Peter Wolf | |
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Left to Right: Ray Reach, Chuck Leavell and Peter Wolf at the 2008 Birmingham Area Music Awards (the "BAMA Awards").
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Background information | |
Birth name | Peter F. Wolf |
Born |
Vienna, Austria |
August 25, 1952
Occupation(s) |
Keyboardist Producer Composer |
Peter F. Wolf (born August 26, 1952, Vienna, Austria) is a composer, producer, songwriter and arranger. In 2002, he was awarded the Austrian Cross of Honour for Science and Art, 1st class (Österreichische Ehrenkreuz für Wissenschaft und Kunst). Peter Wolf is married to fashion model and songwriter Lea Wolf-Millesi.
Wolf studied classical piano at Vienna’s Conservatory of Music. At the age of 16, he won the European Jazz Festival as a solo pianist. Wolf was awarded twice with the Deutscher Schallplattenpreis, a German award, for his work with André Heller and Erika Pluhar.
Coming to America in his early twenties, Wolf worked with local musicians such as Neal Starkey (bassist) and Bill Hatcher (guitarist) in Atlanta, Georgia and with Steve Sample, Jr. (drummer, son of Steve Sample, Sr.) and Ray Reach (keyboardist, guitarist, vocalist) in Birmingham, Alabama.
After his time in the southeastern United States, he moved to Los Angeles, California, where he played keyboards for Frank Zappa in the late 1970s. After his work with Zappa, he then went on to the band Group 87 with Patrick O'Hearn, Terry Bozzio, Peter Maunu, and Mark Isham.
In addition to his career in the world of rock and popular music, Wolf has scored a number of motion pictures including the 1993 film Neverending Story III, and Weekend at Bernie's II. Wolf has also composed many scores in Europe including the new animated picture for the Oscar-winning “Best Foreign Film” producer, Sven Ebeling, entitled “Nutcracker and Mouse King”, nominated for the Deutscher Filmpreis. He scored Leon DeWinter’s film The Hollywood Sign, starring Rod Steiger, Burt Reynolds and Tom Berenger.