Peter William "Pete" Wells (1946 – 27 March 2006) was the founder and slide guitarist in Australian hard rock band Rose Tattoo

Rose Tattoo

Rose Tattoo is an Australian rock and roll band, now led by Angry Anderson, that was formed in Sydney in 1976. Their sound is hard rock mixed with blues rock influences, with songs including "Bad Boy for Love", "Rock 'n' Roll Outlaw", "Nice Boys", "We Can't Be Beaten" and "Scarred for Life"...

. Wells was previously bassist with the pioneering Sydney-based heavy metal

Heavy metal music

Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...

 outfit Buffalo

Buffalo (band)

Buffalo was an early heavy metal band formed in Sydney, Australia in 1971. The band left a legacy with Australia's heavy metal, pub rock and alternative rock movements. The band had evolved from the Brisbane blues-rock outfit Head, which was originally formed in 1968 by Dave Tice and Peter Wells...

 in the 1970s.

In 1976, Wells formed Rose Tattoo with former Buster Brown

Buster Brown (Australian band)

-Singles:*"Buster Brown"/"Rock and Roll Lady" – Mushroom *"Something to Say"/"Let Me In" – Mushroom -References:General Note: Archived [on-line] copy has limited functionality.Specific...

 vocalist Angry Anderson

Angry Anderson

Gary Stephen "Angry" Anderson AM is an Australian rock singer, television presenter/reporter, actor and conservative political activist. He is best known as the vocalist with the hard rock band Rose Tattoo since 1976 but he is also recognised for his acting roles and his charity work...

, guitarist Mick Cocks

Mick Cocks

Michael Thomas "Mick" Cocks was an Australian musician, most noted for his guitar work with Rose Tattoo. His original sound and style heavily influenced Guns N' Roses, who recorded a cover of the Rose Tattoo song ‘Nice Boys’. He was also a member of Heaven, Doomfoxx, Pete Wells Heart Attack and...

, bassist Ian Rilen

Ian Rilen

Ian William Rilen was an Australian musician, he was bass guitarist and songwriter with Rock N' Roll band Rose Tattoo and led punk rock group X also providing lead guitar, rhythm guitar and vocals...

 and drummer Dallas Royal. The band's hard rock

Hard rock

Hard rock is a loosely defined genre of rock music which has its earliest roots in mid-1960s garage rock, blues rock and psychedelic rock...

 style soon developed a strong following in Sydney leading to Albert Productions

Albert Productions

Albert Productions, a division of music publishing and recording company Albert Music, is one of Australia's longest established independent Australian record label to specialise in rock and roll music. The label was founded in 1964 by Ted Albert, whose family owned and operated the Australian...

 offering them a record contract. Their single "Bad Boy for Love" became a hit and their self-titled debut album established their reputation with production by George Young and Harry Vanda

Harry Vanda

Harry Vanda , is a Dutch-born Australian popular music singer, guitarist, songwriter and record producer.-Career:...

 formerly of The Easybeats

The Easybeats

The Easybeats were an Australian rock and roll band. They formed in Sydney in late 1964 and broke up at the end of 1969. They are regarded as the greatest Australian pop band of the 1960s, and were the first Australian rock and roll act to score an international pop hit with their 1966 single...

. Rilen left the band to be replaced by former Buster Brown bassist Geordie Leech.

After the release of their second album Assault and Battery, Rose Tattoo embarked on an international tour. They were the loudest band to play at the Marquee Club

Marquee Club

The Marquee was a music club first located at 165 Oxford Street, London, England when it opened in 1958 with a range of jazz and skiffle acts.It was also the location of the first ever live performance by The Rolling Stones on 12 July 1962....

, London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 since Led Zeppelin

Led Zeppelin

Led Zeppelin were an English rock band, active in the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s. Formed in 1968, they consisted of guitarist Jimmy Page, singer Robert Plant, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham...

. After the release of their third album Scarred for Life, the band supported Aerosmith

Aerosmith

Aerosmith is an American rock band, sometimes referred to as "The Bad Boys from Boston" and "America's Greatest Rock and Roll Band". Their style, which is rooted in blues-based hard rock, has come to also incorporate elements of pop, heavy metal, and rhythm and blues, and has inspired many...

 and ZZ Top

ZZ Top

ZZ Top is an American rock band, sometimes referred to as "That Little Ol' Band from Texas". Their style, which is rooted in blues-based boogie rock, has come to incorporate elements of arena, southern, and boogie rock. The band, from Houston Texas, formed in 1969...

 on US tours.

Wells left the band in 1983 with Royal and Robin Riley who had replaced Cocks in 1982. After Wells left Rose Tattoo, he fronted The Pete Wells Band. He also worked on side projects to his credit, such as the Lucy DeSoto Band, Rocks Push with Rob Grosser and Chris Turner, and Hillbilly Moon with Paul Norton

Paul Norton

Paul N. Norton was an American artist. The son of a railway clerk, Norton painted more than 500 watercolors in his career, and also created many memorable logos for companies such as Dairy Queen, Pella Windows, and others. His paintings can be found hanging in the White House, U.S...

 and Cletis Carr

Cletis Carr

Cletis Carr is a singer-songwriter, guitarist and record producer. Carr was a founder of the Pacific Northwest 70's new wave music band Sneakers before embarking on an on-off solo career between forming other bands such as Big Whiskey and Hillbilly Moon.-Early life:Carr was born into a family of...

. Rose Tattoo reformed briefly in 1993 to support Guns N' Roses

Guns N' Roses

Guns N' Roses is an American hard rock band, formed in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, in 1985. The band has released six studio albums, three EPs, and one live album...

 on an Australian tour.

In 2002, Wells was diagnosed with prostate cancer

Prostate cancer

Prostate cancer is a form of cancer that develops in the prostate, a gland in the male reproductive system. Most prostate cancers are slow growing; however, there are cases of aggressive prostate cancers. The cancer cells may metastasize from the prostate to other parts of the body, particularly...

. Australian musicians played benefit gigs for him in 2005 including Rose Tattoo, Peter Garrett

Peter Garrett

Peter Robert Garrett, AM, MP , is an Australian musician, environmentalist, activist and politician.Garrett was lead singer of the Australian rock band Midnight Oil from 1973 until its disbanding in 2002...

, The Beasts of Bourbon, Tex, Don and Charlie

Tex, Don and Charlie

Tex, Don and Charlie is an Australian super group formed by Tex Perkins from The Cruel Sea, Beasts of Bourbon and others, Don Walker from Cold Chisel and widely respected guitarist Charlie Owen. Their first album Sad But True was released in 1993 with the second released in 2005.The band was...

, Paul Kelly

Paul Kelly (musician)

Paul Maurice Kelly is an Australian rock music singer-songwriter, guitarist, and harmonica player. He has performed solo, and has led numerous groups, including the Dots, the Coloured Girls, and the Messengers. He has worked with other artists and groups, including associated projects Professor...

 and Tim Rogers and the Temperance Union. Wells died aged 59, on 27 March 2006, from the disease which had spread to other parts of his body. His daughter, Katrina spoke at his eulogy at St Brendan's Church in Annandale

Annandale, New South Wales

Annandale is a suburb of Inner West Sydney in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Annandale is located within 3-5 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district and is part of the local government area of the Municipality of Leichhardt. Annandale's northern end lies on Rozelle Bay,...

 with his funeral attended by fellow band members and musicians. His band, Rose Tattoo, was inducted into the Australian Recording Industry Association

Australian Recording Industry Association

The Australian Recording Industry Association is a trade group representing the Australian recording industry which was established in 1983 by six major record companies, EMI, Festival, CBS, RCA, WEA and Universal replacing the Association of Australian Record Manufacturers which was formed in 1956...

 (ARIA) Hall of Fame

ARIA Hall of Fame

Since 1988 the Australian Recording Industry Association has inducted artists into its ARIA Hall of Fame. While most have been recognised at the annual ARIA Music Awards, in 2005 ARIA sought to create a separate standalone "ARIA Icons: Hall of Fame" event as only one or two acts could be inducted...

 on 16 August.

Discography

• Buffalo
  Buffalo (band)
  Buffalo was an early heavy metal band formed in Sydney, Australia in 1971. The band left a legacy with Australia's heavy metal, pub rock and alternative rock movements. The band had evolved from the Brisbane blues-rock outfit Head, which was originally formed in 1968 by Dave Tice and Peter Wells...
  
  
• Dead Forever...
  Dead Forever...
  Dead Forever... is the debut album for Australian proto-Heavy Metal band Buffalo, recorded and originally released in 1972. Considered by some to be the first Australian heavy metal album, Dead Forever... also strongly displayed the band's progressive rock and psychedelic influences...
  
   (1972)
• Volcanic Rock (album)
  Volcanic Rock (album)
  Volcanic Rock is the second album for Australian proto-heavy metal band Buffalo, recorded and originally released in 1973 on the Vertigo label. The album was stylistically a much harder, heavier and rawer release than its predecessor – marking a move away from the band's previous progressive rock...
  
   (1973)
• Buffalo (EP)
  Buffalo (EP)
  Buffalo is the eponymous EP for Australian proto-heavy metal band Buffalo, originally released in 1974 on the Vertigo label. It was essentially a compilation of tracks from previous singles releases by the band. The EP has never been reissued after its original pressing, and is now considered a...
  
   (1974)
• Only Want You For Your Body
  Only Want You For Your Body
  Only Want You For Your Body is the third album for Australian proto-metal band Buffalo, recorded and originally released in 1974 on the Vertigo label. A far more structured and polished release than the previous album Volcanic Rock, Only Want You For Your Body was conversely a much harder and...
  
   (1974)
• Mother's Choice
  Mother's Choice
  Mother's Choice is the fourth album for Australian proto-Heavy Metal band Buffalo, recorded during 1975 and 1976 and originally released in 1976 by Vertigo Records...
  
   (1976)

• Rose Tattoo
  Rose Tattoo
  Rose Tattoo is an Australian rock and roll band, now led by Angry Anderson, that was formed in Sydney in 1976. Their sound is hard rock mixed with blues rock influences, with songs including "Bad Boy for Love", "Rock 'n' Roll Outlaw", "Nice Boys", "We Can't Be Beaten" and "Scarred for Life"...
  
  
• Rose Tattoo (1978)
• Assault & Battery
  Assault & Battery (Rose Tattoo album)
  Assault & Battery is the second album by Australian hard rock band Rose Tattoo. It was the first sort of full-length release in three years after three years non stop on the road.-Track listing:# "Out of This Place"...
  
  (1981)
• Scarred for Life
  Scarred For Life (album)
  Scarred For Life is the third album by Australian hard rock band Rose Tattoo. Scarred For Life launched Rose Tattoo to international success with the rock anthem "We Can't Be Beaten." A video was filmed for the ditty "Branded."-Track listing:...
  
  (1982)
• 25 to Life (2000)
• Pain (2002)

• Scattered Aces
• Six Pack (1984)

• Hillbilly Moon
• Volume One (1994)

• Romeo Dog
• Romeo Dog (1996)

• Pete Wells/Angry Anderson & the Damn Fine Band
• Pete Wells/Angry Anderson & the

Damn Fine Band (2001)

• Rocks Push
• Three Good Reasons For The Blues (2003)

• Blues Hangover
• Blues Hangover (1995)
• Roadrunner (1996)
• Greetings From the Aloha Monkey (2006)

• Lucy De Soto
• Three Girls And A Sailor (1985)
• Help Me Rhonda, My Boyfriends Back (1986)
• Take This Veil (1999)
• Lucy De Soto and The Handsome Devils (2004)
• Low Down And Traveling (2004)
• Whiskey Dance (2004)

• Peter Wells
• Everything You Like Tries To Kill You (1990)
• The Meaning Of Life (1992)
• No Hard Feelings (1993)
• Orphans (1994)
• Solo (2002)
• Mothers Worry (2005)
• Bodgie Dada (2008)

• Pete Wells Band
• Go Ahead Call The Cops (1996)
• Its All Fun & Games 'til Somebody Gets Hurt (1999)
• Hateball (2000)

.