 Born and raised on the South Side of Chicago, Peter Cetera got his big break in the music business when a local Chicago band named the Big Thing asked him to join them on bass. The group later changed their name to Chicago Transit Authority after moving to Los Angeles and landing a high-profile gig as the house band of the Whiskey A Go Go. They toured as the opening act for both Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix, and by the time their first album, Chicago Transit Authority, was released, the group had shortened the name to Chicago. As the lead singer and bassist of Chicago, Cetera wrote some of the biggest hits of the rock and pop music era including "If You Leave Me Now," "Baby, What a Big Surprise," "You're the Inspiration," "Stay the Night," "Feeling Stronger Every Day" and "Hard To Say I'm Sorry." Of their 17 albums, three went platinum, nearly all of them went gold and their first four appeared on the best-seller list all at one time. At one point "If You Leave Me Now" was the No. 1 song in both the U.S. and Britain. After a successful run with the group, mutual musical differences led to a parting of the ways. Cetera then realized a life-long ambition and launched his career as a solo artist. He won immense popularity and critical praise with his debut solo album, Solitude/Solitaire, which has the unmistakable sound and romantic intensity he has been polishing his entire career. The first single released from that album, "Glory of Love," hit the No. 1 spot on the charts. The song was written as the theme for "The Karate Kid, Part II," and garnered both a Grammy Award nomination and an Academy Award nomination, and brought him the honor of performing at the Academy Awards ceremony. Another Grammy Award nominee and No. 1 hit from that album, "The Next Time I Fall," a duet with popular Christian singer Amy Grant, set the precedent for his surprising pairings with top-notch female vocalists. The hits have continued on his subsequent albums. His second album, titled One More Story, yielded "One Good Woman," which rose to No. 1 on the adult contemporary charts. On 1992's World Falling Down, "Restless Heart" stayed at No. 1 for 10 weeks; the album also features a hugely popular duet with Chaka Khan, "Feels Like Heaven," and the Top five hit "Even a Fool Can See." In 1997, Cetera released his fourth album, One Clear Voice.
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