Daniel Boone

Born Peter Charles Green on July 31, 1942, in Birmingham, England, the British singer and songwriter later known for his global success with the buoyant pop track “Beautiful Sunday” launched his musical path in 1958 by enlisting in the local outfit the Beachcombers. When the Beachcombers encountered vocalist Tommy Bruce in 1960 shortly after his chart success with a version of “Ain’t Misbehavin’,” the record—issued under the name Tommy Bruce & the Bruisers—had actually been cut with session players, so Bruce drafted the Beachcombers to perform live as the Bruisers. Retaining that moniker, the ensemble secured a contract with EMI; Green adopted the performing alias Lee Stirling and issued the solo 45 “My Heart Commands Me” backed with “Welcome Stranger” in 1963. Over the next two years he appeared on six Parlophone releases billed either to the Bruisers or to Lee Stirling & the Bruisers, after which he ventured out independently and, between 1966 and 1970, delivered six singles under the name Peter Lee Stirling on Decca and MCA.

In 1971 Green signed with Penny Farthing Records, the label established by producer Larry Page, and chose the stage name Daniel Boone in homage to the American frontiersman and folk hero. His debut Penny Farthing single, a cover of the Wayne Newton hit “Daddy Don’t You Walk So Fast,” climbed to number 17 on the U.K. chart, while the follow-up “Mamma” attracted little notice. March 1972 brought the release of “Beautiful Sunday,” co-written with Rod McQueen; the track reached number 21 in Britain and number 15 in the United States, also charting strongly in Argentina, Australia, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, South Africa, and Scandinavia and serving as an unofficial anthem for the Scottish football club Dundee United. The accompanying album Beautiful Sunday appeared that September, and Mercury Records—responsible for the American release of the single and album—issued two further singles that failed to crack the Top 40. Boone’s final U.S. single, “Run Tell the People” backed with “Rock and Roll Bum,” surfaced in 1975, though he maintained activity on the U.K. circuit through the remainder of the decade and into the early 1980s. As his own recording profile waned, he sustained a songwriting career, supplying two compositions to the Troggs’ 1992 comeback album Athens Andover.