Sometimes a musician hits upon a classic sound that never goes out of style, and sometimes a musician has to reinvent himself to stay relevant.
Singer-songwriter Peter Cetera has done both, as the former lead vocalist and bassist for the Hall of Fame rock band Chicago who also carved out a good career as a solo artist. Along with his many fans, he’s now able to enjoy the fruits of that labor.
“In the past year or two, I’ve worked more than I have since when I was back in the day with Chicago,” said Cetera, who visits the Blaisdell Concert Hall on Saturday, in a call from his home in Idaho. “I’ve been having a lot of gigs, having a lot of fun. I have a great band that I tour with.”
Cetera’s distinctive vocals and romantic lyrics helped make Chicago a favorite in the 1970s, propelling the band to the top of airplay and sales charts. His ballad “If You Leave Me Now” won a Grammy for Best Pop Vocal Performance by a Duo, Group or Chorus in 1977.
After striking out on his own in 1985, he co-wrote and performed the song “Glory of Love,” which became the theme song for “The Karate Kid, Part II” and was nominated for an Academy Award, a Grammy and a Golden Globe.
Despite those achievements, Cetera never reached the full-blown superstar status, like that of Michael Jackson or Prince, that he’d hoped for when he left Chicago. He said some management problems and changing tastes in music were to blame.
“Even though I did have hits with ‘Glory of Love’ and ‘Next Time I Fall’ (1986) and ‘Restless Heart’ (1992), there was just no one out there working on my side,” he said. “I thought maybe there was just no room for me out there.”
Cetera continued to work sporadically throughout the ’90s, but his career revival began when he started to get invitations to sing as the starring performer in symphony pops concerts. (His last performance in Honolulu was with the former Honolulu Symphony Orchestra, in 2008.)
Those concerts were well received, even if they could be difficult to schedule given the logistics of coordinating with such large organizations. Cetera saw his star rising again.
“Symphony shows are fun but they’re hard to come by, so little by little I put together a seven-piece electric band and started working and working, and over the last two years I’ve decided to give it a fair shot, working as much as I dare to,” he said. “It’s been more than satisfying, fantastic. Most of the people are like, ‘It’s better than it ever was.’”
That’s probably because Cetera, at age 72, has done an excellent job maintaining his clear, high tenor — a voice with a distinctive timbre. One factor could be his musical development as a young singer; his jaw was broken in 1969, and he had to learn to sing with his mouth wired shut.
HE STILL sings in the same key as in his younger days, unlike other artists of earlier eras who’ve had to go low and slow in many of their songs. It’s an effort even more remarkable given that he never received formal vocal training, learning at first from his mother, then from trying to mimic the songs he heard on the radio.
“My three earliest influences were Little Richard, Bo Diddley and Ritchie Valens — kind of a spread, but those were my guys,” said Cetera, who just a few weeks ago got to meet Little Richard for the first time.
While he’s wowed by what formally trained singers can do — he recently had the chance to work with crossover star Andrea Bocelli — he’s done what he can to take care of his voice. It’s a matter of professional pride for him.
“I take this seriously,” he said. “I’ve seen a lot of older artists, I’ve seen so many that I don’t even know why they’re doing it, because they don’t look good, they don’t sound good; but if someone’s going to hire you, you do it. I try to stay in shape. I try to look as good as I can, and I try to sound as good as I can sound.
“That’s why people, when they come to the show, they say, ‘Oh my god, he looks good and he sounds good, and I didn’t realize he wrote this song or that he recorded that song!’”
He will perform with his electric band, the Bad Daddies. The name is a joke based on the parental status of the members — Cetera is the proud father of a daughter, who is now trying her hand at songwriting. He identifies with that struggle, recalling that he needed deadline pressure to complete a song. But the hits kept coming, and you can expect to hear all your favorites at the concert.
“I do songs that I wrote and that I performed, both with Chicago and into my solo career,” Cetera said. “My show is not a Chicago tribute show. If anything, it’s a Peter Cetera tribute.”
