Brian Peacock is a bassist whose career has carried him halfway around the world from his native New Zealand at various points. Born in Levin, New Zealand, in 1946, he grew up in the shadow of Mt. Owen near the town of Murchison. He was drawn to music at an early age and took up the guitar. He found the bass guitar -- then a relatively new instrument -- more to his interest, and built his first such instrument himself. Peacock became sufficiently skilled on the four-stringed instrument to earn his first spot in a band at age 14. He joined the Bel Airs, a band from Nelson, who soon called themselves the Downbeats, and for a time Peacock not only played with them but handled their promotion as well. In 1963, while playing with the Downbeats, he was spotted by the Librettos -- the top rock & roll group in New Zealand -- and offered a spot with them, which also made him part of their weekly television show, which came out of Wellington, where they were based. The group played on bills with Roy Orbison and the Rolling Stones on their visits to New Zealand in the mid-'60s. Eventually, the Librettos had gone as far as they could in their own country, and decided to try to succeed in Australia, which resulted in their moving to Melbourne in 1965. They released two singles on HMV, and subsequently signed to the Sydney-based Sunshine label. A string of single releases and membership changes followed, and eventually Peacock and his bandmate, lead guitarist Rod Stone, left the Librettos to join the Playboys, who were also signed to Sunshine, and were getting lots of exposure playing as the backing band to singer Normie Rowe. A soul shouter with a huge following in Australia, Rowe's popularity earned him a chance to tour England with the Playboys. The group -- with Trevor Griffin now on keyboards and Mick Rogers replacing Stone on guitar -- cut a single for Andrew Oldham's Immediate Records label in 1967. Peacock, Griffin, and Rogers decided to call it quits as the Playboys late that year and returned to Australia, where they became three-quarters of Procession, a psychedelic-pop outfit whose recordings went on to achieve something of a world-wide cult following. After the breakup of that band in the early '70s, Peacock relocated to England with his family, and later returned to Australia, where he has been involved on the management end of music in the years since. ~ Bruce Eder, Rovi