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He was educated in Hong Kong, England, and Australia and started his musical career with a 4 week fill-in for "Malcolm Jones and The Silhouettes" in Christchurch, New Zealand. This was followed closely by a stint at Surf City with "The Venturers" - which included George Drayton (Bass), Ted Meares (Guitar) and Jim Whitfield (Drums), and Graham Hirst (Lead Guitar). A change in bass player (Peter Hansen replaced George Drayton) saw the group move on to The Plainsman. "The Downbeats" which featured Arthur Muir (Guitar), Don Clarkson (Guitar), Doug Petrie (Drums) and Paul Bradley (Bass)" was the next port of call for the up-and-coming keyboardist. Peter joined "Peter Nelson and The Castaways" in Wellington playing nightclubs and making recordings, before moving on to Sydney for a few years where the group featured on all major TV networks, and were regulars on Bandstand, It's All Happening, as well as Billy Thorpes TV Show. The Castaways were resident at the The Hawaiian Eye NiteClub, The Whisky A Go Go, The P.A. Club, and negotiated a sucessful recording contract with E.M.I. Peter played at the Smiggins Hole Ski Resort near Thredbo, NSW for 4 months with Dave Kennedy and Peter Skerrett, after which he returned to Sydney for one month playing hotels etc.. November 1968 saw the start of a four month tour of Vietnam. Based at the Da Nang Hotel, the group (which again included Dave Kennedy) performed 14 shows a week with frequent trips on C130 Hercules aircraft. He again went back to Sydney to team up with Len Ormsby (ex Castaways) in a group called "The Traque" - a two year residency at the Hawaiian Eye's Cheetah Room followed. Christchurch, New Zealand was the next destination to join "Chapta" from 1971-73 on the Mojos/Ballins Hotels circuit. Several south and north island tours backing major NZ artists resulted, with the highlight being a nationwide tour with Lulu. Peter then joined Neville Barrie's "Footsteps" with Neville on guitar and John Clark on drums, and spent 5 years playing hotels, clubs, private functions (7-8 jobs per week !) and heaps of radio and TV commercials. "Freedom" was formed with Doug Petrie and Lyall Barron and that group appeared at The Bush Inn before the next venture "Moviez" (with Pat, Leon and Jimmy Kearns plus Kerry Church) continued at The Bush Inn before a move to the Adam's Apple group (with Dave Kennedy, Jay Peters, Kerry Church and Paul Matthews). Reality kicked in briefly (for 3 months) and Peter took over the music department of Sedley Wells in Riccarton, Christchurch, before again being caught by the music bug and forming a trio with Leon and Jimmy Kearns. "Chasing Paper" with Brian Smith, Larry McKay, and drummer Peter Casserley, was the next focus. Three separate two-year residencies were to follow with Allan Morrison at Cokers Hotel (in parallel with a Monday and Sunday stint at Henry Africa's) and The Star And Garter Hotel, before the "Larry and Peter" duo finally surfaced at the Star And Garter. Alan and Peter then did two years at the Sequoia Restaurant. 1991 ushered in a period of cabaret-style combos and venues, which included Twiggers (Lyn and Peter, Peter Nelson, Tracey Gardyne, Brian Smith), and Lyn and Peter at the Sequoia and Hoon Hay 88 Restaurants. Four years were spent as musical director for "The Happy Half-hour Show" (a musical variety show on Canterbury Television presented by the late Sandy Davis) - band members included Doug Petrie, Trevor Wright and Graham Wardrop. 1976-86 was consumed with the ultra-successful That's Country TV Series of which Peter was one of only two musicians who performed in EVERY show - over 200 programs were sold to Cable TV Networks in the USA, making That's Country one of the greatest NZTV productions ever. Recently Peter has been running the "Peter Gillette Keyboard School Of Music" which has involved teaching at intermediate and secondary schools, and he's just LOVING IT !!
