Peter Wolf – born Peter Blankfield in The Bronx, New York on March 7, 1946 - is a vocalist best known as the frontman for the J. Geils Band from 1968 to 1983. Raised in Boston, Massachusetts, he emerged from that city’s music underground in the late 1960s with an encyclopedic love of R&B, Chicago blues, soul, and early rock ’n’ roll. Initially, Peter Wolf studied visual art, worked as a counterculture radio DJ, and absorbed lessons from blues elders who passed through New England clubs. Those influences came together in the J. Geils Band, where his swaggering vocals and streetwise storytelling became the band’s emotional engine. Across the 1970s and early ’80s, the group evolved from a club-level blues-rock act into an arena-dominating hit machine, scoring iconic singles like “Love Stinks” (1980), “Centerfold” (1981), and “Freeze-Frame” (1982). After leaving the J. Geils Band in 1983, Peter Wolf launched a solo career that leaned deeper into soul, funk, and contemporary pop while maintaining his roots-conscious edge. His debut solo album, Lights Out (1984), landed in the Top 40 and included the hit singles “Lights Out,” “I Need You Tonight,” and “Crazy.” He scored a sizable hit with the title track to his 1987 album Come As You Are, although his chart hits dried up by the early 1990s. Outside of his solo career and work with the J. Geils Band, Peter Wolf also collaborated with a wide array of artists including Little Milton and Aretha Franklin. After his departure from the J. Geils Band, the group continued for one more album before splitting up. However, they reunited several times for live gigs between 1999 and 2015 with Peter Wolf on lead vocals. The reunions came to an end with the death of guitarist J. Geils in 2017.
