Peter Cetera Interview by SoundCity

 
SoundCity: First of all, I have to tell you - I'm really excited about having an opportunity to talk with you and do a positive piece. Over the years I've been following your career I've seen basically nothing but garbage coming out of the media, and I think it's time someone said "this guy has made a real positive contribution" and I'm glad I can do my part to help get that out there.
 
Peter Cetera: Well, I appreciate that.
 
SC: Also, I have an extreme case of butterflies right now...
 
PC: Oh really? Why's that?
 
SC: Well, I've done interviews before, but I've never done one that's come so close to my heart.
 
PC: Oh, great!
 
SC: I've followed your career since I was about 14, and I catch a lot of flak from my friends and co-workers for being such a Chicago freak.
 
PC: Well, I'll tell you how to overcome that - rather than saying you're nervous, you just call it excitement. So you're very excited...so that makes me feel good that you're excited to talk to me. So talk!
 
SC: I always promised myself that if I ever had a chance to talk to you or meet you I would tell you how much the whole thing has meant to me. It's really been a great influence on my life, sincerely - if there's Peter Cetera freak in the world, it's me.
 
PC: Thanks, man - I appreciate that. You know, it's kinda like when I met McCartney for the very first time years ago - I said to myself "I'm just gonna go up to him and tell him how much I like his music." And I walked up to him and I said "Hi Paul, my name is ..." - and I forgot my name. He said "I know, you're Peter Cetera - how are you mate?" So anyway, go ahead, start shooting - 
 
SC: Okay, leading off with your image: your voice has always been your trademark, a real distinctive sound, and people have always associated that voice to Chicago. Now you're trying to associate a name and a face to that voice. How do you go about doing that?
 
PC: First of all, I wanted to start off the campaign with an American Express commercial, saying "Do you know me? You've made love to my voice."
 
SC: (laughs)
 
PC: No, what I conceived for this whole campaign was: do the album, do the best album I could do, have fun doing it, do it with great people, and then let the album speak for itself before I come out and do any press.
 
SC: Let people have a chance to soak it up a little bit ...
 
PC: Right, let people have a chance to start associating with that, because I knew that if I immediately would have gone out and done any press before or during anything but a #1 song, then of course they were gonna start off with all this negative Chicago stuff and "why are you doing this and what's wrong with you" etc., so I decided to wait until I had a #1 record.
 
SC: Now people are coming to you ...
 
PC: Exactly. Also, along with that, knowing that I was the "Voice of Chicago" or whatever you want to call that, and there was nothing I could do about changing that. There's nothing I could do about changing my voice - my voice is my voice - so I just wanted to let that speak for awhile and let people hear "Peter Cetera, Peter Cetera" and there's the voice, so they'd say "Oh THAT'S the guy who used to be with Chicago, and that's his name, and that's what he looks like." So that's what's behind everything right now.
 
SC: How did that feel the first time you heard "Glory Of Love" on the radio and they said "that's Peter Cetera..."
 
PC: Well, it felt kinda strange because, I've been living up in Idaho, and the local radio station there started off, when they first played the record, they said "that's the new Chicago single."
 
SC: Oh no...(laughing)
 
PC: Then by the 2nd week they said "that's Pete Cetory..."
 
SC: (laughing)
 
PC: Then by the 3rd week they said "that's Peter Cetera..." and finally by the 4th or 5th week they said "that's the big hit by Peter Cetera from his solo album Solitude/Solitaire." So when I heard that progression, it didn't make me mad, I just figured it's taking people time to get it in their minds, so it didn't bother me.
 
SC: Well, you do have one of those names where people look at that last name and say "now how DO you pronounce that?" The editor who lined up the interview for me said "let me know how your interview with Peter Set-er-uh goes."
 
PC: (laughs) Yeah.
 
SC: One of the ways you can get your image out there is video, I know you're really high on video - I've got a tape of an interview you did last year on a talk show up in Canada, "Good Rockin Tonite..."
 
PC: You've got that? You know, I've never seen that...
 
SC: Yeah, I watch it all the time...
 
PC: God, is it any good?
 
SC: It's excellent - you came off very well...
 
PC: You know, I'd love to have a copy of that ... if you could make me a copy of that and send it to me, I'd be much obliged ...
 
SC: Sure, say the word...
 
PC: Okay...
 
SC: Anyway, in that interview, you were telling the host that you really liked video and that you thought video was just the greatest thing to come down the pike...
 
PC: Yeah, I think when you're trying to show something, or sell something or whatever, you use any vehicle that's open to you, and video happens to be the newest vehicle that's open.
 
SC: But you are partial to it, aren't you? You look so comfortable on camera, you look like you enjoy it.
 
PC: Well, I do, actually, and I'm starting to enjoy it more the more I do it. Before I used to think that I hated it, but the more you do it, the more comfortable you get, and the more you enjoy it. And plus it gives you a chance to reach so many more people than you could have ever reached before and in a quicker amount of time. And it's especially important for me now because of the success of the single, which is also on my album, so that helps sell my album, which helps promote me, so you really can't ask for a better marriage.
 
SC: When you do a video, is that something where you as the artist say "this is what I'm going to try to project in this video", or does it just roll with whichever track it is that you're promoting?
 
PC: Well, the old videos with Chicago, we were basically told "okay, you're gonna use this guy." But now that I'm a solo act, since I'm calling the shots, with Glory Of Love, you get with the best people you can get with, and you tell them your concept and they tell you their concept and you just kinda marry them both together and when that happens, it works.
 
SC: Do you see a specific image for yourself in videos that you consciously try to project, as far as your appearance and the way you come off?
 
PC: Well, I just really want to see Peter Cetera, and whatever song, or whatever kind of storyline goes with the song, or even if there's not a storyline. Ballads are kinda hard to do anything behind...
 
SC: Yeah, but that Hard Habit To Break video, it bothers me that it never won any kind of award, because I think that one was really special.
 
PC: Chicago is never going to win any awards, because we were never the darlings of anyone but the people.
 
SC: Oh well...you guys had the last laugh, that's for sure.
 
PC: Yeah.
 
SC: Let's talk about the new album. Glory of Love - you've got the Karate Kid tie-in there - did you write that for a specific scene in the movie, or did they already have the movie mapped out?
 
PC: What happened was, I had some music sitting around and a friend of mine called me up and asked me if I would be interested in writing the love song for the Karate Kid. I said "sure, you bet, let's go talk about it." So they showed me part of the movie and told me they wanted a Peter Cetera written and sung song, and I said "okay, I'll start working on it" and that's what I came up with.
 
SC: Did you like the way they used the song in the movie?
 
PC: Well, you never do, you know. I didn't mind the middle of it, but I wish they would have started the song right when the movie was still going instead of clearing off the entire screen for 5 seconds before coming on with it.
 
SC: As much as that's probably worked in your benefit having the song in the movie, I personally don't associate the song with the movie when I hear it - and that's okay - I think the song stands on its own, and when I hear it I just think "this is Peter Cetera and this is a hot tune" but it's not like the song is just glued to the movie and you can't separate the 2 images. And that's okay...
 
PC: No...even though it does sound like the movie was written for the song, and it definitely fits the movie, I think you're absolutely right - that song was gonna be a hit even if it wasn't for the movie. It's just one of those songs - maybe it never would've been written if it wasn't for the movie, but if it was, it would have been a hit.
 
SC: Yeah, the songs you've written that have been like that, they've gotten out there, they don't just lay around and die.
 
SC: I'd like to touch briefly on Michael Omartian - Producer, Arranger, Keyboards, Writer - it seems like when you hire this guy you get all of these things, he's kinda like a David Foster type - he's not just a Producer who sits behind the desk.
 
PC: Well, the fact of the matter is, when you're with Michael Omartian you're getting a lot more. You're also getting a real honest, nice person who's a lot of fun to be with and that sorta makes up for anything...that's kinda like added to the whole package - it's like "My God, he's a nice guy, he's honest, and he's a great musician too." So that's what made the album so much fun for me, that he's such a nice person. That definitely helps the mood of things.
 
SC: What was your role on the production of the album...obviously you wrote the songs, and sang the songs...I assume you played on the songs...
 
PC: Actually I didn't play on anything.
 
SC: Is that right? I saw a Warner Brothers ad that said "multi-instrumentalist Peter Cetera" and I thought-
 
PC: Naw - you know how that press stuff is. No, I didn't play on anything. I just didn't even think about it, I didn't even care - I just wanted to write and sing. But as far as production, it's in effect co-produced, but just entitled that Michael is the producer. But in fact, no decisions are ever made unless I say so.
 
SC: Yeah, you've been around long enough to know what you want...
 
PC: Right, you get opinionated, and you know what you want and that's what you do. Nothing musically goes down without my say so, and Michael knows that, and he was very good about that. What Michael is there for basically is to act as a sounding board - when I get stuck to come up with ideas, and to help me over rough spots and to come up with a few ideas of his own. But he doesn't have the autonomy of a producer, like "I'm the producer, I'm telling you this, and this is how it's gonna be..." no, that just doesn't happen.
 
SC: As far as the musical direction on the album, did you feel like you had to make a conscious effort to differentiate from the songs you had on Chicago 17, since that was the most recent work you had done before your solo album; or was it like you write the kind of songs you write, period - and it wasn't a matter of trying to separate yourself from that kind of Prima Donna, Stay The Night, edgy-rock sound?
 
PC: Yeah, well, that's exactly right. On the..
 
SC: Because that's really YOUR sound - that's not really the Chicago sound...
 
PC: No, not at all, because like...on Prima Donna and Stay The Night - nobody in the band played on those songs. Those were all outside people, outside of David Foster and a couple other people on drums and stuff...so no, there was no conscious effort of separating Chicago. Musically was where we had the problem with Chicago, not personally. I had a lot of fun with those people throughout the years, we laughed a lot and joked. We spent more good times than any person could ever hope for in their entire life, and I did it time and time again. It's just musically where we didn't see eye-to-eye on a lot of things: you know, the whole "jazz/rock" label and everything. I'm not into jazz. I'm rock & roll, pop, ballad...so, to go into doing my solo album, the one thing that I DIDN'T have to worry about was the fact that every time I wrote a song I would have to put horns on it. Or else I would get into trouble because the guys would say "where's the horns?" And I'd say "I don't want horns." And they'd say "what do you mean you don't want horns?" So outside of that, outside of not having to argue about that, there was no other thing, because my voice is my voice, and if people associate that with Chicago, then so be it - they'll get over it. And they'll know who I am.
 
SC: Well, the way you write is the way you write - you can't change the way you write. You can't just say "because I've been a famous contributor to this famous group, now that I'm not in this group, suddenly I'm going to write totally different sounding songs."
 
PC: No...
 
SC: You do what you do...
 
PC: Yes, that's right. Somebody who thinks they can write that way...is somebody who doesn't have a style. You can't just say "I think I'm gonna write funk now." You just write what happens, the way you're feeling that day...you may feel funk and it comes out that way. But you don't consciously - at least I don't - consciously think of what I'm trying to write.
 
SC: I'd like to go through some of the songs on the new album, and maybe you can just throw out a thought or two on each one?
 
PC: Okay.
 
SC: Big Mistake - you've got that tricky ending on there. I remember the first time I heard that, I was listening and the song was fading out, and then just when I thought it was faded, that orchestral piece came in, and that kinda caught me off guard there.
 
PC: Well, what had happened was, I wrote that song with a friend of mine who lives up in Sun Valley, Idaho...Amos Galpin. He owns the recording studio up there and we had gotten together one time and I said "c'mon, let's write a song." We tried to write a song, but it just wasn't happening. Then one day he said "listen, I'm gonna send you just a tape of this rhythm track that I wrote." And when I got it, I just started singing something over it. At the same time, my then-manager...when I was kinda...in between leaving Chicago and the end of a tour, he fixed me up with the Miami Vice people. He said "listen, I can get you a part on Miami Vice." I said "great." So he said "write a song and no problem..." So, I took the song and I wrote a 2-page treatment of a screenplay, ostensibly to...if they'd let me act in it, that would be great. And if not, I would still write this Miami Vice screenplay and a song for it. And that became Big Mistake. So about a week after I met with Michael Mann, the Chicago thing kind of broke, and of course they sided with Chicago, management did, and there went my contact with Miami Vice.
 
SC: Oh no...
 
PC: So, I took the song and I said "screw it", cause I always thought it was a great song. And so the song was originally written about a guy that murders women...
 
SC: Oh, I thought it was...
 
PC: ...it used to say, "well it won't be the first, it definitely won't be the LAST one you make...such a big mistake."
 
SC: Ohhh...I get it now.
 
PC: This guy seduces these women and then he ends up murdering them in the end. And the guy was a sports figure who did sports broadcasts and every time his TV crew would come to town they would finally discover these grotesquely murdered bodies of hookers and all that...
 
SC: (laughing) Where did you get these twisted ideas, young man?
 
PC: (laughs) I know, it's terrible. Actually, I got the idea while I was in Hawaii. Anyway, so I had these big ideas, so when we did it with my album, you know, I changed the words to make it kind of a Casanova who loves 'em and leaves 'em, and the girls are..."you shouldn't make such mistakes" ...rather than the murdering them. And so I just kept the overall theme of like, well, this thing was meant to be an epic, and so, when we were in the studio cutting the song...many things happen at the fades, the things that you never hear on record. A lot of things happen, and Michael was just kind of screwing around, and I just went over the intercom and said "Michael, would you just keep playing for about 30 seconds." So, he kept playing, then we orchestrated it and we just thought it sounded like the end of this epic, so that was how that happened.
 
SC: Wow, that's pretty exciting stuff.
 
SC: Queen of the Masquerade Ball - the thing that grabs me about this one is you've got that wild organ solo in there, and I can't remember the last time I heard that on a Pop record. Was that Michael's idea to put that in there?
 
PC: No, that was my idea. I had written a song kind of about someone that I know and I embellished a little bit on it...with the groove...and we were talking about what kind of solo do we want on this. And I thought "I want something different" and I told Michael "I want to hear an organ solo." And he goes "you mean like a synthesizer?" And I said "no, no, no - I want to hear an old-fashioned 'Argent' 60's rock organ solo." And he went "what?!" And I said "c'mon, it's not been done and it'll be great."
 
SC: Yeah, it just kinda comes out of nowhere.
 
SC: Daddy's Girl - this kind of shows a little different side of your songwriting style.
 
PC: Yeah, Daddy's Girl was actually written for Chicago 18...and the group turned it down.
 
SC: You're kidding...
 
PC: No, they turned that down, so I updated it a little bit...actually I updated it quite a bit with Michael. I love the song, you know, it's about my little girl, so...
 
SC: Awww...
 
PC: You know, it's about everybody's little girl.
 
SC: Next Time I Fall - how did you come about to work with Amy Grant, and what was that like doing your first duet?
 
PC: That's the one song I didn't write. A friend of mine, Bobby Caldwell, called me up one day and said "listen, I've got a song...that I wrote, that I love and I think it's you." I absolutely loved the song and when we started doing the album, I said "you know what - I'm gonna make a duet out of this." I went about looking for the...somebody different to sing a duet, somebody that hadn't been used before and...
 
SC: Did you have a lot of choices in mind?
 
PC: No, I wanted to use somebody totally unknown...somebody...I wanted to help a young singer...I wanted to discover a girl...and I started looking and then someone brought up the name of Amy Grant and wouldn't that be nice, and I went "geez...religious..." but they said "no, no, no - she is, but..." And I thought it would be such a great idea, because I really love her singing and I love her...her...what she stands for, and it was kinda a left-field choice. And she sings like an angel and she looks like one too.
 
SC: Yeah, your voices really blend smoothly...
 
PC: Yeah, so I think that was probably the best choice, the best...one of the smarter moves I made on the album.
 
SC: We're probably looking at that as a single somewhere down the road?
 
PC: Well, actually that is the 2nd single. I've been kinda fighting all along about what was going to be the 1st single - I definitely wanted one of the faster things, but you know, the movie took care of that, so that was okay, because I didn't have to make that decision, the movie did, and now it's #1. And then I said, for sure, the 2nd single will be a fast one, and now we're finding out that song is kinda jumping out around the country, so when that happens you just don't fight it, you just go with it and whatever happens, happens.
 
SC: So we'll get to one of the uptempo ones for the 3rd single probably...
 
PC: Hopefully, for the 3rd or 4th single, we'll hit a fast one.
 
SC: You ended up writing with Hawk Wolinski on Wake Up To Love, and I haven't seen his name since...going back to Chicago 13 or 14.
 
PC: That was kind of an old thing I did about...geez...a couple of years ago that I never finished. And I brought Michael into that and once again, we updated it...the rhythm track, and we came up with the B section and then I rewrote lyrics and melodies and kind of updated the song.
 
SC: Okay...the title track, Solitude/Solitaire - to me, that's probably the hardest-hitting song on the album - I just get glued to the speakers for that one. There's something very upfront and direct about that song, and I'm just gonna throw this out there and see what you think about this: I kind of pick up that this is your autobiographical... "sayonara to Chicago" song.
 
PC: (laughs) You're a very keen man, my man...(laughing)
 
SC: (laughs) I have "veiled references to Chicago" written here in my outline, Mr. Cetera, would you care to comment? (laughs)
 
PC: (laughs) Peter, Peter...no, no, no that's...that's exactly right...that's kinda like my...you know, when I was going through my bitter period, I was going to write all these songs...saying "fuck you" to management, and "goodbye boys and I'm happy I'm out" but none of that...I wasn't happy with any of that, and that song was one of the first things I wrote when I wrote the new album. It was like, I wanted to come up with a title track that would say "goodbye" and "I'm all by myself" without saying goodbye - I'm all by myself, if you know what I mean. So yeah...that's kinda like my...the old...the last of the old ones.
 
SC: Well, there's that overriding feeling of friction there in the beginning with the voices in the background, and then it ends up coming out real positive because you're making a statement saying "here I am on my own, and I'm okay. I can stand up and I can make it - I'm not gonna roll over and play dead."
 
PC: That's exactly right. I think I'm gonna have you write the liner notes for my next album...you've got me down so far.
 
SC: Yeah, well - 15 years of covering your career, and this is where I'm at.
 
SC: Let's talk about some of the high-tech production that went into your album. You used a lot of synthesizers, and a computer...how has technology changed your creative process, in terms of songwriting and/or recording?
 
PC: Well, seriously, about the only good thing I can say for the way I did that album...and it was kinda...Michael kinda talked me into doing this digital...computer. We programmed every keyboard and every song that we used the drum machine on, which was all but 3 of them, on this QX-1, or whatever it's called. And...it's very good and everything, but it took up a lot of time to program everything and to decide on what to do and...I think...you do one of those and you go "wasn't that wonderful" and then you move on to something else. The one good thing about that was that it allowed us...it allows you to change tempos without changing the key of the song. And it allows you to change keys without changing tempo. And you can do both, up and down, or sideways, or whatever you want to do...you can insert bars, take out bars, whatever you want. Unfortunately, the one song that it was very imperative that we had used that thing...where we had changed the key and slowed down the tempo all at the same time...we didn't use that song on the album. So I would say that...I would never do it that way again. Probably the next album I'm going to try to put together a band...you know, okay, I've done my computer album or whatever, now I think the next album we're gonna move along...a little different way.
 
SC: Well maybe that song will end up showing up on the album that I write the liner notes for...
 
PC: (laughing) Yeah, there you go...(laughs)
 
SC: Hey - I've got to get on you for something.
 
PC: Uh-oh, what's that?
 
SC: 10 years ago, you were probably the hottest bassplayer in popular music, as far as being consistently inventive and melodic and having a real distinctive sound. I mean, you hear a "Peter Cetera-style" bassline, and you knew it was Peter playing - but where has your bassplaying gone?
 
PC: Uh...(laughs)...out to the can...(laughs)...I don't know.
 
SC: As good of a player as you are, you don't just set it down and say "I'm not gonna play anymore."
 
PC: You know, that's funny, because I met a guy who I was just absolutely in awe of as a bassplayer...and his name is Andy Fraser. Andy Fraser used to be, for years, the bassplayer for Free...you know...All Right Now. The guy was just one hellacious English rock bassplayer...he was a virtuoso in his own right. And not too many people knew his name. And I met the guy one time while he was doing a solo album, and I said "God, you know, I can't wait to hear the album to hear you play bass on it." And he says (Peter in English accent) "well I don't play bass on it." And I thought...I said "why not?" And he said "I don't know, I just don't." And I thought that was just most ridiculous thing I had ever heard in my life... "you don't play bass on it." When I was doing my album, you know...it just never crossed my mind. It was like...I didn't even want to be bothered with it. I was having so much fun, being the co-producer, to let Michael play the Moog bass, which he wanted to play. So, it just didn't bother me.
 
SC: So you're pretty happy with the synthesizer bass sound?
 
PC: Yeah, well...like I say - the next album I'll probably get back to doing some bass playing. I've never been totally comfortable in the studio, and I've never worked with somebody that made me comfortable in the studio...as far as bass playing and singing and now, with my solo album was really the first time that I've felt comfortable singing and I think...when you work with the right guy he knows how to make you feel comfortable and not uptight. And I think now, with Michael, the next album, now that I've conquered the singing thing and I'm totally happy...I'll get back to the playing aspect of it. You know, to me, that was always the wonderful thing about Paul McCartney - that he could write, he could sing, and he played this wonderful melodic bass, and I really think that's important.
 
SC: Well, I detected a lot of that guy's influence there in your early days...
 
PC: Oh yeah....sure.
 
SC: You did a lot of his little riffs...
 
PC: You bet...
 
SC: Maybe we can just touch on some Chicago here...I think a lot of people are probably wondering - okay...doing a solo album is one thing, and having a solo career going...but as far as leaving the band on a permanent basis - why not do both? At what point, in your mind, did it become an either/or - either you stay in the band or you leave?
 
PC: Well, they...basically it came down to the fact that they wanted to go on the road.
 
SC: You just got off the road.
 
PC: We just got off the road. And I said "no, wait a minute - I want to do my solo album." And they said "no - and besides that, we want to do another album." And I said "I don't want to" and they said "well, you have to go on the road" and I said "no, I don't - give me time to do my album." They said "no - if you don't, we're gonna find somebody else." And I said "okay - find somebody else." So, that's basically what happened.
 
SC: Well, I guess I can skip over the rest of my questions on that. As far as your relationship with the band now, they will probably have a new album coming out pretty soon...
 
PC: They have just finished up their album and they'll be going on the road in October.
 
SC: I would imagine that after having been so close to 6 guys, or 5 guys, for such a long period of your life, almost half your life...is there going to be a sense of friendly competition with these guys, as far as saying "hey - I'm doing real well in my solo career, let's see what you guys can do" or not a friendly competition?
 
PC: No...neither one of them...I...listen - I hope that they have a #1 hit, and I'm sure they hope that I......die tomorrow. (laughing)
 
SC: What? (laughs) Peter! Say it isn't so, say it isn't so!
 
PC: No, they wish the best for me, I'm sure, and I wish the best for them, you know...there's plenty of room at the top, you know. It's kinda like when you start out together, you grow up together...you travel together, and then some guys get married, and then pretty soon some guys have kids. And then the guys that have kids stop hanging around with the guys that aren't married. And then the guys that aren't married stop hanging around with the guys that have kids and then...a guy has 2 kids and you never see him anymore, and then...you know, the last 5 years of the group I never saw anybody. We never saw each other - very rarely did we see each other off the road. You see so much of each other on the road, you do not want to see that other person's puss till you back on the road again. And you just get tired of it...you know, enough is enough is enough is enough, and it's now enough.
 
SC: As far as the group's sound, you emerged as a writer and vocalist around 1973 or '74, the 6th and 7th albums - you had done other vocals and written other songs, but that was when...after singing Feelin' Stronger Every Day and Just You-n-Me, and both songs were hits, that was when you became more of a force. Was that a natural evolution for you as a writer, or was that where you saw 3 other strong writers in the group and said "hey, I'm gonna jump in here and start writing songs too."
 
PC: Yeah...both. Mainly it was a confidence thing...because I really...at the beginning I was not encouraged to write at all. It was kinda like "butt out, pal - we already have our writers." I didn't appreciate that too much, especially when that came right at the 2nd album. Really, Bobby Lamm was the only one that really gave me encouragement...Bobby and Danny, actually. So it wasn't the most pleasant thing all the way along...but it was just a matter of confidence, and what you can do when you get your act together.
 
SC: Well, you hit a real stride there - by the time the 7th album came out, you had a couple hits off there that you wrote and sang, and you were really fairly cemented in your role as the lead singer by that time. It was kinda like "this guy's the guy now."
 
PC: Yeah...it was happening at that point.
 
SC: I want to try to explore...there seems to be something about you guys, just from a fan's perspective...there's always been something about you guys, collectively - there was some kind of intangible that enabled you to hang together time and time again through such adversity as, first, losing Terry Kath...and then you get it back together for awhile with Donnie Dacus, but then you cut loose from CBS...then you go to Warner Brothers - yet through all these ups and downs, you stayed together. It seems like it would have been such a perfect time for the band to say "we've had enough of this" and Peter goes his way, and Bobby goes his way, and you all go your separate ways. And yet, you were all able to somehow stick it out - can you put your finger on whatever that intangible is, if you know?
 
PC: I think it was fear...more than anything. The fear about "what the hell am I gonna do if I can't do THIS anymore - who's gonna take me in?" I think that's really a good motivator - fear. And that's kinda what kept us together, it's like "my God, what are we gonna do? Let's get back...let's get movin' boys - let's get back to where we were at the first couple of albums - working hard..." Fear is a good motivator, fear is a real good motivator.
 
SC: How about David Foster's role in your comeback - overcoming all this adversity and then coming back with Chicago 16, which gets you back on the ladder, and then with Chicago 17, you blow the whole thing wide open. Maybe you can touch on his role in that - obviously it was a big one - and maybe his approach to recording and repertoire that was something different than what you guys had encountered before...what makes him so unique and so successful?
 
PC: Well basically what happened was...David Foster understood the problem with Chicago, and what he did was...he kinda let me do my own thing, and he did most of the playing himself, and he let me do most of the singing and most of the writing. We kind of took over the band in the studio, because at that time nobody else was really into it. And so, we just kinda took it upon ourselves to make the albums. So that was his role...taking the brunt of all that. Somebody had to the head...the complaint man, and the leader, and nobody in the group would listen to anybody else anymore. So we needed somebody to funnel everything through, and he became that person, and...that what his role was.
 
SC: As far as your feelings on Chicago being pronounced all but dead, or even dead, a few years back - and then coming back in such a big way...with such a successful tour...I followed the tour in Billboard, and you played sold-out shows in 20,000 seat arenas across the country, as if it were 10 or 15 years ago...you had 4 hit singles, just the biggest album you've ever done - it must have given you a great deal of personal satisfaction, just to kinda say "in your face."
 
PC: Definitely...definitely - up until the moment of Glory Of Love and my own album, it was the sweetest time of the career. It was like "na na na na na na - you thought we were gone..." and "they're baaaaack." So, yeah, we were really happy.
 
SC: I want to talk about your songwriting - you're known primarily as a ballad writer and singer, yet the uptempo songs you write tend to be very contemporary and very stylish. Do you have a preference, or is it important to you to have a balance?
 
PC: No...you know, the problem is...I write and I sing a great ballad, and I love ballads. But I also write and I sing great rock & roll. It's just that...when radio and people tend to pick the ballads to be singles, you know...you don't fight that. So, people think that Chicago album (16) was nothing but ballads, but if they would listen to the album they would see that the 2 songs that were hits were the only 2 ballads on the album. And, likewise with my solo album - I'm gonna have 2 #1 songs and there's also a 3rd killer ballad on there that might even be a single, so...until you can weed through those and get to the fast one's, everybody's gonna think you write ballads and that's all. But someday I'll have a hit with a fast song...well, we did with Stay The Night and Along Comes A Woman.
 
SC: Your favorite song of all the songs you've written - maybe one that you say "if you're only going to listen to one of my songs, this is the one - this what I'm all about."
 
PC: Hmmm...boy, hard to say. Discounting my album...not talking about my album, if we were just speaking of nothing but Chicago, I would say there were maybe 3 songs that were not my favorites necessarily, but 3 songs that had major impact. First was...well, actually 4 songs: If You Leave Me Now was #1 in the world, and that was our first #1 song. Happy Man, though never a single, was a tremendous song down in South America and was voted one year by California people as the #1 song of all time...I could not believe it. I was totally in shock. At a phone-in interview...Stairway To Heaven was voted the #2 song of all time, and I'm going "well..." If You Leave Me Now I think was like the 8th song of all time. And they said "and now, here's the #1 song of all time" - and they played Happy Man - I almost hit...I couldn't believe it. So that was important. Stay The Night, to me, was kinda like...I finally got a modicum of success with rock & roll song, and it kinda put us into the 21st with the kids...with the video - that kind of really helped. And, Hard To Say I'm Sorry was one that kinda brought us back from limbo...with a #1 song, you know, when we really hadn't had one in a really long time. But, I'm really proud of Wishin You Were Here, the Beach Boys were on it...Little Miss Lovin, the Bee Gees were on it, so, you know...there's a lot of things...
 
SC: I always liked Livin In The Limelight. You guys shredded that one on that 17 tour...
 
PC: Yeah, but see - that's my solo stuff...you know...my things are always..."everything you do is always more favorite than everything somebody else does."
 
PC: Hey, listen...I have got to run - I've got another interview coming in here.
 
SC: Oh no...just one more?
 
PC: I'm really sorry -
 
SC: Just one more? One more quick one?
 
PC: Alright - go ahead.
 
SC: What is the secret of your self-preservation, and how have you managed to avoid all the pitfalls of popular music and success, while maintaining such a high quality of work for so long...and still look so good doing it all?
 
PC: Well, I mean...you know...I have had my pitfalls - I've been through everything that everybody else in the music business sometimes goes through: the drugs and the booze and the smoking and the drinking and all the fun and that crap...I mean, I've done all that and it gets very boring. I'm into health and exercising and bicycling and mountain climbing and flying and all the things that I should have been doing for years...and along with that comes kind of a renewed faith in yourself, and faith in mankind, and you just start feeling better, and you look better...and I took something called A Course In Miracles, that's about opening up yourself and opening up your heart, and that's helped a lot. I've got a good woman to stand beside me, and I've got a lovely daughter...and geez, I'm just one hell of a guy all of a sudden - isn't this boring, boring, boring. Hey - it was a pleasure talking to you.
 
SC: Thank you Peter.
 
PC: I really appreciate it, man.
 
SC: You're truly one of a kind, and this is something that will stick with me for a long, long time.
 
PC: I hope we get a chance to meet someday.
 
SC: Okay.
 
PC: Thanks a lot.

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This interview originally posted on "Peter Cetera - The Man Himself: Most Interactive PC Fan Board", and is reprinted here with the permission of the interviewer, SoundCity. It may not be copied or reproduced either on websites or in magazines.
 
Lastly, I would like to thank SoundCity for letting me post this excellent interview.