Peter Blakeley - Early Years

Early Years

Peter Blakeley's earliest breakthrough came when he was invited by Richard Clapton to accompany him on an Australian national tour in 1978, Clapton would prove to be an important mentor in the early years. By this stage, Blakeley was closely involved with Sydney's music scene, which was at that time concentrated in the inner-city suburbs of Darlinghurst and Kings Cross.

Peter was involved with a number of line-ups between 1979-1984 including, Peter Black and The Reds (1980), The Blakeley Trio with Steve Stewart (Slime Men, Surry Hillbillies) and Denis Meagher, PM with Chris Bailey and Malcolm Green, Rat Tat Tat (1984) with Geoff Stapleton, Paul Abrahams, Jeff Raglus, and Geoff Stapleton, Viola Dana and The Starlight Wranglers (1984) and Paris Green (1984).

The next phase of Blakeley's career prior to him forming Peter Blakeley & The Resurrection, was a spell as featured vocalist with pioneer pop/electronic outfit The Rockmelons. Peter can be heard on their second single "Sweat It Out" released on the Truetone Records label in 1985. Around this time, Peter also began performing and recording with Wendy Matthews, an affiliation which would continue through to the 1990 release of the Absent Friends single "I Don't Want To Be With Anybody But You" which featured Blakeley on backing vocals.

Peter Blakeley's commercial profile began to rise with the formation of Peter Blakeley & The Resurrection in 1986, this line-up included Wendy Matthews, Mark Punch, Hughie Benjamin, Paul Abrahams and Peter Kekel. With this line-up, Blakeley supported a number of international touring acts including Eric Clapton, the majority of the material presented in his live set at this stage was later recorded and released on the 1987 mini-album 'Vicious'. Two singles were released during 1986, "Must Be Chemical" and a cover of Marvin Gaye's "Ain't That Peculiar".

"Must Be Chemical" and another song, "When I Was a Little Boy" were included on the soundtrack for the stage musical Illusion which was released towards the end of 1986 by ABC music. Illusion was commissioned by the Adelaide Festival of Arts and featured words from noted Australian author Peter Carey arranged to music by composer Martin Armiger. The single "Must Be Chemical" b/w "When I Was a Little Boy" was Blakeley's debut solo release for the Truetone label.

Vicious was produced by the renowned Ricky Fataar (well known for his work with The Beach Boys, Bonnie Raitt and The Monitors) and released through the Truetone Records label. Two singles lifted from this record, "Caterina" and "Bye Bye Baby" received support from commercial radio as did the album track Cattletrain, this album was later released for the American market as The Truetone Sessions by Capitol Records in 1988.