Dan Peek -All Things Are Possible
Dan Peek Testimony
America – Lonely People
Dan Peek
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Dan Peek
Peek performs on the AVRO show TopPop in 1972.
Background information
Birth name
Daniel Milton Peek
Born
November 1, 1950
Panama City, Florida
Died
July 24, 2011 (aged 60)
Farmington, Missouri
Genres
Folk rock, soft rock, country rock, contemporary Christian
Instruments
Vocals, guitars, bass, keyboards, harmonica
Years active
1969-2011
Labels
Warner Bros., Lamb & Lion
Associated acts
America
Website
danpeek.com
Daniel Milton “Dan” Peek (November 1, 1950 – July 24, 2011)[1] was a musician best known as a member of the folk rock band America from 1970 to 1977, together with Gerry Beckleyand Dewey Bunnell. He was also a “pioneer in contemporary Christian music“.[2][3]
Contents
[hide]
1Biography
1.1America
1.2Contemporary Christian music
1.3Death
2Discography
3References
4External links
Biography[edit]
Peek was born in Panama City, Florida[1] on November 1, 1950 while his father was in the U.S. Air Force.
When Peek was a young boy, he suffered from rheumatoid arthritis and had to be hospitalized for weeks 100 miles (160 km) away from the family home; his parents could only visit occasionally. Peek remembered this experience when, about a year before he died, he decided to dispose of five of his vintage guitars. Because the Ronald McDonald Houses exist to provide housing for families of hospitalized children close to hospitals around the United States and the world, Peek donated these five guitars to the San Diego house, which were subsequently sold to a collector, resulting in a $50,000 donation.[4]
Peek moved to England in 1963 with his family when his father was assigned to a base in London, meeting Dewey Bunnell and Gerry Beckley at London Central High School.[3]
Beginning in 1963, Peek was educated at London Central Elementary High School at Bushey Hall in North London. In 1973 he married Catherine Maberry,[5] with whom he would write a number of songs, including “Lonely People“.[6] He published an autobiography entitled An American Band, based on America’s most successful period, and his own spiritual journey.[7]
America[edit]
Peek contributed lead and backing vocals, guitars, 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” (No. 35), “Lonely People” (No. 5), “Woman Tonight” (No. 44), and “Today’s the Day” (No. 23), all of which he also sang lead on. “Lonely People” and “Today’s the Day” also hit No. 1 on the Billboard AC charts.[5]
Peek abused alcohol and other drugs during this period. In 2004 he released an autobiography about that era entitled An American Band: The America Story which was very difficult for him to write because of the bad memories it brought up.[1]
Contemporary Christian music[edit]
Peek left the band shortly after the February 1977 release of the Harbor album. Years of life on the road had taken a toll on him.[7] 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[7] and found modest success as a pioneering artist in the emerging Christianpop music genre.
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 the album. The title track reached the Billboard charts, making the Top 10 in the A/C Billboard chart and number 1 in the Christian charts, becoming one of the earliest contemporary Christian music crossover hits. Another song on the album, “Love Was Just Another Word”, was recorded in Los Angeles 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.[citation needed] At the22nd Grammy Awards, the album was nominated,[2] losing in the Contemporary Gospel category to The Imperials album Heed the Call. Peek followed All Things Are Possible with Doer of the Word, which hit number 2 in the Christian charts. Gerry Beckley contributed background vocals, which were recorded at Chris Christian’s studio in Los Angeles while Peek was there.[8]
Peek waited five years before releasing a second solo album, 1984’s Doer of the Word. 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 to the original America version. He changed some of the song’s lyrics to reflect his Christian faith,[citation needed] 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.[7] 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.
Death[edit]
Peek died in his sleep of fibrinous pericarditis on July 24, 2011, at age 60 at his home in Farmington, Missouri.[1][9] His interment was in Farmington’s Zolman Cemetery.
Discography[edit]
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[10]
AC[10]
CB[11]
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
–
–
–
–
Various artists
1979
“The Star”
–
–
–
–
Produced by Chris Christian
1984
Doer of the Word (album)
–
–
–
–
Produced by Chris Christian
1984
“Doer of the Word”
2
–
–
–
Backing vocal by Gerry Beckley
1985
“Power and Glory”
–
–
–
–
–
1986
Electro Voice (album)
–
–
–
–
–
1986
“Lonely People”
2
–
–
–
Remake of Peek’s 1975 hit with America
1986
“Electro Voice”
7
–
–
–
–
1986
Christmas Greetings
–
–
–
–
Various artists
1986
“Sleep Baby Jesus”
–
–
–
–
1987
Cross Over (album)
–
–
–
–
–
1987
“Cross Over”
13
–
–
–
–
1988
Best of Dan Peek
–
–
–
–
Compilation
1989
Light of the World[12]
–
–
–
–
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
2012
Greatest Hits
–
–
–
–
Digital Internet release – Compilation
2012
Christian Artists Series: Dan Peek, Vol. 1
–
–
–
–
Digital Internet release – Compilation
2012
Christian Artists Series: Dan Peek, Vol. 2
–
–
–
–
Digital Internet release – Compilation
2012
Christian Artists Series: Dan Peek & Friends
–
–
–
–
Digital Internet release – Compilation with Various Artists
2012
Christmas With Dan Peek and Friends
–
–
–
–
Digital Internet release – Compilation with Various Artists
References[edit]
^ Jump up to:a b c d Lewis, Randy (27 July 2011). “Dan Peek dies at 60; founding member of the band America”. LA Times. Retrieved 27 July 2011.
^ Jump up to:a b “America singer Dan Peek dies aged 60”. BBC News. July 27, 2011. Retrieved 2011-07-27.
^ Jump up to:a b “Dan Peek, Co-Founder of America, Dead at 60”. Billboard magazine. July 26, 2011. Retrieved 2012-10-10. Peek was born in Panama City, Fla., to a U.S. Air Force officer father. He moved to England in 1963 when his father was assigned to a base there, meeting Bunnell and Beckley at London Central High School. Peek and Beckley played in a band called The Days, and after Peek left to attend Old Dominion University in Virginia, Bunnell took his place.
Jump up^ “A first for Navy ship: Baby born on board”. The San Diego Union-Tribune. Retrieved 16 September 2015.
^ Jump up to:a b Margalit Fox (July 26, 2011). “Dan Peek, of the Rock Band America, Dies at 60”. New York Times. Dan Peek, an original member of the rock band America who later forsook the group for a life in Christian music, died on Sunday at his home in Farmington, Mo. He was 60. …
Jump up^ “Lonely People” compositional info, ASCAP. Retrieved August 31, 2011.
^ Jump up to:a b c d “Dan Peek”. London: Telegraph. July 27, 2011. Retrieved 2011-07-28.
Jump up^ Dan Peek recording Doer of the Word with Gerry Beckley and Chris Christian in LA on YouTube.
Jump up^ Tijs, Andrew (2011-07-26). “Dan Peek of America Dies at 60 – Undercover.fm News”. Undercover.fm. Retrieved 2012-05-01.
^ Jump up to:a b “– US Billboard Music Charts”. Billboard.com. Retrieved 2011-07-27.
Jump up^ “US Cash Box Charts”. CashBoxMagazine.com. Retrieved 2011-07-27.
Jump up^ “Marvin & Gentry with Dan Peek – Light of the World – Amazon.com Music”. amazon.com. Retrieved 16 September 2015.
External links[edit]
Official website
Dan Peek at AllMusic
Dan Peek at the Internet Movie Database
Official America Homepage
Obituary of Dan Peek, The Daily Telegraph, 27 July, 2011
Dan Peek Autopsy Report, ParklandNews.com
[hide]
v
t
e
America
Gerry Beckley
Dewey Bunnell
Dan Peek
Studio albums
America
Homecoming
Hat Trick
Holiday
Hearts
Hideaway
Harbor
Silent Letter
Alibi
View from the Ground
Your Move
Perspective
Hourglass
Human Nature
Holiday Harmony
Here & Now
Back Pages
Lost & Found
Compilations
History: America’s Greatest Hits
Encore: More Greatest Hits
Highway
The Complete Greatest Hits
Hits: 40th Anniversary Edition
Live albums
America Live
In Concert (1985)
In Concert (1995)
Horse with No Name
The Grand Cayman Concert
Live In Concert: Wildwood Springs
Soundtracks
The Last Unicorn
Singles
“A Horse with No Name“
“I Need You“
“Ventura Highway“
“Muskrat Love“
“Tin Man“
“Lonely People“
“Sister Golden Hair“
“Daisy Jane“
“Woman Tonight”
“Today’s the Day“
“Amber Cascades“
“You Can Do Magic“
“Right Before Your Eyes“
“The Border“
Related articles
Discography
Authority control
WorldCat Identities
VIAF: 48428671
ISNI: 0000 0000 4134 6340
BNF: cb14772261m (data)
MusicBrainz: f5e0554a-1a1e-43ab-b00b-903a4d6cf7b8
Categories:
1950 births
2011 deaths
People from Panama City, Florida
American rock musicians
American Christians
American performers of Christian music
American soft rock musicians
American expatriates in the United Kingdom
Military brats
America (band) members
People from Farmington, Missouri
American rock singers
American rock guitarists
American folk guitarists
American country guitarists
American multi-instrumentalists
American singer-songwriters
______________
__
Francis and Edith Schaeffer pictured below:
___
Dan and Catherine Peek wedding day
___
Francis Schaeffer
Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
__
May 2, 2016
Paul McCartney
Dear Paul,
I so enjoyed the concert April 30th in Little Rock and you played one of my favorite Beatles songs ELEANOR RIGBY because it takes a long hard look at the loneliness felt by so many people in the world today. Another band also captured that same feel in one of their songs and it happened to be produced by your old friend GEORGE MARTIN who you also took time to recognize at the concert. The song is LONELY PEOPLE by the band AMERICA and it was written by Dan and Catherine Peek. Let’s take a look first at the lyrics of ELEANOR RIGBY:
Ah look at all the lonely people
Ah look at all the lonely people
Eleanor Rigby, picks up the rice
In the church where a wedding has been
Lives in a dream
Waits at the window, wearing the face
That she keeps in a jar by the door
Who is it for
All the lonely people
Where do they all come from?
All the lonely people
Where do they all belong?
Father McKenzie, writing the words
Of a sermon that no one will hear
No one comes near
Look at him working, darning his socks
In the night when there’s nobody there
What does he care
All the lonely people
Where do they all come from?
All the lonely people
Where do they all belong?
Ah look at all the lonely people
___
Now let’s examine the second to last sentence in the song: WHERE DO THEY ALL BELONG? What did the Beatles find the answer to that question was after all their searching in the 1960’s? Here is Francis Schaeffer’s analysis of the Beatles search:
This record, Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, became the rallying cry for young people throughout the world. It expressed the essence of their lives, thoughts and their feelings.
Later came psychedelic rock, an attempt to find this experience without drugs. The younger people and the older ones tried drug taking but then turned to the eastern religions. Both drugs and the eastern religions seek truth inside one’s own head, a negation of reason. The central reason of the popularity of eastern religions in the west is a hope for a nonrational meaning to life and values….
Then the Beatles gradually came home. The last thing we find them doing is the YELLOW SUBMARINE. I sure a lot of parents thought this is much better than the old hard rock, but I thought it was a very sad thing because it really wasn’t a children’s story at all, but what it was in fact was a romantic statement and the fact is that is all there is. Just the same as [Ingmar] Bergman after he makes the movie SILENCE [1963] then he makes a comedy [ALL THESE WOMEN in 1964]. It is the same as Picasso when he pictures his child as a clown [Paul in a Clown Suit, 1924]. So we find the Beatles making the YELLOW SUBMARINE, but there is something more to it than this because Erich Segal made his reputation by writing the script for the movie version of YELLOW SUBMARINE and then he went on and wrote LOVE STORY. So what we have done is we have come around in a big circle. There was the destruction of the romantic. Students in the 1960’s said we are tired of the romantic of giving us optimistic statements with no sufficient base.
So the Beatles destroyed that and then they went through these various trips into non-reason but when they came out they had nothing left but the romantic. This is the tragedy of the young people starting with Berkeley in 1964. How right they were in saying we have largely a plastic culture. This is something the church should have been saying. These students said give us reality. Then the students tried those trips and they weren’t trips based on reality but they were separated from reason. It was trying to find answers in one’s own head whether it was the drug trip or the Eastern Religion trip. Then they came around in a big circle and what do we find–we end up with Segal’s LOVE STORY, just the romantic thing as one can imagine but with no adequate base at all, yet giving us a lovely romantic answer, which just like the YELLOW SUBMARINE is very, very sad because the Beatles and young people WERE GIVING UP THE SEARCH and just accepting something like this.
Now let’s turn to the song LONELY PEOPLE by the band AMERICA but let’s look at the later Christian version of the song written by Dan and Catherine Peek and they were the original writers of the original song. However, the original song did not have the answer to loneliness in it, but they found the answers to the big questions in life when they found Christ. Here is that Christian version of the song:
This is for all the lonely people
Thinkin’ that life has passed them by
Don’t give up until you drink from the silver cup
And give your heart to Jesus Christ
This is for all the single people
Thinkin’ that love has left them dry
Don’t give up until you drink from the silver cup
And give your heart to Jesus Christ
Well, He’s on his way
He’s coming back someday
He’s coming back to take us home
This is for all the lonely people
Thinkin’ that life has passed them by
Don’t give up until you drink from the silver cup
He’ll never take you down or He’ll never give you up
But you’ll never know until you try
Actually the answer to find meaning in life is found in putting your faith and trust in Jesus Christ. The Bible is true from cover to cover and can be trusted. Here are some of the posts I have done in the past on the subject and if you like you could just google these subjects: 1. The Babylonian Chronicle, of Nebuchadnezzars Siege of Jerusalem, 2. Hezekiah’s Siloam Tunnel Inscription.13. The Pilate Inscription, 14. Caiaphas Ossuary, 14 B Pontius Pilate Part 2, 14c. Three greatest American Archaeologists moved to accept Bible’s accuracy through archaeology.
Dan Peek, of the Rock Band America, Dies at 60
By MARGALIT FOXJULY 26, 2011
Dan Peek, an original member of the rock band America who later forsook the group for a life in Christian music, died on Sunday at his home in Farmington, Mo. He was 60.
Mr. Peek died in his sleep, his wife, Catherine, said. The cause is not yet known.
Formed in the late 1960s, America was known for its lush, melodic folk-rock sound and the tight vocal harmonies supplied by its members, Mr. Peek, Gerry Beckley and Dewey Bunnell.
Mr. Peek, who sang lead and backup vocals, also played guitar, bass, keyboards and harmonica.
The band’s best-known songs during his tenure include its two biggest hits, “A Horse with No Name” and “Ventura Highway,” both written by Mr. Bunnell; “Sister Golden Hair,” by Mr. Beckley; and “Lonely People,” by Mr. Peek. Mr. Peek also wrote “Woman Tonight” and “Don’t Cross the River” for the band.
After leaving America in 1977, Mr. Peek recorded Christian pop, including the successful solo album “All Things Are Possible,” released in 1979.
“We wanted to set ourselves apart and not be seen as English guys trying to do American music, but instead accentuate that we were an American band,” Mr. Peek told The Jerusalem Post last year.
The group’s self-titled debut album was released in Britain in 1971 and in the United States by Warner Brothers the next year.
The band won a Grammy Award in 1973 as best new artist. A string of successful albums followed, including “Homecoming,” “Holiday,” “Hearts” and “Hideaway.” Many were produced by George Martin, who produced many of the Beatles’ records.
As Mr. Peek later recalled, those early years passed in a blur of airplanes and limousines, wealth, drugs and alcohol.
“Sex, drugs and rock ’n’ roll; it was the whole cornucopia of fleshly material,” he said in an interview with the Christian Broadcasting Network show “The 700 Club.” “I tried everything. I tasted every possible thing. I had a spiritual compass, but I abandoned it completely.”
In 1977, distraught at the turn his life had taken, Mr. Peek became a born-again Christian. He renounced drugs and alcohol and left the band. He signed with Lamb & Lion Records, a label founded by Pat Boone, for which he recorded “All Things Are Possible.” His other albums of religious music include “Electro Voice,” “Cross Over” and “Caribbean Christmas.” (Mr. Peek and his wife lived in the Cayman Islands for many years.)
Thanks for your time.
Sincerely,
Everette Hatcher, everettehatcher@gmail.com, http://www.thedailyhatch.org, cell ph 501-920-5733, Box 23416, LittleRock, AR 72221
Remembering Dan Peek of AMERICA – Lonely People (Christian version)
Lonely People
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
For the EP by Orla Gartland, see Lonely People (EP).
“Lonely People”
Single by America
from the album Holiday
B-side
“Mad Dog”
Released
November 27, 1974