Dan Peek
Encyclopedia
Daniel Milton 'Dan' Peek (November 1, 1950 – July 24, 2011) was a musician best known as a member of the rock band
America
from 1970 to 1977, together with Gerry Beckley
and Dewey Bunnell. He was also a "pioneer in contemporary Christian music
."
s, guitar
s, bass
, keyboards
, and harmonica
to their recordings
during his tenure in the band. As a member of America, Peek wrote or co-wrote four Top 100 singles: "Don't Cross The River" (#35), "Lonely People
" (#5), "Woman Tonight" (#44), and "Today's the Day
" (#23), all of which he also sang lead on. "Lonely People" and "Today's the Day" also hit number 1 on the Billboard AC charts.
During this period Peek was "a spectrum drug abuser, alcoholic, you name it". In 2004 Peek released an autobiography about this era entitled An American Band: The America Story which was very difficult for him to write because of the bad memories it brought up.
album. Years of life on the road had taken a toll on him. He renewed his Christian faith and had begun to seek a different artistic direction than Beckley or Bunnell. He went on to sign with Pat Boone
's Lamb & Lion Records and found modest success as a pioneering artist in the emerging Christian pop music
genre, outside of rejoining Beckley and Bunnell on stage on one spontaneous occasion several years after.
Peek's debut solo
album, All Things Are Possible was released in 1979. Chris Christian co-wrote, produced, and contributed acoustic guitar and backing vocals on All Things Are Possible. It reached the Billboard charts, making the Top 10 in the A/C Billboard chart and number 1 in the Christian charts. Another song on the album, "Love Was Just Another Word", was recorded in LA and written by Chris Christian and Steve Kipner. Gerry Beckley and Dewey Bunnell contributed the background vocals. This was the last time the three original members of America recorded together. (According to Peek and Bunnell, Peek joined the group to perform a few songs during a concert at the Greek Theater in Los Angeles, in 1983. However, this has not been substantiated by published sources, and those audience members who have posted online about the show say they don't remember seeing Peek there.) Peek followed "All Things Are Possible" with "Doer of the Word". "Doer of the Word" was a number 1 Christian hit and Gerry Beckley sang background vocals on the record, but Beckley did the recording at Chris Christian's studio in Dallas and Dan was not present.
Peek's first solo album and single became popular hits on contemporary Christian music
(CCM) radio stations and charts. The single "All Things Are Possible" not only hit number 1 on the CCM singles chart, it also crossed over to the Billboard singles
and adult contemporary charts
, becoming one of the earliest CCM's crossover hits. At the 22nd Grammy Awards, the album was nominated, losing in the Contemporary Gospel
category to The Imperials album
Heed the Call.
Peek waited five years before releasing a second solo album, 1984's Doer of the Word. While several of his songs would make the CCM charts, none crossed over to the Pop or Adult Contemporary charts. The title track, "Doer of the Word", was an upbeat, very "America-like" song that was backed by Beckley. It hit number 2 on the CCM charts. 1986 saw the release of his Electrovoice album, again to the CCM market, which included a remake of "Lonely People", featuring a very similar lead vocal treatment and overall arrangement that was done on the original America version years prior. He changed some of the song's lyrics to reflect his Christian faith, for example the lines "And ride that highway in the sky" and "You never know until you try" became "And give your heart to Jesus Christ."
Peek spent much of the 1990s in semi-retirement, occasionally recording music at his home in Bodden Town
, Grand Cayman
Island. He released several solo projects and collaborated with Ken Marvin and Brian Gentry as "Peace" on three albums. In the years before his death, Peek released music via his website. His last musical collaboration was performing lead vocal on a track on the 2011 album Steps On The Water by Etcetera.
.
Beginning in 1963, Peek was educated at London Central Elementary High School at Bushey Hall in North London. In 1973 he married Catherine Maberry, with whom he would write a number of songs, including "Lonely People
". He published an autobiography
entitled An American Band, based on America's most successful period, and his own spiritual journey.
Peek died in his sleep on July 24, 2011 at age 60 at his home in Farmington, Missouri
.
CCM – Contemporary Christian Music Chart
BB – Billboard Pop Singles Chart
AC – Billboard Adult Contemporary Chart
CB – Cash Box Singles Chart
Rock Band
Rock Band is a music video game developed by Harmonix Music Systems, published by MTV Games and Electronic Arts. It is the first title in the Rock Band series. The PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions were released in the United States on November 20, 2007, while the PlayStation 2 version was...
America
America (band)
America is an English-American folk rock band that originally included members Gerry Beckley, Dewey Bunnell and Dan Peek. The three members were barely out of their teens when they became a musical sensation during 1972, scoring #1 hits and winning a Grammy for best new musical artist...
from 1970 to 1977, together with Gerry Beckley
Gerry Beckley
Gerald Linford "Gerry" Beckley is a founding member of the band America.Beckley was born to an American father, and an English mother. He began playing the piano at the age of three and the guitar a few years later. By 1962, Beckley was playing guitar in The Vanguards, an instrumental surf music...
and Dewey Bunnell. He was also a "pioneer in contemporary Christian music
Contemporary Christian music
Contemporary Christian music is a genre of modern popular music which is lyrically focused on matters concerned with the Christian faith...
."
America
Peek contributed lead and backing vocalBacking vocalist
A backing vocalist or backing singer is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists...
s, guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
s, bass
Bass guitar
The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
, keyboards
Keyboard instrument
A keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...
, and harmonica
Harmonica
The harmonica, also called harp, French harp, blues harp, and mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used primarily in blues and American folk music, jazz, country, and rock and roll. It is played by blowing air into it or drawing air out by placing lips over individual holes or multiple holes...
to their recordings
America discography
America is an American rock group who have released sixteen studio albums, four live albums and seven compilation albums, including a holiday album. They have also issued forty-five singles, including two Billboard Hot 100 number ones, and several number one single on the adult contemporary...
during his tenure in the band. As a member of America, Peek wrote or co-wrote four Top 100 singles: "Don't Cross The River" (#35), "Lonely People
Lonely People
"Lonely People" is a song written by the husband-and-wife team of Dan and Catherine Peek and performed by America. The track was the second release from America's 1974 album Holiday. "Lonely People" reached number five on the Billboard Hot 100 and was America's second number one on the Easy...
" (#5), "Woman Tonight" (#44), and "Today's the Day
Today's the Day (America song)
"Today's the Day" is the title of a song introduced by America on their 1976 album Hideaway. Written by group member Dan Peek, "Today's the Day" was released as the album's lead single in May 1976; its peak at #23 on the Hot 100 in Billboard signaled a fall from favor for the group America who had...
" (#23), all of which he also sang lead on. "Lonely People" and "Today's the Day" also hit number 1 on the Billboard AC charts.
During this period Peek was "a spectrum drug abuser, alcoholic, you name it". In 2004 Peek released an autobiography about this era entitled An American Band: The America Story which was very difficult for him to write because of the bad memories it brought up.
Contemporary Christian music
Peek left the band shortly after the February 1977 release of the HarborHarbor (album)
Harbor is the seventh original studio album by American folk rock trio America, released by Warner Bros. Records in February 1977. It was the last to feature Dan Peek, who embarked on a solo Christian career shortly after the album's release...
album. Years of life on the road had taken a toll on him. He renewed his Christian faith and had begun to seek a different artistic direction than Beckley or Bunnell. He went on to sign with Pat Boone
Pat Boone
Charles Eugene "Pat" Boone is an American singer, actor and writer who has been a successful pop singer in the United States during the 1950s and early 1960s. He covered black artists' songs and sold more copies than his black counterparts...
's Lamb & Lion Records and found modest success as a pioneering artist in the emerging Christian pop music
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
genre, outside of rejoining Beckley and Bunnell on stage on one spontaneous occasion several years after.
Peek's debut solo
Solo (music)
In music, a solo is a piece or a section of a piece played or sung by a single performer...
album, All Things Are Possible was released in 1979. Chris Christian co-wrote, produced, and contributed acoustic guitar and backing vocals on All Things Are Possible. It reached the Billboard charts, making the Top 10 in the A/C Billboard chart and number 1 in the Christian charts. Another song on the album, "Love Was Just Another Word", was recorded in LA and written by Chris Christian and Steve Kipner. Gerry Beckley and Dewey Bunnell contributed the background vocals. This was the last time the three original members of America recorded together. (According to Peek and Bunnell, Peek joined the group to perform a few songs during a concert at the Greek Theater in Los Angeles, in 1983. However, this has not been substantiated by published sources, and those audience members who have posted online about the show say they don't remember seeing Peek there.) Peek followed "All Things Are Possible" with "Doer of the Word". "Doer of the Word" was a number 1 Christian hit and Gerry Beckley sang background vocals on the record, but Beckley did the recording at Chris Christian's studio in Dallas and Dan was not present.
Peek's first solo album and single became popular hits on contemporary Christian music
Contemporary Christian music
Contemporary Christian music is a genre of modern popular music which is lyrically focused on matters concerned with the Christian faith...
(CCM) radio stations and charts. The single "All Things Are Possible" not only hit number 1 on the CCM singles chart, it also crossed over to the Billboard singles
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
and adult contemporary charts
Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks
The Adult Contemporary chart is a weekly chart published in Billboard magazine that lists the most popular songs on adult contemporary and "lite-pop" radio stations in the United States...
, becoming one of the earliest CCM's crossover hits. At the 22nd Grammy Awards, the album was nominated, losing in the Contemporary Gospel
Grammy Award for Best Gospel Performance, Contemporary
The Grammy Award for Best Gospel Performance, Contemporary was awarded from 1978 to 1983. From 1978 to 1982 it was titled the Grammy Award for Best Gospel Performance Contemporary or Inspirational....
category to The Imperials album
The Imperials discography
-Albums:*originally recorded in 1976-Compilations:*1970 Believe It *1972 The Imperials 1968-1972 *1973 A Thing Called Love *1977 The Best of the Imperials...
Heed the Call.
Peek waited five years before releasing a second solo album, 1984's Doer of the Word. While several of his songs would make the CCM charts, none crossed over to the Pop or Adult Contemporary charts. The title track, "Doer of the Word", was an upbeat, very "America-like" song that was backed by Beckley. It hit number 2 on the CCM charts. 1986 saw the release of his Electrovoice album, again to the CCM market, which included a remake of "Lonely People", featuring a very similar lead vocal treatment and overall arrangement that was done on the original America version years prior. He changed some of the song's lyrics to reflect his Christian faith, for example the lines "And ride that highway in the sky" and "You never know until you try" became "And give your heart to Jesus Christ."
Peek spent much of the 1990s in semi-retirement, occasionally recording music at his home in Bodden Town
Bodden Town
Bodden Town, Grand Cayman, is the former capital and largest district in the Cayman Islands. It is situated on a natural harbor and a coral reef. The first settlement was named after a government leader, William Bodden. Once ravaged by pirates, this village is known for its remains of a...
, Grand Cayman
Grand Cayman
Grand Cayman is the largest of the three Cayman Islands and the location of the nation's capital, George Town. In relation to the other two Cayman Islands, it is approximately 75 miles southwest of Little Cayman and 90 miles southwest of Cayman Brac.-Geography:Grand Cayman encompasses 76% of...
Island. He released several solo projects and collaborated with Ken Marvin and Brian Gentry as "Peace" on three albums. In the years before his death, Peek released music via his website. His last musical collaboration was performing lead vocal on a track on the 2011 album Steps On The Water by Etcetera.
Personal life
Peek was born in Panama City, FloridaPanama City, Florida
-Personal income:The median income for a household in the city was $31,572, and the median income for a family was $40,890. Males had a median income of $30,401 versus $21,431 for females. The per capita income for the city was $17,830...
.
Beginning in 1963, Peek was educated at London Central Elementary High School at Bushey Hall in North London. In 1973 he married Catherine Maberry, with whom he would write a number of songs, including "Lonely People
Lonely People
"Lonely People" is a song written by the husband-and-wife team of Dan and Catherine Peek and performed by America. The track was the second release from America's 1974 album Holiday. "Lonely People" reached number five on the Billboard Hot 100 and was America's second number one on the Easy...
". He published an autobiography
Autobiography
An autobiography is a book about the life of a person, written by that person.-Origin of the term:...
entitled An American Band, based on America's most successful period, and his own spiritual journey.
Peek died in his sleep on July 24, 2011 at age 60 at his home in Farmington, Missouri
Farmington, Missouri
Farmington is a city in St. Francois County located south of St. Louis in the Lead Belt region in Missouri in the United States. As of the 2010 U.S. Census, the population was 16,240. It is the county seat of St. Francois County. The Farmington Micropolitan Statistical Area embraces St...
.
Discography
Table Key:CCM – Contemporary Christian Music Chart
BB – Billboard Pop Singles Chart
AC – Billboard Adult Contemporary Chart
CB – Cash Box Singles Chart
| Year | Title Album -------------------------- Single |
CCM | BB | AC | CB | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1979 | All Things Are Possible (album) | - | - | - | - | Produced by Chris Christian |
| 1979 | "All Things Are Possible" | 1 | 78 | 6 | 95 | 13 weeks at number 1. Nominated for a “Grammy” award. |
| 1980 | "Ready for Love" | - | - | - | - | 7 Canadian Adult Contemporary Chart |
| 1981 | "Divine Lady" | 23 | - | - | - | - |
| 1979 | On This Christmas Night | - | - | - | - | Produced by Chris Christian |
| 1979 | "The Star" | - | - | - | - | "On Christmas Night" Christmas song |
| 1984 | Doer of the Word (album) | - | - | - | - | -Produced by Chris Christian |
| 1984 | "Doer of the Word" | 2 | - | - | - | Backing vocal by Gerry Beckley Gerry Beckley Gerald Linford "Gerry" Beckley is a founding member of the band America.Beckley was born to an American father, and an English mother. He began playing the piano at the age of three and the guitar a few years later. By 1962, Beckley was playing guitar in The Vanguards, an instrumental surf music... |
| 1985 | "Power and Glory" | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1986 | Electro Voice (album) | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1986 | "Lonely People" | 2 | - | - | - | Remake of Peek’s 1975 hit with America |
| 1986 | "Electro Voice" | 7 | - | - | - | - |
| 1987 | Cross Over (album) | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1987 | "Cross Over" | 13 | - | - | - | - |
| 1988 | Best of Dan Peek | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1989 | Living Water | - | - | - | - | With Marvin and Gentry |
| 1994 | Stronger Than You Know | - | - | - | - | Peace with Marvin and Gentry |
| 1997 | Peace | - | - | - | - | Peace with Marvin and Gentry |
| 1998 | "Summer Rain" | - | - | - | - | Peace with Marvin and Gentry |
| 1999 | Bodden Town | - | - | - | - | - |
| 2000 | Under the Mercy | - | - | - | - | Peace with Marvin and Gentry |
| 2000 | "On Wings of Eagles" | - | - | - | - | - |
| 2000 | Caribbean Christmas | - | - | - | - | Instrumental |
| 2001 | Driftin' | - | - | - | - | - |
| 2002 | Guitar Man | - | - | - | - | - |
| 2006 | Guitar Man II | - | - | - | - | Digital Internet release |
| 2007 | All American Boy | - | - | - | - | Digital Internet release |