User:Peterschott99/sandbox

Peter Schott

Peter Schott is an American composer, producer, and instrumentalist. His music incorporates a variety of styles and influences, in particular American Jazz, Pop and European Classical music. Career[edit] Peter Stefan Schott was born in Lynn, Massachusetts, USA on June 22, 1953. His mother Renate, father Alexander, and two brothers Michael and Thomas emigrated from Weimar, Germany. Growing up in the blue-collar city of Lynn, Schott was exposed early on to all kinds of instrumental and choral music. Schott began his musical career performing in classical recitals at age 6 and studied classical piano and performed works by Bach, Beethoven, and Mozart. Schott joined his first rock band, MG’s Dynamite Five, in high school and later played with Mother Sphinx, with close friend Steve Cundy. In college, Schott studied Music Theory and Composition, with a minor in performance. Performing both European Classical and American Jazz, Schott worked with Max Roach, Archie Shepp and Charles Greenlea. He moved to New York City in 1977 and studied with Be Bop pioneers Walter Bishop Jr. and Barry Harris. Involved in the Loft Jazz scene in the late 1970’s in New York, Schott performed with John Betsch, Frank Peterson, Juma Santos and Chico Freeman. As an early contributor to the Punk and New Wave music scenes in New York City, Schott performed with James White and the Blacks, Cristina, Crispin Cioe, Big Apple Reggae, and many other groups associated with ZE Records. Schott met August Darnell in 1979 and became an original member of Kid Creole and the Coconuts. Throughout the 1980s, Schott was musical director for Kid Creole and the Coconuts. Their breakthrough came with 1982's Tropical Gangsters, which hit #3 in the UK and spun off three Top 10 hits with "Stool Pigeon", "Annie, I'm Not Your Daddy" and "I'm a Wonderful Thing, Baby". “	Their live shows at this time were among the most propulsive and enchanting of the period, with outlandish dancing and cod theatricals garnishing the Latin beats."[6] ” With Darnell, Schott composed multiple hit records including: I’m A Wonderful Thing, Baby, Happy Birthday, Baby, Pardon My Appearance, Distractions, Agony and Ecstacy, and Oh Marie. Schott now lives in Boston and New York and leads a large Audio Video production unit for an Educational Publisher, Cengage Learning. He has won multiple Telly Awards for Educational Video productions including: Liaisons, Doble Via, Exploraciones, Welcome To Our World, and Welten. He is currently collaborating with writer/producer August Darnell on a contemporary musical, to be produced by Schott In the Dark Music.