Peter Green | Artist
Peter Allen Greenbaum aka Peter Green, was an English blues rock singer-songwriter and guitarist born 1946 in Bethnal Green, London. He came to prominence as the founder of Fleetwood Mac and is revered as one of the greatest blue-rock guitarists of all time. By age 11 Green was teaching himself. and he began playing professionally at 15. By 1965 Green was playing lead guitar in Peter Bardens' Peter B's Looners, where he met drummer Mick Fleetwood. They cut a single "If You Wanna be Happy" / "Jodrell Blues" before merging with Motown-style soul band Shotgun Express, which also included Rod Stewart. Green left the group after a few months to become a full-time member of John Mayall's Bluesbreakers, replacing Eric Clapton in July 1966. Green was not overshadowed on the Bluesbreakers' 1966 album A Hard Road, which featured two of his compositions "The Same Way" and "The Supernatural". The latter one of his first instrumentals, which would soon become a trademark earning him the nickname "The Green God". In 1967, Green left Mayall to form his own blues band Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac, with former Bluesbreaker Mick Fleetwood on drums, Jeremy Spencer on guitar and Bob Brunning on bass. John McVie elected to stay with the Bluesbreakers for several more months before also joining Fleetwood Mac on bass. Although classic blues remained the mainstay of the band's repertoire, Green rapidly blossomed as a songwriter and contributed many successful original compositions from 1968 onwards. Songs such as "Black Magic Woman", "Albatross", "Oh Well", "Man of the World" and "The Green Manalishi", showed Green's style moving away from blues roots into new musical territory. Fleetwood Mac released 5 studio albums with Green, with the crowning glories being the sublime Then Play On and the singles compilation The Pious Bird of Good Omen which included "Albatross," both from 1969. After leaving the band in 1970 Green jammed with his old buddies and the resultant sessions were released as his first solo album The End of the Game, on Reprise Records. After this, Green's mental illness and drug use had become entrenched and he faded into professional obscurity. He was eventually diagnosed with schizophrenia and spent time in psychiatric hospitals undergoing electroconvulsive therapy. In 1979, Green began to re-emerge professionally. With the help of his brother Michael, he produced a string of solo albums starting with 1979's In the Skies. He also made an uncredited appearance on Fleetwood Mac's double album Tusk, on the song "Brown Eyes" from the same year. Green formed the Peter Green Splinter Group in the late 1990s, with Nigel Watson and Cozy Powell. The group released 9 blues albums, mostly written by Watson, between 1997-2004. Standout Peter Green solo and Splinter Group albums include The End of the Game, In The Skies, White Sky, Splinter Group, Destiny Road, Time Traders and the 1999 live album Soho Session. Green was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998 and died on 25 July 2020 aged 73. Eric Clapton praised Green's guitar playing, and B.B. King commented "He has the sweetest tone I ever heard; he was the only one who gave me the cold sweats".
Artist Website: facebook.com/petergreenandfriends/
Featured Albums: Peter Green
Related Artists: Fleetwood Mac, John Mayall, Splinter Group
Video Clips: Oh Well, Albatross, Black Magic Woman
