Nottingham piano player.
Peter Baylis was sometimes better know as Pete the Feet and was an extraordinary piano player who devoted his life to playing and entertaining. He was born in October 1957 in Wollaton, Nottingham and went to Russell Infants School. At five it was noticed he had an innate talent and he was given piano lessons by Mr Vasey, organist at Nottingham’s Albert Hall and at six he was playing in front of the school. He practiced at home reaching a high level but after seeing Oscar Peterson at the Albert Hall he realised he must do more. He added jazz to his playing and then blues when he saw Graham Bond.
At 15 he joined his first group, Down to Earth with Barry Foster, which played at one of the early Nottingham Festivals on the bandstand, Trent Embankment in 1974. He then joined Nottingham Rock and Roll group The Houndogs c1974, then played for rock club act Magnus Opus in 1975-76.
He then joined Dave Burns touring the cruise ships to the Caribbean for a couple of years as the Dave Burns Duo. Later in the 70’s he worked with ‘Summer Rain’. He will have stepped in with many others too.
Late he joined Little Acre in the Midlands. From there he was asked to join Elmer O’Shea and then The Honeydrippers led by former Led Zeppelin vocalist Robert Plant. After that he played the pubs and clubs of Notts becoming known for playing with his feet, nose and chin and in 1992, joining the Running Horse Blues Band.
He went on to appear on national TV featuring on Channel Four’s Big breakfast, BBC’s National Lottery programme and Spanish and German TV slots as well.
He was blessed with being able to play any music by ear needing only minutes to hear a piece before playing it back tackling all genres except opera and ballet which he didn’t like. He wrote his own music as well and played live almost constantly, 300 gigs a year.
He died at the age of sixty.
Nick Cairns made a film for youtube recounting Pete’s life story. One minor point about the film is that the photo of the Houndogs shown in the video is the wrong Houndogs. There was another band in Nottingham in the sixties called ‘ The Hound Dogs’ who have nothing to do with Pete and that is the one that is shown.
Eat, Sleep, Piano: Pete the Feet – His Musical Journey
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Evening Post story 2000
