Happy Birthday Peter Hunnigale
Published:Saturday | December 12, 2020 | 12:09 AMYasmine Peru/Senior Gleaner Writer
British Reggae singer Peter Hunnigale, known for his lovers’ rock songs, celebrates his birthday today, and it is quite possible that pizza and alcohol are part of the celebratory fare.
Pizza and Alcohol is actually the title of his latest studio album, released last year November by Jet Star Music. It features 12 lovers’ rock covers of some of the greatest R&B, soul and reggae classics, and Hunnigale’s smooth vocals send it rocking with mellow, old school vibes. A listen to Pizza and Alcohol makes it clear why Hunnigale was given the name ‘Mr Honey Vibes’.
The selections are pure genius and among the songs which Hunnigale rebrands are John Lennon’s Jealous Guy, which has a groove that keeps playing in your head; the Anita Baker eternal classic, Giving You The Best That I Got; Al Green’s Let’s Stay Together and Bobby Caldwell’s What You Don’t Do For Love. Since Hunnigale was going for the masters, he obviously had to choose a Bill Withers classic, and this comes in the form of Lovely Day.
The singer, who performed at Reggae Sunsplash in Jamaica 1996, is singularly passionate about the music. In a 2012 interview with unitedreggae.com, he lamented the loss of record stores, noting, “My greatest cry is seeing record shops disappear. I hate it so. Record shops to me are a great place to be and a point where you can get reference to what’s happening with music.”
In that same interview, nearly a decade ago, Hunnigale was like a voice crying in the wilderness and said what some people are saying now, while others are still too timid to say. “Steve Jobs’ name is ironic. People lost jobs because of what he thought was an innovative idea for his company Apple who didn’t give a toss about the music industry or any industry. It’s like ‘I make computers, and I’m going to show that I can put teacups on my computers, I can put tables on, I can put anything on’ and that’s what he did. It was nothing to do with the benefit of mankind or making life better. When they came up with downloading your music through iTunes, a lot of the artists were told ‘You’re never going to make any money off of it’. What do you get for iTunes downloads now? 20 pence? 30 pence? We can never run an industry off of it. Record companies let me down. They should have fought back for their industry and said ‘You can make your iPad but you ain’t putting not one of our records on there. You’re not going to use our industry to sell your product. You’re a computer company. If you’re going to do that make sure you [give] two thirds or at least a third back to the industries you are taking from’ and I’m sure Apple would have said ‘That’s too much’.”
Hunnigale began his musical career playing bass as part of the Vibes Corner Collective, which also featured Barrington Levine, Jimmy Simpson, Ray Simpson and Fitzroy Blake. As well as recording many number one hits in the United Kingdom, Hunnigale also worked with legendary Jamaican producer Gussie Clarke. In 1995 he recorded a version of Declaration Of Rights in a reunion with Tippa Irie, which featured on his Nah Give Up compilation.
Throughout his career, he has been bestowed with numerous awards. He was named Best Reggae Vocalist Of The Year in 1989 and 1991 and in the mid-90s, he made a rare television appearance after winning additional accolades in the Black Music Association Awards.