Images of Peter: Finding Peter Godwin

Popshifter:: You have developed (whether you realize it or not) a very dedicated cult following related to your early 1980s musical endeavors—most specifically due to your solo tracks released circa 1981 – 1982 (“Images of Heaven,” “Torch Songs for the Heroine,” and “Emotional Disguise” to name just three) and songs you produced for other European singers (Nathalie’s “My Love Won’t Let You Down” is just one example). Your musical style at this time seemed evolved from Italo-Disco. . . was this foray into this genre incidental or just a happy accident?

Peter Godwin: I really only realized recently just how much people still enjoyed the solo records I made at that time with the advent of the Internet. Because when I finally started Googling myself, I suddenly stumbled over this overwhelmingly positive reaction out there to my work. Some of it from contemporaries, saying things like, “When I first met my wife-to-to-be at college, we were 18 and ‘Images Of Heaven’ was ‘our song’.” But also, from 16- and 18-year-olds saying things like, “I LOVE this song, never heard it before, thanks for posting it (on YouTube). I’m 16 and I want to know, why don’t they make music like this anymore?”

Well, then I felt the love as they say: I knew something was up! Which is why now I’m completely embracing all this six-degrees-of-separation of networking the Web, if only to say hi to all those people out there who were wondering where I am and let them know that the music still flows out of me, actually it never stopped. . . and hey, here’s what I’m doing now, have a listen. Actually, I believe when people listen to Nuevo and the Sunset Rise album, they will sense that some of the same blood is running in those veins. . .

As for Italo-Disco. . . well, it’s true that Nathalie Gabay’s “My Love Won’t Let You Down” (also known as “Mon Coeur Qui Craque” in the French version) was a big hit in Italy in 1983, as was the follow-up which I also wrote and co-produced, “Heaven On Earth.” By the way, this was four years before Belinda Carlisle’s similar “Heaven Is a Place on Earth” got to number one in the US and all over the world. That was written by Rick Nowles and Ellen Shipley.

I actually gave “Heaven On Earth” to the producer John Luongo who was meant to produce that album, but didn’t end up doing it. . . he was looking for song ideas for Belinda; I gave him the original and the Extended Mix, too, because it had some pretty touches. I don’t know if she or her writers ever heard “Heaven on Earth.” But it’s quite a coincidence, isn’t it? One day listen to the long mix alongside of Belinda Carlisle’s mega-hit. See what you think. I’ve actually never told anyone that story. Probably I should ask John Luongo about who heard what. In another way, I don’t want to know.

OK, I digress, back to the question. I also had some success in Italy as a solo artist with those tracks you mentioned: “Images of Heaven” and “Emotional Disguise” especially, but also “Baby’s In the Mountains” from Correspondence. I would fly in to Milan and do some TV shows, then fly down to Rome and do some more. Even Metro’s “Criminal World,” my very first single, had had its highest chart success in Italy—it got to number two! The only other place I remember it going Top 20 was Norway! They famously banned it from Radio I in the UK; they thought the lyrics were too. . . suggestive. . . this was long before David Bowie covered it on Let’s Dance.

So I went to Italy quite a bit to promote my records, even sang at the Sanremo song festival, and got to know some of the big Italian pop stars of the day quite well. Lordana Bertè was one. . . she’s still a big star there.

Click here to read more from Peter Godwin on. . .

Setting The Scene
Influences
Cult Following and Italo-Disco
Benitez, Bowie, and Electronic Music
French and Spanish Inspirations
Producing and Writing
The English and European Aesthetic
Working with Steve Winwood
Off The Map
Working with Others
Forays Into Acting
More On Acting

Introduction:

Cherchez la femme: “Images of Heaven”
Discovering Peter Godwin
Rediscovering Peter Godwin

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