Peter Sarstedt (10 December 1941 – 8 January 2017) was a British singer-songwriter and instrumentalist. He was the brother of singers Eden Kane, a teenage pop idol and Clive Sarstedt, with both of whom he also recorded and performed as The Sarstedt Brothers.
Peter Eardley Sarstedt actually had a surprising musical pedigree, in that he was the sibling of early-'60s British teen idol Eden Kane. He was born in New Delhi, India, to Albert and Coral Sarstedt, both in the civil service in what was still a British possession in 1942. The following year, his parents moved the family to Kurseong near Darjeeling, in the shadow of Mt. Everest, where Albert took over the management of a tea plantation. Sarstedt was one of six children and, like his siblings, was educated at boarding schools favored by the British living in India for much of his childhood.
From the time he was five years old, the family relocated to Calcutta, and later -- amid the turmoil and uncertainty following independence in 1947 -- the family finally moved to England in 1954. Albert Sarstedt had passed away during the extended preparation for the relocation, and it was a truly new existence that they began in South London that year. Sarstedt's older brother Richard -- who had seriously entertained notions of studying architecture -- soon found himself sidetracked into music.
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| Clive, Eden Kane & Peter |
Richard Sarstedt was a serious Bill Haley fan, in addition to being a natural (and highly proficient) guitarist, and by 1957 he'd organized his own skiffle band, which included Peter Sarstedt and younger sibling Clive Sarstedt. As the Fabulous Five, they played lots of local clubs and coffee bars, gaining experience and honing their sound, so that by 1961 Richard Sarstedt won a talent competition that got him a recording contract and a name change, to Eden Kane.
Peter Sarstedt and his brother Clive continued to accompany their brother as members of his band throughout the early '60s. Clive Sarstedt, billed at one time as Robin Sarstedt, also recorded in his own right, at first as a musical protégé of Joe Meek, who produced his debut single (released credited to "Clive Sands"). He subsequently scored a hit in 1976, as Robin Sarstedt, with the song "My Resistance Is Low."
Peter Sarstedt eventually gravitated toward his own musical interests and sound, which differed somewhat from those of his brother. He began writing songs in 1966, and although he keenly appreciated the pop side of music, he came at it from a much stronger folk influence. His first two singles, "I Must Go On" and "I Am a Cathedral," disappeared without ever charting in 1968. The combination of folk and pop paid big dividends in early 1969, however, when his "Where Do You Go To (My Lovely)?" went to number one in the British charts, and copped the Ivor Novello Award (sharing it with David Bowie's "Space Oddity"). A none too sympathetic portrait of a young Euro jet-setter set to a faux European waltz tune, it reached the top chart position in 14 other countries, but was only a tiny hit in the U.S. Sarstedt did manage another Top Ten single in his native U.K. with "Frozen Orange Juice" later that year. He also released a self-titled debut album that reached number eight on the British charts.
In the 1980s and 1990s, Sarstedt frequently toured the southern UK as part of the "Solid Silver '60s" package tours, having returned to England after several years residing in Denmark. In the 1990s and 2000s, he continued to release new albums and tour. In 1997 he released the album England's Lane, which featured the follow-up to "Where Do You Go To", entitled "The Last of the Breed" and in 2007 an album of new material called On Song. He sang harmonies on "Don't Think Twice" and "The Last Thing on My Mind" on Canadian singer Peter Thompson's 2007 album, Taking a Dive (Heart First).
Sarstedt's final album, released in 2013, was titled Restless Heart. It was produced by Ray Singer and the single and accompanying video, "Valentine", directed and produced by Lara Singer, was released on Singer Records. A third installment of "Where Do You Go To", continuing the story of Marie-Claire, to be titled "Farewell Marie-Claire", did not materialize. Sarstedt last performed live in 2010, then retired due to ill health.
Sarstedt married dentist Anita Atke in 1969 and moved to Denmark. The couple divorced five years later. His second wife was Joanna Meill. From 2013 he lived in a retirement home in Sussex, England. He had progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), diagnosed in 2015, but originally misdiagnosed as dementia in 2013. He died on 8 January 2017 at the age of 75.
(Edited from Wikipedia & AllMusic)