green (musician)

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Peter Green

Born October 29, 1946
Bethnal Green, London
Genre(s) Blues
Rock
Affiliation(s) John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers
Fleetwood Mac
Peter Green Splinter Group
Label(s) Reprise Records
PVK Records
Creole Records
Years active 1966-Present

Peter Green (born Peter Allen Greenbaum, October 29, 1946, in Bethnal Green, London) is an British blues-rock guitarist and founding member of the band Fleetwood Mac.

B. B. King referred to Green as "the only man to ever make me sweat". Although Green's playing was not as fast or flashy as his Bluesbreakers peers Eric Clapton and Mick Taylor, it was marked with a distinctive keen vibrato and economy of style. He produced a unique sharp tone with a 1959 Gibson Les Paul Standard,[1] accidentally created when Green took the guitar apart and put it together with the neck pickup's magnet attached the wrong way around, contrary to popular belief that it was the pickup's strange pole-piece orientation that caused the guitar's nasal sound.

Contents

[edit] Biography

[edit] John Mayall's Bluesbreakers

Green played lead in Peter Bardens' band, Peter B's Looners, in 1966. After a three month stint, he had the opportunity to fill in for Eric Clapton in John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers for three gigs. Upon Clapton's permanent departure not long after, he was hired full-time. Since Clapton already had a very good reputation, Green was under pressure to fill the vacuum that Clapton's departure created. But sceptical fans were soon won over to Green's unique haunting and melancholy style.

Green made his full album debut with the Bluesbreakers with A Hard Road. If featured two compositions by Green, "The Same Way" and "The Supernatural". The latter was one of Green's first extended instrumentals, which would soon become a trademark.

In 1967, Green decided to form his own blues band, and left Mayall's Bluesbreakers after appearing on just one album (just as Clapton had done).

[edit] Fleetwood Mac

The name of Green's new band was Fleetwood Mac - the name came from the band's rhythm section, Mick Fleetwood and John McVie, and was originally billed as "Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac". In the late 1970's the re-organized band topped the charts with mainstream pop/rock albums, but initially it was a straight-up blues-rock band playing blues classics and some new material — just like Mayall's Bluesbreakers. Green was the leader of the group throughout their initial period of success in the late 1960s and early 1970s, when their hits included "Oh Well", "Man of the World" and "Albatross". He wrote the song "Black Magic Woman" that was eventually picked up by Santana.

After the release of "Albatross" and consequent rise in fame, Green struggled spiritually with the band's success and being in the spotlight. While touring Europe, after a gig in Munich, Germany, Green went on a three day LSD fuelled binge. In his own words, he "went on a trip, and never came back". Green's personality changed drastically after the LSD binge, he began wearing a robe, grew a beard, and wore a crucifix on his chest. His use of LSD may have been a contributing factor to his mental illness, schizophrenia.

He quit Fleetwood Mac in 1970, declaring money to be evil and giving it away to charity. He recorded an experimental and extremely uncommercial album The End Of The Game and faded into obscurity, taking on a succession of menial jobs.

Green had a brief reunion with Fleetwood Mac when Jeremy Spencer left the group (Green flew to the USA to help them complete the tour) and he was also an uncredited guest on their 1973 Penguin album on the track "Night Watch".

[edit] Mental illness

Green has been institutionalised in the past with psychological problems and he underwent electroconvulsive therapy in the mid-1970s. Many sources attest to his lethargic, trancelike state during this period. In 1977, he was arrested for threatening his accountant, Clifford Davis, with a rifle, but the exact circumstances are the subject of much speculation. After this incident he was sent to a psychiatric institution in London. This was prior to his re-emergence as a recording artist with PVK Records in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

[edit] Resurgence

Urged by friends to resume playing, he resurfaced in the late 1970s and early 1980s with a series of albums, including In the Skies, Little Dreamer and White Sky. Although of inconsistent quality, these albums nevertheless contained glimmers of Green's unique blues styling and signature sound. He was also an uncredited guest on Tusk's "Brown Eyes"; contributed to "Rattlesnake Shake" and "Super Brains" on Mick Fleetwood's solo album, The Visitor. A 1990's comeback saw Green form the Peter Green Splinter Group, with the assistance of fellow musicians including Cozy Powell. The Splinter Group released nine albums between 1997 and 2003.

A tour was cancelled and recording of a new studio album stopped in early 2004, when Green left the band and moved to Sweden. Shortly thereafter he joined The British Blues All Stars, but their tour in 2005 was also cancelled. A possible reason for these changes could be a planned reunion of the original Fleetwood Mac, as announced by Mick Fleetwood on March 14, 2005.

[edit] Discography

See also Fleetwood Mac.

[edit] Albums

[edit] Solo Compilations

  • Blue Guitar
  • Promised Land
  • Legend
  • Green And Guitar
  • The Clown
  • Alone With The Blues

[edit] Splinter Group albums

[edit] Guest Contributions

With John Mayall

  • A Hard Road (1967 album)
  • John Mayall's Bluesbreakers With Paul Butterfield (1967 EP -45)
  • Blues From Laurel Canyon (1968 album)
  • Thru the Years (collection)
  • Looking Back (collection)
  • Along For The Ride (2003 album)
Eddie Boyd
Enlarge
Eddie Boyd

With Eddie Boyd

  • Eddie Boyd and His Blues Band featuring Peter Green (1967 album)
  • 7936 South Rhodes (1968 album)

With Duster Bennett

  • Smiling Like I'm Happy (1968 album)
  • Bright Lights (1969 album)
  • 12 Dbs (1970 album)
  • Out in the Blue (1995 compilation)
  • The Complete Blue Horizon Sessions (2005)

With Gordon Smith

  • Long Overdue (1968 album)

With Otis Spann

With Brunning Sunflower Blues Band

  • Trackside Blues (1969 album)
  • I Wish You Would (1970 album)

With Clifford Davis

  • Come On Down And Follow Me/Homework (1969 single)
  • Man Of The World/Before The Beginning (1970 single)

With Jeremy Spencer

With Peter Bardens

  • The Answer (1970 album)
  • Write My Name In The Dust: The Anthology (2005 compilation)

With Gass

With Memphis Slim

  • Blue Memphis (1971 album)

With B. B. King

  • B.B. King In London (1971 album)

With Dave Kelly

  • Dave Kelly (1971 album)

With Country Joe McDonald

  • Hold On It's Coming (1971 album)

With Toe Fat

  • 2 (1971 album)

With Richard Kerr

  • From Now Until Then (1973 album)

With Fleetwood Mac

With Duffo

  • The Disappearing Boy (1980 album)

With Mick Fleetwood

  • The Visitor (1981 album)

With Brian Knight

  • A Dark Horse (1981 album)

With SAS Band

  • SAS Band (1997 album)

With Dick Heckstall-Smith

  • Blues And Beyond (2001 album)

With Chris Coco

  • Next Wave (2002 album)

With Peter Gabriel

  • Up (2003 album)

[edit] References

  1. ^ Bacon, Tony. Electric Guitars:The Illustrated Encyclopedia. Thunder Bay Press, pg. 124. ISBN 1592230539.
  • Celmins, Martin (1995). Peter Green: Founder of Fleetwood Mac. Castle Communications. ISBN 1-898141-13-4.

[edit] External links

Fleetwood Mac
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Members
John McVie - Mick Fleetwood - Stevie Nicks - Lindsey Buckingham
Former members: Christine McVie - Peter Green - Jeremy Spencer - Bob Brunning - Danny Kirwan
Bob Welch - Bob Weston - Dave Walker - Billy Burnette - Rick Vito - Dave Mason - Bekka Bramlett
Discography

Studio albums: Fleetwood Mac (1968) - Mr. Wonderful - English Rose - Then Play On - Kiln House - Future Games - Bare Trees - Penguin - Mystery to Me - Heroes Are Hard to Find - Fleetwood Mac (1975) - Rumours - Tusk - Mirage - Tango in the Night - Behind the Mask - Time - Say You Will

Compilations: Black Magic Woman (The Original Fleetwood Mac) - The Pious Bird Of Good Omen - Greatest Hits - Greatest Hits - 25 Years - The Chain - The Very Best of Fleetwood Mac -

Live albums: Live - Live In Boston
Related articles
Fleetwood Mac single chart positions
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