1981 Peter Cetera – Peter Cetera

Peter Cetera, released in September 1981, is the self-titled first solo release by American musician Peter Cetera, released while he was the bassist and lead vocalist of the band Chicago.

A much more rock-oriented album than the disco-influenced music Chicago had been producing at the time, Cetera released the album in September 1981 while still a member of the band. Released on Full Moon Records, a subsidiary of Warner Brothers (reissued in 2004 on Wounded Bird Records), the album was not commercially successful, peaking at number 143 on the Billboard 200 chart in March 1982, after making its first appearance on the Billboard 200 chart on January 23, 1982 at number 192. However, it is notable because Cetera is the sole writer of all songs on the album save one—”I Can Feel It,” which Cetera co-wrote with Ricky Fataar and Carl Wilson. Wilson, a member of the Beach Boys and a friend of Cetera’s, also played guitar on the song. The single “Livin’ in the Limelight,” the only hit from the album, was released on November 18, 1981, and charted at number six in the Billboard Mainstream Rock.

One year after Peter Cetera was released, Cetera and Chicago launched a major comeback with the number one single, “Hard to Say I’m Sorry”, and album, Chicago 16. After 1984’s Chicago 17 was also a massive hit, Cetera left the band to concentrate fully on his solo career. The song, “On the Line”, which appears on this album, was on the B-side of the 45 RPM single of Cetera’s first number one song as a solo performer in 1986, “Glory of Love”.