Peter Straker

Peter Straker (born 7 November 1943) is a Jamaican born singer and actor, best known for appearances in Doctor Who (in the 1979 serial Destiny of the Daleks) and the 1985 ITV series Connie. He also had a long-standing professional and personal relationship with Freddie Mercury.

He first shot to fame in 1968 when he starred as Hud in the original London production of Hair. Straker has starred in countless West End productions since, including Pete Townsend's Tommy, Ken Hill's The Original Phantom of the Opera, Hot Stuff, Blues in the Night, The Rocky Horror Show, The Rat Pack, One Love and Holding On; both with Ruby Turner. His classical roles include Cassius in Julius Caesar at Bristol Old Vic, and Lucio in Measure for Measure at the National Theatre.

Straker also originated the title role of Nosferatu in the British premiere production of Bernard J. Taylor's musical at the Eastbourne Hippodrome in 1995.

Recently he reprised his role in The Wiz with Birmingham Rep, and starred in The Hackney Empire's Cinderella, The Landor Theatre's The Glorious One's and returned to the Edinburgh Festival with a brand new musical show, Peter Straker's Brel which later played at the St James Theatre in London. More recently, Straker has performed in The Queen Elizabeth Hall, London, in a concert performance of Piaf with The Matthew Jones Orchestra.

Selected discography

• Private Parts (1972)
• This One's on Me (1977 produced by Freddie Mercury and Roy Thomas Baker)
• Changeling (1978 produced by Tim Freese-Greene)
• Real Natural Man (1980 produced by Reinhold Mack & Mike Allison)

Appears on

• Hair (musical) Hair (Original Broadway Cast Recording) (1968)
• The Alan Parsons Project: I Robot (album) (1977)
• Freddie Mercury: The Great Pretender (music video) (1987)
• Freddie Mercury and Montserrat Caballé: Barcelona (album)' (1988)

External links

• Peter Straker section at the Girl Stroke Boy page at Androgyne Online
• Peter Straker at IMDb