Daniel Boone

Daniel Boone (born Peter Charles Green; 31 July 1942 – 27 January 2023) was an English pop musician who became a one-hit wonder in the United States with the single "Beautiful Sunday" in 1972. The song was written by Boone and Rod McQueen and sold over 2,000,000 copies worldwide. It peaked at number 15 on The Billboard Hot 100 singles chart at the end of the summer of 1972, having already reached number 21 on the UK Singles Chart earlier during that same year. In 1972, Boone was the recipient of the "Most Likeable Singer" award from Rolling Stone magazine.

Peter Green (later to become Peter Lee Stirling) started his career as the guitarist and vocalist with a band called the Beachcombers that played gigs in the Birmingham area during the period from 1958 to 1962. Their fortunes changed when they encountered Tommy Bruce, who had a number 3 hit in 1960 with "Ain't Misbehavin'". This, and some subsequent releases, had been attributed to 'Tommy Bruce and the Bruisers', despite the fact that the instrumental backings were provided by session musicians at EMI. Bruce's account of the meeting was as follows:

"I met them up in Birmingham. They were working at the Plaza club. I was gigging there. They were great. Vocal, backing, the lot. Especially Pete (Peter Green) on lead guitar. He was magnificent. I said ‘how would you like to become The Bruisers?’ They jumped in and loved it. Peter “Mac” McGinty was on bass (born Peter Julian McGinty, 16 August 1941, Birmingham, Warwickshire), Donald McGinty was on drums (born 23 June 1946, Birmingham, Warwickshire), Bobby Coral, (born John Ship, 1 September 1940, Birmingham, Warwickshire), was on backing vocals with Pete Green".

The Bruisers started their recording career at EMI with Bruce and his manager Barry Mason, who later became a famous songwriter. Peter Green released a solo recording of a song called "My Heart Commands Me" under the name 'Lee Stirling' in March 1963. Mason and (the now renamed) Stirling then collaborated on what was for both of them their first songwriting effort. Mason recalls this as follows:

"The first person I wrote with was Peter Lee Stirling, who later became Daniel Boone and was originally Peter Green. He was with a group called The Beachcombers, who became The Bruisers, who backed Tommy Bruce! And my first chart thing ever was a thing called "Blue Girl" for The Bruisers, which I wrote with Peter".

Biography summary from English Wikipedia, photograph via Wikimedia Commons.