Dan Peek

Daniel Milton Peek (November 1, 1950 – July 24, 2011) was an American musician, singer, and songwriter, best known as the co-founder of the band America, and later a "pioneer" in contemporary Christian music.

Peek was born in Panama City, Florida, on November 1, 1950, while his father was in the U.S. Air Force.

Beginning in 1963, Peek was educated at London Central Elementary High School at Bushey Hall in North London. For the 1965–66 school year, Peek attended San Angelo Central High School after his family relocated from Pakistan earlier that year. He moved again to England in 1968 with his family when his father was assigned to a base in London. It was there that he met Dewey Bunnell and Gerry Beckley at London Central High School.

In 1973, he married Catherine Maberry (d. March 11, 2021), with whom he would write a number of songs, including "Lonely People".

When Peek was young he suffered from rheumatoid arthritis and had to be hospitalized 100 miles (160 km) away from the family home; his parents could visit only occasionally. Peek remembered this experience when, about a year before he died, he decided to dispose of five of his vintage guitars. Because the Ronald McDonald Houses exist to provide housing for families of hospitalized children close to hospitals around the United States and the world, Peek donated these five guitars to the San Diego house, where they were subsequently sold to a collector, resulting in a $50,000 donation (equivalent to $74,000 in 2025).

Biography summary from English Wikipedia, photograph via Wikimedia Commons.