 |
| Peter Cetera's 1986 solo effort "Solitude/Solitaire". My good friend Mat bought this album when he joined Columbia House and I had the privilege of listening to it. It was worth the time. "Glory of Love" and "Next Time I Fall" were the best singles, but the title track was not bad. |
Often when singers leave bands to go solo, they never experience
anywhere near the same success. That wasn’t the case for Peter Cetera. After he
left Chicago, he went on to considerable success as a solo artist, almost eclipsing the band itself.
The departure
By the mid-80s, Peter Cetera had become the face of the band Chicago,
although they had several band members sing various songs. The arrival of David
Foster as the band’s producer in 1981, and the subsequent release of “Chicago 16”,
coincided with the dawn of music videos. Since Cetera sang all the singles
Chicago released, he was the centre of each music video. (For the uninitiated,
he is he blonde singer in “Hard to Say I’m Sorry”; “Stay the Night”; “Hard
Habit to Break”; “You’re the Inspiration”; and “Along Comes a Woman”)
In the summer of 1985, CBC’s “Good Rockin’ Tonite” had Foster and
Cetera appear as their guests. It was the first time I had ever known that was
the name of the singer.
Host Terry David Mulligan asked a variety of questions. The one I
recall best, was when he asked Cetera if he heard any emerging summer hits.
Cetera said it was pretty early, but if he had to hazard a guess, it was “Some
Like it Hot”, a song by The Power Station.
The interview had been taped. When it faded out to Mulligan alone on
set, he said shortly after that interview was taped, Peter Cetera announced he
was leaving Chicago.
What would become of Peter Cetera? It did not take long to find out.
Summer of ‘86
The voice sounded familiar, but it was hard to tell for sure in the
setting I was in. My buddy and neighbour Mat was working on a nearby egg farm.
They were cleaning out a barn, and needed a bunch of people to do the work. So
Mat rounded up a bunch of us – me, my best fried Chris Vining, a guy named
Mike, and some others. Mat flipped on a ghetto blaster he had to help pass the
time.
Suddenly, it came on. It sounded like Chicago, but I wasn’t sure. I’d
been concentrating pretty intently, so I only clued in part way through. Of
course, as always seemed to be the case back then, when the song finished the
deejay didn’t bother saying who sang it. I waited for the song to come back on,
and I think it did, but I couldn’t make out much.
That night, I flipped on the same station we had been listening to at
the egg farm. It was AM 1060, but curiously it marketed itself as AM 106, maybe
to make it sound more like an FM station. They had two shows Mat listened to
that he told me about: “The Top Six at Six” and “The Top Ten at Ten”. They
were the most requested songs of the day. I got home after six, so at 10 p.m. I
tuned in. Adding to the mystery was that after around 10 p.m., the signal began
to weaken, and there was a lot more static. Conceivably, I might not hear the song
if there was some ill-timed interference or static.
And that almost happened – but it didn’t.
“The Glory of Love”
Instead, I discovered the song was called “The Glory of Love”, and
sure enough it was by Peter Cetera. What really peaked my interest was the song
was off the soundtrack for the soon-to-be-released sequel to “The Karate Kid”.
“The Glory of Love” bolted up the charts all the way to number one on
the Billboard Hot 100, where it stayed for two weeks in August of 1986, before
being displaced by Madonna and “Papa Don’t Preach”. The song would go on to
earn an Oscar nomination for best original song, losing to “Take My Breath
Away” from “Top Gun” and performed by Berlin. Cetera would also be nominated
for best pop vocal performance by a male artist, losing out to Steve Winwood
and “Higher Love”.
“Next Time I Fall”
“The Glory of Love” was released as part of Cetera’s solo album, “Solitude/Solitaire”.
A few months later, Cetera was back on top of the charts with another number
one single. This time it was a duet with Christian singer Amy Grant called
“Next Time I Fall”. I always recall the video, set in a dance studio, shifting
back and forth between the dancer, Grant, and Cetera. “Next time I Fall”
displaced “You Give Love A Bad Name,” Bon Jovi’s first number one single, in
early December of 1986, then after a week on top was displaced by “The Way It
Is”, Bruce Hornsby and the Range’s first number one single.
Cetera and Grant would be nominated for a Grammy for best pop
performance by a duo or group with vocals, losing to "Dionne and Friends" for
“That’s What Friends Are For”.
Perhaps the best accolade Cetera received was not an award, but the
satisfaction that his first post-Chicago solo album sold more copies than
Chicago’s next album – “Chicago 18”.
Parting Thoughts
To be honest, Peter Cetera always was Chicago for me. Some of their
other songs grew on me over time, and I really like them, but I enjoyed his lead
vocals the most. The audience seems to agree. Although Chicago may have sold as
many or more records than any other group in the 1970s, their only number one
single on the Billboard Hot 100 was “If You Leave Me Now” – sung by Peter
Cetera. Once David Foster came aboard, and began to emphasize all those great
ballads, it was a lock – Peter Cetera was Chicago.
So when he went solo in 1986, it was pretty much a certainty it would
be good – and it was. I may
have grown a little tired of “Glory of Love”, but that was due to vinyl fatigue
– it always seemed to be on the radio, but “Next Time I Fall” has remained
one of my all-time favourite songs. It is a testament to the power of Peter
Cetera’s voice as a balladeer.
No comments:
Post a Comment