* En anglais uniquement
Peter Albin grew up in San Francisco and initially arrived on the city's booming folk music scene in the early '60s as a guitarist. In tandem with drummer Chuck Jones and fellow guitarist
Sam Andrew, he formed the core of the group that became
Big Brother & the Holding Company.
Albin had a very melodic guitar style that was pleasing to the ear, but he later switched over to bass and opened the way for his friend
Jim Gurley -- who had a much more distinctive and experimental approach to the instrument -- to take the second guitar spot (occasionally
Gurley or
Andrew would switch to bass so that
Albin could play some guitar).
Albin was also the group's original lead singer, a fact often overlooked because of the fame that the band later achieved with
Janis Joplin in the lead vocal spot -- he continued to contribute vocals after her arrival, however, and moved back into the spot following her departure.
Albin and company were a fine folk band, and could play the blues well for a white band, but
Joplin was convinced -- unwisely, many would say -- by the spring of 1968 that she could do better, and parted company with
Big Brother. Suddenly left high and dry,
Albin, along with drummer
David Getz, joined
Country Joe & the Fish for a good chunk of 1969, but were back with
Big Brother by the end of the year and trying to establish a post-
Joplin career. The group actually released a pair of albums,
Be a Brother and How Hard It Is, on Columbia in 1971, but never attracted more than a fraction of the audience or the press that they'd gotten with their classic lineup.
Albin has since played periodically with
Country Joe McDonald and
Barry Melton, as well as with the reactivated
Big Brother. He was also the founder during the early '80s of
the Dinosaurs, a jocularly named ensemble of veteran Bay Area musicians from the 1960s, including
Melton and other past musical associates. He remains an active member of
Big Brother & the Holding Company in the 21st century. ~ Bruce Eder