" The Life Of A Musical Wizard - Pete Sears”
His brilliance goes unnoticed by most and perhaps because of the humility that defines him, Pete Sears is and will remain a gift to an entire generation. A coveted, multi dimensional musician who is a brilliant keyboardist and a bass player with few peers.
Historically, Pete was essentially amidst the second coming of The British Invasion. His work with Rod Stewart (four albums) is a testament to his inherent ability and notoriety. Pete is also known and remembered with the Bohemian posters designed by “Hapshash & The Coloured Coat” (Nigel Waymouth & Michael English) from England.
These dynamic posters from 1967-1969 were their collective efforts that mirrored the works of The Big Five poster artists of sixties San Francisco. While touring with Rod Stewart, a performance in San Francisco would prove to be the end of the damp, blustering weather of London, England and the musings of Pete Sears would see him move to the howling winds and rolling tundra of San Francisco and Golden Gate Park.
Every band Pete was involved with has left a legacy that remains historic and storied, seminal groups who would define the proverbial “San Francisco Sound”. Silver Metre, Copperhead and others would lead to a friendship with John Cippolina and morning thoughts of sixties euphoria and music that mattered.
On occasion, I receive calls from various magazines and the asylum known as "The Hall Of Fame" with insidious questions about the best singers, guitarists and bass players. With Pete, kudos and plaudits abound but his modest demeanor often seem to drift into the proverbial sunset. Every person has their chosen icons, those most admired and emulated as children of “The Counter Culture” and “Woodstock Nation”.
From my menial mind, the best ten bass players in the history of recorded music are; John Entwistle, Jack Bruce, Jack Casady, Paul McCartney, Phil Lesh, Allen Woody, John Paul Jones, Peter Albin, Mark Andes and.......Pete Sears. Paradigm or paradox or perhaps a culmination of both but Pete continues to mesmerize the masses with his chosen touring bands of 2021 - 2022.
Many of those we idolized from “The Golden Age” have left this realm, a glossary of bones of "Rock n Roll Royalty" is in a cacophony under the city lights of Haight Ashbury as they remain the ghosts in our minds and we now remember them with a blessed patience. The trammeled efforts of hippie-esque ideology has always been shaded by sensationalism, hedonism, sex, drugs and "rock n’ roll" without allocation or knowledge of what Pete, Chet Helms and others orchestrated as we became beneficial in Civil Rights, Gay Rights and Women’s Rights.
Pete actually arrived after "Summer Of Love" but has played with all of those chosen souls and acquaintances of the storied days of Bill Graham and Chet Helms, The Fillmores, East and West, Winterland and The Family Dog. There are those coveted moments in time, acquaintances and followers who are aware of “the magic” of neoteric and antiquated “daze” when the music that matters was thought to be the universal answer for “peace”.
Pete Sears is a survivor of those soirees of yesteryear, a brilliant musician but also a gift to society in general. When ask to become a cog in the musical wheel known as Jefferson Starship, his impact was undeniable. With is wife Jeannette, songs written as a tandem would be beneficial in the triumphant return to a touring status for the band. The tenure with Grace Slick and company would be from 1974 to 1987. “Save Your love”, “Winds Of Change” and “Stranger” were tunes that lifted the band from mediocrity to eighties bonafide stardom
The tenacious explorations would ultimately guide Pete from Jefferson Airplane to concentrate with Jeannette on the devastation running rampant in Central America augmented with the abundance of refugees. The chaos, death and destruction was overwhelming for Pete and Jeannette, thus Pete would become a “musical Messiah”, an intrepid warrior for those in need.
Those concerted efforts define Pete Sears, a brilliant musician known world wide but a Humanitarian who should be honored by “The Kennedy Center” (along with Jennette) for untiring efforts to appease the downtrodden across the globe. Chet (Helms) once told me, “If you are ever ill again and you need a benefit to defray medicinal bills, this is who you contact", , “Terry Haggerty, David Freiberg, Barry Melton and Pete Sears”.
Every picture does indeed tell a story and the life of Pete and Jeannete Sears is a lifetime of brilliance, love and appreciation of the intangibles that allow one to be happy for perpetuity. It’s always about what will lift us from “The Mainstream”. In conclusion, an axiom by Eleanor Roosevelt comes to mind when pondering about Pete and Jeanette, “The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” Cheers - Don Aters
