What did Peter Cetera sound like before his jaw was broken??

This was a question I carried for a while and I didn't think there would be an answer for me. After I bought the first album, a song called Someday started playing and I could hear Peter singing. I knew this was recorded in 1968 so it was a home run for me, but I did some more research and discovered the first album was recorded before this jaw dropping event happened. I always knew Peter sounded different in Questions 67 & 68 but I thought nothing of it since it was the first song he sang lead on for CTA.

[Txdcblues]

Ok y’all. Your comments are mostly great but some of you are just being flat out disrespectful. Pecos Hank(Hank Schyma) narrates just like this and I’d never tried it before so I did it just to see if I’d like it and I’ve already taken note that y’all don’t like it so if there are any further comments about my narration and spacing etc. the comments will be removed. Please just enjoy the video and be respectful or you can do your own research!

[jonshonebarger]

His voice never changed. His articulation did.

[janealogy]

I really enjoyed your video. I was 21 years old when I first saw Chicago in concert in San Diego in 1971. They were amazing! Thanks for telling this story. I never knew that he’d had his jaw broken.

[charlesoutlaw]

To this day, he is my all-time favorite male vocalist. What a voice.

[iDONTdoFacebook]

Peter Cetera cannot be underrated. He’s one of the greatest songwriters of the past two centuries and ditto on his vocals. Cetera is overflowing with musicianship and talent! One of the greats! One of my all-time favorites!

[poetsdreamsatc]

I love ANYTHING Peter Cetera and Chicago.
I love EVERYTHING Terry Kath as well. Such a legend

[katemaloney]

Before the incident, Peter was singing from his voicebox which is why his voice is clear and just a tad shrill, which is not uncommon for untrained singers. However, after he had to get his jaw wired shut, Peter's voice was coming from his diaphragm, which explains why he had a little bit of grit to his tenor and his high notes were free from the shrill because he had to learn to project from a narrower space. I don't know if he got some professional training (all great singers do) but he also developed his baritone which gave him an edgy tone for a few songs like 'At The Sunrise', 'Song For You', 'Anyway You Want', 'Aloha Mama', 'What's This World Coming To?' and 'Chains'.

[indiana-nan]

He was definitely the voice of Chicago. When he left, it was never the same.

[juliepritchett]

I have loved Peter Cetera for always. I am 78 so I have been listening for a very long time. Love you Peter.

[millsj]

Peter Cetera's voice is so distinctive one of the best vocalist ever.

[tomv]

Glad you mentioned his bass playing. He's phenomenal.

[johnb]

"Questions 67 & 68" was on CTA which was recorded before his jaw was broken. According to drummer Danny Seraphine, the baseball game in question was played in Los Angeles about the time when they were starting to record the second album The game was the LA Dodgers vs the Chicago Cubs at Dodger's Stadium. The 4 Marines didn't like a "group of hippies" at the ballpark and attacked him. His jaw was broken in 4 places and had to be wired shut. The amazing thing is that when he recorded his lead vocal on "25 or 6 to 4" which appeared on the second album his jaw was wired shut even then. That song became a huge hit for the band and you would never know his jaw was wired when he recorded it. He taught himself to sing with half of his mouth closed and to this day he still sings like that out of habit.

[mikebodette]

what a band they were. This was a great piece you did. Thank You very much. That was great

[dougpeters]

Peter has one of the most profoundly beautiful and original voices I have ever heard. He's one of my all-time favorites along with Michael McDonald.
Peters voice is so good he almost never gets recognized for his bass playing which is damn good.

[lourdesheck]

The tone in his voice is perefect. He was definately given a gift😍

[PhilipDrown]

I enjoyed this video. I did not know this about Peter and have never heard the old way he sounded compared to later. Nice job!

[mrchrisfarrell]

I'm not buying this commentary. To begin with, comparing a studio recording to a live recording is not valid evidence of someone's voice changing. Of course, the singer will sound different live vs. studio. Also, I watched the video above very closely and even did some freeze frames. At 4:21 where Peter sings "Can this feeling that we HAVE together" you can see his mouth wide open. It's hard to accept that his jaw is wired shut in this performance. I have no doubt that he had a lot of work to do to regain his singing technique after such an injury and that some effects of it remained with him but as others have mentioned in this thread, singers' voices change over the course of a career. They even change from album to album. It's also worth noting that in the interview portion of this video Peter is referring to singing "Backgrounds" with his jaw wired shut. There are other good reason to doubt that he was singing his lyrically busy signature songs with a wired shut jaw. Much of this sounds like a great story that has grown over the years and has gotten a bit beyond the reality of the situation. I'd like to see or hear more evidence to the contrary.
Thank you.

[karenpristera]

Without Peter Cetera...my all time favorite band...they wouldn't have ever been the sound/group they became❤love ... Love Chicago...Love Peter to the moon and back ❤❤❤❤.... your biggest fan!;;;😊

[joycejean-baptiste]

He still sounds great. I grew up listening to them. I had there album. The albums still sold to there fans. With all the parts all together he amazing vocal stylings. He adapted. amazing ! Thanks for digging deep young man. I truly appreciate it.

[mauriceortiz]

4 marines beating up a long haired hippie in the 1960s! Imagine the shock! How cowardly. They should have been court martialed.