Peter Kerr
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This article is about the Scottish author. Other people named Peter Kerr are the 12th Marquess of Lothian, the Australian water polo official who swore the judge oath at the 2000 Summer Olympics, the Australian architect Peter Kerr (architect) and a professor of communications at Asbury College.
Peter Kerr is a best-selling Scottish author of travel books and fiction.
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[edit] Early career
Kerr was born in 1940, in Lossiemouth, Moray, but since his early childhood has lived (on and off) in East Lothian. Having left school, Kerr joined the Civil Service as an Executive. In the early 1960s he moved to London to pursue a career as a professional jazz musician, touring with the Clyde Valley Stompers and recording for producer George Martin (who also produced for The Beatles). Kerr, on the clarinet, was the leader of the band.
The Clyde Valley Stompers produced many a successful hit, one of which was the great 'Peter and the Wolf'. The band appeared on several television programs including The Morecambe and Wise show and Thank Your Lucky Stars. Back in East Lothian in the 1970s Peter became heavily involved in record production. His 'Amazing Grace', produced for the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards, sold approximately 13 million records and became the biggest-selling instrumental record ever.
[edit] Travel Writing
These days, Kerr concentrates his creative energies on writing books. The award-winning 'Snowball Oranges' and 'Manana, Manana', followed by 'Viva Mallorca!', 'A Basketful of Snowflakes' and 'From Paella to Porridge' (Summersdale Publishers) form a series of often hilarious acccounts of his adventures and misadventures while trying to grow oranges for a living on the Spanish island of Mallorca. His 'Thistle Soup' is an amusing yet poignant memoir of Kerr's childhood in the Scottish countryside and of his attempts to follow in his farming grandfather's footsteps.
[edit] Fiction
In August 2006 Kerr launched a new fiction series with the publication of 'Bob Burns Investigates - The Mallorca Connection' (Accent Press), a humour-laced mystery set in Scotland and Spain.
