Lancaster, Pete/Piet (eg. Peter Lampert)

Jazz pianist, singer, actor

Born: 23.06.1946 in Wiesbaden

Died: 2012-02-24 in Wiesbaden

Lancaster was the great-nephew of the famous jazz guitarist Jean "Django" Reinhardt (1910-1953) and his guardian was the musician Sylvester Lampert. The 7-year-old Lancaster studied at the Elisabeth Gail Music School and later received lessons at the Mainz Conservatory. His music studies in the 1960s took him via London to the USA, where he graduated from the University of Berkeley with a "Doctor of Jazz" degree. He discovered his love of black music at an early age: soul, jazz and rhythm and blues. In 1960, the 13-year-old played sporadically with the Indo band "The Crazy Rockers" and with "Glenn Barry & The Thunderbirds" in the City Bar in Wiesbaden. It was there that Roman "Romano" Gold discovered him. He was the director of the revue "The Romano Show", an ensemble that combined dance, acrobatics and music from an accompanying band called "The Beat Boys". Concerts on behalf of the US Army took them all over the world. On his 14th birthday, Lampert, who was also known as a multi-instrumentalist, made his debut as the group's singer in Ankara.

The record industry became aware of the 17-year-old singer Piet Lancaster (as he was now called) with a voluminous voice reminiscent of Wilson Pickett (1941-2006). Heinz Gietz (1924-1981) produced three Beat adaptations of famous groups translated into German. Three singles were released by Electrola in 1964 and 1965. In search of a new name, Little Richard, impressed by Lancaster's skills, transferred the rights to the name of his original backing band "The Upsetters" to him. The group now traded under the name "Peter Lancaster (or Big Pete Lancaster) & The Upsetters" and recorded their debut album "Rhythm & Blues" in 1966. At the end of the 1960s, Lancaster tried his hand at jazz with his own trio and played as a guest overseas with greats such as Herbie Mann, Billy Cobham and B. B. King. After his return to Germany, recordings followed with the "Berliner Symphoniker", e.g. "Mack The Knife" or "Happy Gipsy".

Lancaster appeared in the films "Man lebt nur zweimal" (1967) and "Der Name der Rose" (1986) as well as in several episodes of the television series "Ein Fall für zwei". At the end of his life, he lived ill and impoverished in Kaiserslautern. Thanks to the mediation of former Lord Mayor Achim Exner, he was able to move back into an apartment in Wiesbaden in 2011. Lancaster was buried in Biebrich cemetery.