In the break at the Pardoner’s gig yesterday Sam See (one half of the Pardoners) told me Pete Williams was there. ‘Here?’ I responded. He was. You could have knocked me over with that proverbial feather.

I first listened to Pete play when he was in the Meteors with Max Merritt on tour in New Plymouth way back in October 1964. He was with them when they re-located to Sydney and for all the Sydney years.

Max Merritt & the Meteors circa 1964 with Pete Williams 3rd from left

After he left the Meteors he was hand-picked to be the lead singer for super-group the Groove who won the national Battle of the Sounds in 1968. They took their prize (their trip to the UK) in 1969. One of the songs they recorded there was The Wind written by Pete and Tweed Harris. Of this song music magazine Go Set noted it was “a showcase for the outstanding singing voice of Peter Williams, who gives the vocal performance of a lifetime on this song – throaty, theatrical and truly emotional.” It was their last single before the group disbanded. Pete then joined the superb Australian group the Mixtures who were also in the UK at that time.

He returned to Christchurch in the mid-90s and continued to work in the music industry for many years.

He was in Melbourne to see other past members of the Mixtures who were also at the Pardoners’ gig that day.