Peter Tevis

Peter Tevis (born 1937, in California, USA, died 13 September 2006 in Washington), was an American folk singer best remembered for his work on the soundtracks of composer Ennio Morricone. Tevis met Morricone while living in Italy in the 1960s, and suggested working together. A 1962 recording of the song "Pastures of Plenty" by Woody Guthrie became a small hit single (RCA PM45-3115). Morricone later reworked it into the title theme of the famous Spaghetti Western movie "A Fistful of Dollars" directed by Sergio Leone and starring Clint Eastwood (without Tevis lyrics). Later they continued to collaborate on a number of recordings. Tevis is credited with singing the lyrics of songs on the soundtracks of several Spaghetti Western movies, including: "A Gringo Like Me" from the film Gunfight at Red Sands "Lonesome Billy" from the film Guns Don't Argue "Per un Pugno di Dollari" (A Fistful of Dollars) Since the 1970s Tevis also produced audio recordings designed to train different families of songbirds to talk. Morricone was indebted to Tevis for the work that he had done and agreed to record and publish the album Un Pugno di... West as payment. Tevis was a cowboy celebrity in Italy and appeared on Italian TV demonstrating roping techniques. Peter was also an accomplished photographer. In his last years he suffered from Parkinson's Disease and had almost lost his voice. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.