Music
Peter Rivera
born 1944 · singer, drummer
Detroit-born lead singer and drummer of Rare Earth, Motown's rock band, whose voice carried “Get Ready” and “I Just Want to Celebrate.”
- Born
Detroit, Michigan
age 82- Birth name
- Peter Hoorelbeke
- Detroit years
- 1944–1970s
- Field
- Music
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Peter Hoorelbeke grew up in a Detroit factory family; when he was nine a door-to-door salesman sold his parents thirty drum lessons, and although they could afford only three, he kept practicing to big-band records. He bought a proper kit with money from his paper route and worked in a factory as a young man. In the early 1960s he joined the Sunliners, a hard-working Detroit club band, and soon doubled as lead singer. Renamed Rare Earth in 1968, the band became the first act on Motown's new rock label, which took its name from them. With Rivera singing from behind the drums, Rare Earth reached No. 4 with “Get Ready” (1970) and No. 7 with “(I Know) I'm Losing You” and the original “I Just Want to Celebrate.” He left in 1983, later led the Classic Rock All-Stars, and in 2016 his voice was sampled in Kanye West's “Fade.”
Highlights
- Lead singer and drummer of Rare Earth (1968–1983)
- “Get Ready” reached No. 4 in the U.S. (1970)
- “I Just Want to Celebrate” reached No. 7 (1971)
- Vocals sampled in Kanye West's “Fade” (2016)