Birth name Peter-John Vettese Years active 1965–present Also known as Peter Vettese Name Peter-John Vettese | Genres Progressive rock, pop Role Songwriter Instruments Keyboards | |
Born 15 August 1956 (age 67)
Scotland ( 1956-08-15 ) Occupation(s) Musician, songwriter, arranger, producer Movies Jethro Tull: Classic Artists Albums Under Wraps, Crest of a Knave, The Broadsword and the B, Original Masters, The Beacons Bottom T Similar People Dave Pegg, Doane Perry, Gerry Conway, Martin Barre, Dee Palmer | ||
Music group Jethro Tull (1982 – 1987) | ||
Jethro tull keyboard and drum duet 1982
Peter-John Vettese (born 15 August 1956 in Scotland), also known as Peter Vettese, is a British keyboardist, songwriter, arranger and record producer.
Contents
- Jethro tull keyboard and drum duet 1982
- Early life
- Jethro Tull
- Later career
- With Jethro Tull
- With Ian Anderson
- With Bee Gees
- With Simple Minds
- References
Early life
Peter Vettese grew up in a musical family in Brechin, Angus, Scotland. He began his music studies with piano lessons at the age of 4. At 9, he began playing in public with his father's band. He left home at 17 to join one of the UK's biggest dance hall Big Bands, but was fired for rehearsing in company time with his own group. He then formed the jazz fusion group Solaris with guitarist Jim Condie, and toured Scotland and the US. He was playing in pubs and clubs in Scotland when he saw an advertisement for keyboard players in the music newspaper Melody Maker, which turned out to be from the progressive rock band Jethro Tull.
Jethro Tull
Vettese joined Jethro Tull in 1982 for the recording of their album The Broadsword and the Beast, and toured with the band extensively for the next couple of years, appearing on the album Live at Hammersmith '84. Vettese made significant contributions to Tull's heavily electronic album Under Wraps, (1984) toured with them again in 1986, and recorded as a guest musician on Rock Island (1989).
Vettese also collaborated with Tull's frontman Ian Anderson on Anderson's 1983 solo album, Walk into Light. Vettese co-wrote half the songs on the album, which is notable for his innovative contributions on electronic keyboards.
Later career
Vettese began an independent career as a songwriter, arranger and producer. In the 1980s he worked with and produced a diverse range of artists including Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Go West, Pet Shop Boys, Bee Gees, Cher, Foreigner, Carly Simon and Clannad. In 1987, he fulfilled a boyhood dream to play with Paul McCartney as a session musician, but he later turned down an offer to become a member of McCartney's re-formed band Wings.
More recently he has worked with Simple Minds, Annie Lennox (the Grammy winning arrangement of Walking on Broken Glass), Zucchero, Peter Cox, Heather Small, Dido, Sophie B. Hawkins, Andy Leek, Beverley Knight, Gary Barlow, Mark Owen, Geri Halliwell, Melanie C, Nate James, Alex Parks, Darren Hayes, Robin Gibb (most notably on the album 50 St. Catherine's Drive) Laura Critchley, Peter Heppner and Spark.
Vettese is currently signed to Kobalt Music and has his own recording studio in Battersea where he also writes, produces, and records music for film soundtracks.