Peter Wolf (born March 7, 1946) is an American musician best known as the lead vocalist of the J. Geils Band from 1967 to 1983 and as a successful solo artist.
In 1964, Wolf and fellow art students Paul Shapiro (guitar), Doug Slade (guitar), Joe Clark (bass), and Stephen Jo Bladd (drums) formed a group called The Hallucinations. They performed at nightclubs in the Combat Zone area of Boston and developed a large following as one of the first bands to play at the Boston Tea Party. During this period, they appeared on bills with The Velvet Underground, Howlin’ Wolf, Muddy Waters, Van Morrison (who became close with Wolf while residing in nearby Cambridge, Massachusetts), John Lee Hooker, and Sun Ra.
During his time performing with the Hallucinations, Wolf was asked to help establish Boston’s radio station WBCN and became their first all-night deejay creating the moniker ‘Woofa Goofa’ as his on-air personality. His show became a popular late night staple where he interviewed many of the well-known rock, blues, and jazz artists that were touring through Boston in the late 1960s.
In 1967, Wolf and Bladd joined the J. Geils Band. Wolf and keyboardist Seth Justman were responsible for most of the band’s songwriting. During the early days of MTV, the band enjoyed heavy airplay of their videos “Centerfold” and “Love Stinks”. They toured stadiums with the Rolling Stones and others. Following the success of Freeze Frame, the other band members wanted to take the band in a new pop direction musically, but Wolf wanted to stick to a more roots-based direction so he was asked to leave in 1983. In the ensuing years the band has been nominated five times for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Wolf’s first solo record Lights Out (1984) was produced with Michael Jonzun, of the Jonzun Crew, and featured Adrian Belew, G. E. Smith, Elliot Randall, Yogi Horton, Mick Jagger, Elliot Easton, and Maurice Starr. The single “Lights Out” written with Don Covay became a hit the same year, peaking at No. 12 on the Billboard Hot 100.
In 1985, Wolf duetted with Aretha Franklin on the track “Push” from her album Who’s Zoomin’ Who? and also appeared on the Artists United Against Apartheid song, “Sun City”.
In 1987, Wolf released his second solo album Come as You Are, with the title track notching Wolf another top-15 hit on the pop chart and a number one hit on the Mainstream Rock Chart. A later single titled “Can’t Get Started” also had wide radio play.
His album Long Line (1996) and Fool’s Parade (1998) started his collaboration with singer/songwriter Kenny White producing. Sleepless (2002) featured guest appearances from Mick Jagger and Keith Richards and was highly praised by Rolling Stone. as one of the 500 greatest albums of all time. Wolf has collaborated with Angelo Petraglia and long-time writing partner Will Jennings.
Wolf’s 2010 album Midnight Souvenirs won Album of the Year at the Boston Music Awards. On the album, Wolf performed duets with Shelby Lynne, Neko Case, and Merle Haggard.
Wolf inducted Jackie Wilson and the Paul Butterfield Blues Band into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
His eighth solo album, A Cure for Loneliness, was released in April 2016.
This week we feature extended remix versions of eighties hits from Donna Summer, Peter Wolf, Paul Abdul, Brothers Johnson, Madonna, Diana Ross, Huey Lewis and The News, Duran Duran, Flaco and more more more
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