Biography
Guitarist Kevin Peek balanced careers across rock and classical realms, working alongside Leo Sayer and Cliff Richard while contributing to the progressive rock quintet Sky and maintaining a schedule of chamber recitals and guitar-duo performances. He launched his professional path as a percussionist at the Adelaide Conservatorium of Music, where he also mastered the guitar to virtuoso level through self-directed practice. Relocating to England, he performed in a jazz trio at a Soho club in London; fellow member Mike Moran later collaborated with Leo Sayer, Kiki Dee, and additional artists. Peek then returned to Adelaide to join a new rock ensemble that secured a contract with England’s Decca Records yet ultimately stalled creatively. Once the group relocated to London, Peek and his colleagues—guitarist Terry Britten, bassist Alan Tarney, and drummer Trevor Spencer—supported themselves as session players, appearing on releases by the New Seekers and Mary Hopkin (Earth Song, Ocean Song) and serving as Cliff Richard’s regular stage and studio backing band throughout the 1970s. Additional session credits during this period included Manfred Mann, Lulu, Tom Jones, Jeff Wayne (War of the Worlds), and Shirley Bassey.
In the late ’70s Peek joined the jazz/progressive rock quintet Sky alongside classical guitarist John Williams, keyboardist Francis Monkman, bassist Herbie Flowers, and drummer Tristan Fry. He issued three solo albums—Guitar Junction, Awakening, and Life & Other Games—yet gained greater recognition through Sky and further session engagements with Olivia Newton-John, Kiki Dee, Sally Oldfield, the Alan Parsons Project, and the London Symphony Orchestra on the Symphonic Rock: British Invasion projects with Francis Monkman. He also contributed to multiple film soundtracks, among them Monkman’s score for The Long Good Friday.
In the late ’70s Peek joined the jazz/progressive rock quintet Sky alongside classical guitarist John Williams, keyboardist Francis Monkman, bassist Herbie Flowers, and drummer Tristan Fry. He issued three solo albums—Guitar Junction, Awakening, and Life & Other Games—yet gained greater recognition through Sky and further session engagements with Olivia Newton-John, Kiki Dee, Sally Oldfield, the Alan Parsons Project, and the London Symphony Orchestra on the Symphonic Rock: British Invasion projects with Francis Monkman. He also contributed to multiple film soundtracks, among them Monkman’s score for The Long Good Friday.
Albums
