Peter Green - ‘Heavy Heart’ on Top of the Pops 1971 | Blues In Colour / Smiling Corgi Press article

 I found this extraordinary piece on one of the pages I visit on Facebook Blues.In.Colour and it makes for a sad story and I followed up with further reading . . . . note this performance on Top of The Pops (extraordinarily enough) is post the night of the LSD trip in Germany that triggered Peter’s schizophrenia or certainly psychotic episodes and whilst it is largely believed he did little to nothing after that and his leaving his beloved Fleetwood Mac that is not the full story . . . .  

Peter Green - ‘Heavy Heart’ on Top of the Pops 1971

Final clip for Pater Greens birthday and kind of apt with a mimed performance to promote his debut solo single, “Heavy Heart” (aired on 17th, June, 1971).

Please support the channel, it’s greatly appreciated! https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/bluesincolour

In 1971, Peter Green was in a state of deep personal and professional flux. Having walked away from the global fame of Fleetwood Mac the previous year, his life in 1971 was defined by a bizarre, temporary return to his old band, a fleeting attempt at a solo career, and his worsening psychological decline.

The most famous event of Green’s year happened entirely by accident. In February 1971, while Fleetwood Mac was on tour in Los Angeles, guitarist Jeremy Spencer walked out of the hotel to buy a magazine and never came back, he’d left the band to join a religious cult called the “Children of God”.

Desperate to fulfill their remaining 6 weeks of U.S. tour dates, Mick Fleetwood called Green and begged him to help. Green flew out immediately but refused to be billed as a headliner. He performed under the pseudonym “Peter Blue”. He did occasionally step up to the mic, singing “Black Magic Woman” and playing a medley of old rock ‘n’ roll tracks.

Once the tour wrapped up, the band hoped he might stay. Green, however, made it clear his return was strictly a rescue mission, and he walked away for good

In June 1971, he released a standalone, beautifully melancholic instrumental solo single titled “Heavy Heart”. To promote it, he made this rare appearance on the BBC’s Top of the Pops, playing the track alongside co-writer Nigel Watson on bass. The track showcased the haunting, fragile guitar tone he was famous for, but it did not achieve massive commercial success.

https://linktr.ee/blues.in.colour

further reading at the excellent Smiling Corgi Press - Peter Green by Dave Kelly

SMILING CORGI PRESS