Peter Andre

Biography

Peter James Andréa was born in London in 1973 to Greek-Cypriot parents, Thea and Savva. He was the last born of six children. The family remained in their London home until he was six years old and at this young age, they emigrated to the gorgeous Gold Coast in Australia, missing the warm climates of Cyprus.

Peter and his father later bought and ran a successful beach resort called Koolamara.
Peter Andre aged approx 5-6 years old

He attended Benowa High School during his teenage years where he discovered his love for music, mainly music from the well-known Motown label even though his peers were all listening to rock music at the time. Peter took his love for music further by showing particular enthusiasm in his favourite subjects, Music and Drama.

He composed his first song at age thirteen with his brother Chris, this song was the amazing 'Dream A Little' and it later appeared on his self-titled album. Chris also managed Peter during the early years of his Australian career.

Soon after this Peter began to enter every possible talent competition he could find. Many times he was knocked back for wanting to perform 'older people's music' instead of songs by modern day artists. Despite the knockbacks, Peter persisted on singing classics such as 'Stand by Me' by Ben E King and 'My Girl' by the Temptations, and eventually won his first local talent quest.

At the age of sixteen Peter applied for 'New Faces' and after 12 months of his persistant calls they finally agreed to let him audition for the show. Two weeks later the show went to air...
For his moment in the spotlight, he chose to perform Bobby Brown’s ‘Don’t Be Cruel’ – complete with his own original choreography and Michael Jackson style white socks! He made history on the show by being offered a recording contract by Molly Meldrum live on air, something that had never been done before.

Peter Andre performing on New Faces Talent Show

He then went on to achieve his first Top 5 Australian single with 'Gimme Little Sign' at the age of 19. This single became Australia's fastest selling single in 1993. Peter received numerous national awards in Australia for his outstanding musical achievements.
His debut self-titled album followed this initial success, including nine songs written or co-written himself.

At age 23, Peter was chosen to be the special guest performer for both the Madonna and Bobby Brown concert tours. This led to huge opportunities for Peter to return to the UK to start writing and recording music for a much wider market.

The success of the first album led him to want the same in Britain, hitting our shores in 1995 touring with East 17 for their UK and then European tour. However, success wasn’t easy to come by at first as his first two British singles failed to make the Top 40.

Still taken from Gimme Little Sign video

He decided to use new material, not wanting to do as expected – to release the Australian hits. However his next release ‘Only One’ was starting to show more promise for his British career, hitting the Top 20 at Number 16, followed by the second release of ‘Mysterious Girl’ finally making Number 2 in the UK Charts securing his success in the UK.

Boyzone then invited Peter to support them on their UK tour and all was going well until he fell ill. While recovering he filled in time as a reporter for Channel 4's 'The Big Breakfast and presenting for 'MTV'

His next single out was 'Flava' and proved to him that the public hadn't forgotten about him during his absence from the pop charts. He then achieved a success in the UK that no previous Australian artist debuting in the UK had ever achieved. He was the first Australian male artist to debut at No. 1 in the UK, with 'Flava'. It undoubtedly helped Peter scoop two awards at the year end Smash Hits Poll Winners Party.

Soon followed a total of 3 Top Five hits, including two No.1 hits in the UK and a total of 11 top ten hits worldwide. Peter's most successful release to date, came with the release of "Mysterious Girl" which sold over 2 million copies worldwide, making it the highest selling single of 1996.

Christmas brought a change of pace with 'I Feel You', a romantic ballad with a snow-tinged video which gave Peter his second chart topper. Peter debuted again at No. 1 in the UK with, 'I Feel You' and this led to the release of Peter's first ever UK album 'Natural', which also debuted at No. 1.

The title track of 'Natural' was the next one which was released a few months later and even though most fans already had it on the album it still reached Number six, in a chart packed with boy-bands and Spice Girls. Meanwhile ‘Natural’ the video shot to number one in the sell-through charts offering backstage footage and a peek into Peter's flat.

Chart success soon led to major tours throughout Europe, UK, Asia and Australia. Peter's final support tour was with Tina Turner before embarking on his own UK/European Tour.

Peter's lifelong dream came at the pinnacle of his career, this dream was to perform at Wembley, close to where he was born. He achieved this with a sell-out concert at Wembley Arena on the 16th July 1997.

By 1997 with a multitude of national and international awards to his credit, the 6th highest selling solo artist in the UK during the 90's, Peter's music and merchandise sales had grossed in excess of 20 million pounds.

An early career photo of Peter Andre

Another milestone in Peter's career was achieved when he was chosen as the 'Best Australian Artist', to perform infront of life-long idols Celine Dion and Lionel Ritchie at the World Music Awards in Monaco in 1997.

Musically, Peter was clocking up the air miles thanks to collaborations with American writers and artists like Diane Warren, Montell Jordan and Coolio. The first results of his labours surfaced that summer with 'All About Us', a Number 9 hit featuring rapper Lil Bo Peep.

The lovely ballad 'Lonely' was a Yuletide favourite at number four, while 'All Night All Right', his first single success of 1998 featured Warren G and reached number twelve.

The album 'Time' peaked at a disappointing Number 28 despite drawing press comparisons with George Michael. But proof that Peter wasn't through yet came with 'Kiss The Girl', the theme from Walt Disney's 'The Little Mermaid' that took him back to the UK Top 10 when released as a single in July 1998. Incidentally 'Time' has now outsold the 'Natural' album.

More recently...

Peter stepped out of the limelight around 2000 to concentrate on song writing and working in the recording studio. He has written and co-written in excess of 100 new songs, ranging in style from R&B to soul, Pop to Latin, Reggae to Modern Motown.
He also owned a gym in Larnaca, Cyprus, which he ran with his brother Michael.

In January 2004 rumours started that Peter would be appearing on Granada TV's 'I'm A Celebrity...Get Me Out Of Here' and sure enough on 26th January he appeared on our TV screens with nine other celebrities in the Australian jungle. He filled his time in the jungle writing songs and flirting with glamour model Jordan, entertaining the public but also the press, eager to find a romantic connection between the pair.

Peter finished 3rd in the series and came out finding the public was demanding the re-release of Mysterious Girl, thanks to a campaign by Radio One DJ, Chris Moyles. The song went straight to number 1, making history for being the first time a single had reached the top of the charts on its third time of being released. Same song, same video. Proceeds for this song went to Peter's chosen jungle charity, the NSPCC.
The next release was the much anticipated jungle penned 'Insania'. The video for this was shot on location in Madrid, Spain and it reached number 3 in the charts.
Peter finishes 3rd in the jungle

His album 'The Long Road Back' was put together in three weeks and was released in June 2004 to coincide with a sell out nationwide tour.

Peter was back doing what he does best - performing live to screaming crowds! Sales for the album were disappointing due to lack of promotion and publicity for it, but it is beginning to take off around the world now, particularly in Asia. It still amazes me how many people come on the site and tell me they didn't realise anything had been released after 'Insania'.

His third single from the album was released in September 2004 titled 'The Right Way' and starred his now wife Jordan (Katie Price) in the video. However, lack of radio airplay, and being released at the same time as The Greatest Hits album (which went Gold) limited the song to a number 14 position in the charts.

Peter then concentrated on his private life and got engaged, closely followed by announcing that Katie was expecting his first child due in June 2005. On 13th June 2005, Peter's first son was born by caesarean section, named Junior Savva Andrea and the image of his father. Peter and Katie got married on 10th September 2005 at Highclere Castle in Berkshire, a fairy-tale, magical event attended by many.