Peter Green (musician)

Peter Green (born as Peter Allen Greenbaum on October 29 1946 in Bethnal Green, England) is a blues-rock guitarist and co-founder of the group Fleetwood Mac.

Related Topics:
October 29 - 1946 - Bethnal Green - England - Blues - Rock - Guitarist - Fleetwood Mac

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Green replaced Eric Clapton at John Mayall's Bluesbreakers. Since Clapton already had a very good reputation, Green was under pressure to fill the vacuum that Clapton's departure created. Green was not booed off the stage, instead his guitar playing got an appreciation of audience. Thus Green decided to form his own blues band and left Mayall's Bluesbreakers after appearing on just one album (just as Clapton had done). The name of the Green's new band was Fleetwood Mac (Peter got the name from the band's rythym section, Mick Fleetwood and John McVie). The band was later known of its famous pop/rock albums, but in the beginning it was a blues-rock band playing blues classics and some new material - just like Mayall's Bluesbreakers. Green was the leader of the group throughout their period of success in the late 1960s and early 1970s, when their hits included "Oh Well", "Man of the World" and "Albatross". He wrote the song "Black Magic Woman" that was eventually picked-up by Santana.

Related Topics:
Eric Clapton - John Mayall - 1960s - 1970s - Black Magic Woman - Santana

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Peter struggled with the spotlight when Fleetwood Mac became a mainstream hit after the release of "Albatross". While touring Europe, after a gig in Munich, the band were invited into the country, and Peter went on a 3 day LSD trip. In his own words, he "went on a trip, and never came back". Green quit Fleetwood Mac in 1970. When he left the group, he declared money to be evil and gave it all away, and then got a job at a graveyard cutting the grass.

Related Topics:
Europe - Munich - LSD

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Green has made several comebacks, one of them the formation of Peter Green Splinter Group, with the assistance of fellow musicians including Cozy Powell. The Splinter Group split up, their tour was cancelled and a new studio album put on halt in early 2004 when Green left the band and moved to Sweden. Shortly thereafter he joined The British Blues All Stars, but their upcoming tour in 2005 has also been cancelled. A possible reason for these changes could be a planned reunion of the original Fleetwood Mac this year, which had been announced by Mick Fleetwood on March 14th 2005.

Related Topics:
Peter Green Splinter Group - Cozy Powell - Sweden - The British Blues All Stars - Reunion - Fleetwood Mac - Mick Fleetwood - March 14th - 2005

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These days Green is remembered as being one of the great white blues-rock guitarists that appeared in the 1960s. His playing was not as fast or flashy as his Bluesbreakers peers Clapton and Mick Taylor, but was marked with a distinctive keen vibrato and economy of style. He produced a unique sharp tone with a 1959 Gibson Les Paul Standard. Legend has it that the pickups on this guitar were wired out of phase to create this sound (this happened accidently when Green took the guitar apart and put it together wih the 'hot' lead mismatched).

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"I'm sorry, Peter Green is best" were BB Kings words to a crowd at a Royal Albert Hall show with Fleetwood Mac in 1969. BB knew that among the audience that night were Eric Clapton and his friend George Harrison, sitting in a private box enjoying the show. Some people have gone as far as claiming that Peter Green got deeper into the spirit of the blues than any of his contemporaries. Maybe not the most succsessful, but surely one of the most talented guitar players through four decades.

Related Topics:
BB King - Eric Clapton - George Harrison

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