Pete Wingfield born 7 May 1948

The Nazz

Wingfield was born in Liphook, Hampshire, England in 1948. He was a devotee of American R&B and soul music, and learned the piano as a boy. His interest in soul music was sufficient to lead him to an early career as a music journalist while still in his teens, founding one fanzine devoted to soul music and publishing articles on the subject in other, established magazines. Whilst at school he helped form two groups:- The Groovediggers and also The Nazz. He led a group called Pete's Disciples and attended Sussex University, where he and fellow students Paul Butler (guitar) and John Best (bass) later teamed up with local teacher Chris Waters (drums) to form the blues band Jellybread. 

In addition to playing all of the keyboards in the band, Wingfield handled most of the signing, and they had enough confidence in the worth of their work to record an album for their own Liphook label, which became, in effect, their demo for the Blue Horizon label, which signed them in 1970. Despite good reviews, the group didn't enjoy enough success to justify a continued effort, and Wingfield left in 1971 -- by that time, he'd played sessions with ex-Yardbirds guitarist Top Topham, and one-time blues bandleader Graham Bond, and he ended up playing on B.B. King's In London album, as well as on recordings by Lightnin' Slim, Memphis Slim, and Nazareth. 

Olympic Runners

He played with Keef Hartley's band for a short time, and was also a member of Colin Blunstone's band, as well as playing with Van Morrison. Initially with help from his association with Blue Horizon and its founder, Mike Vernon, Wingfield appeared on dozens of albums in the early and mid-'70s, including those by the Hollies, and also served as a member of the Blue Horizon-spawned group the Olympic Runners, which included DeLisle Harper (bass) and Glen LeFleur (drums), both of whom played on Wingfield's first solo album, Breakfast Special (1975), which included "Eighteen with a Bullet." 

Wingfield hit the singles charts on both sides of the Atlantic in 1975 with "Eighteen with a Bullet," a pastiche doo-wop number involving word play on hit record chart positions—a bullet, in record-chart parlance, referring to a song still selling strongly and/or moving up the charts. It entered the Billboard Hot 100 chart on 23 August 1975. On the Billboard Hot 100 for the week ending 22 November 1975, the tune lived up to its name by charting at no. 18, with a bullet. The song peaked at no. 15 a week later. It also reached no. 7 in the UK Singles Chart. while peaking at number 31 on the Australian charts in late 1975. The song was Wingfield's only charting single in any of these three countries."Eighteen with a Bullet" featured on the only album Wingfield released, Breakfast Special, on Island label and also in 1975. A follow-up album, 'Love Bumps and Dizzy Spells', was never released until 2008 on a Cherry Red compilation. 

But the lack of any follow-up success hardly seemed to matter, in a career that had him playing dozens upon dozens of sessions and live shows every year, with everyone from Freddie King to Al Stewart to Maggie Bell. Among his more prominent appearances in the mid-'70s was on the concert album Hollies Live (aka Live Hits), which became a major underground hit -- at around the same time, he also worked on records by Edwin Starr, Lindisfarne, Richard & Linda Thompson, Bonnie Tyler, Billy Fury, and Lonnie Donegan. Wingfield was also a specialist in soul music and regularly contributed articles and reviews to the monthly journal, "Let It Rock" and "Melody Maker". 

Meanwhile, as a songwriter, he contributed the title track to the Olivia Newton-John album Making a Good Thing Better (1977). In 1978 he wrote an amusing cult dance hit for Patti LaBelle titled "Eyes in the Back of My Head", featured on her Tasty album. 

As a producer, he helmed the 1980 debut album by Dexy's Midnight Runners. He had previously worked with Phil Everly, and in the early '80s, he became a member of the Everly Brothers' backing band, starting with their reunion of that era and continuing on subsequent tours and recordings. ". In 1985, he produced the Kane Gang's debut album Bad and Lowdown World of the Kane Gang. Three years later his production credits appeared on The Proclaimers UK Top 20 hit "I'm Gonna Be" and their album Sunshine on Leith. 

(Edited from AllMusic & Wikipedia)