Iconic Musician And Artist Peter Wolf Shares His Life Experiences As Frontman Of The J. Geils Band In Enchanting First-Ever Memoir Waiting On The Moon Artists, Poets, Drifters, Grifters And Goddesses

>

Former J. Geils lead singer and songwriter, Peter Wolf, shares a treasure trove of vignettes, musings and recollections of his fascinating life during his six decades long career in the new book, WAITING ON THE MOON: Artists, Poets, Drifters, Grifters and Goddesses (Little, Brown; March 11, 2025). 

Peter Wolf grew up in a tiny, three-room apartment in the Bronx, raised by his Bohemian intellectual mother and his father, a former Vaudeville singer, who influenced both his love of music and painting. Through his wanderlust he came to rub shoulders in his Zelig-like life with some of the most iconic artists and musicians of his generation—including a very young Bob Dylan as he arrived on the Greenwich Village folk scene. 

Each chapter reads as its own short story such as when Wolf reflects on his art studies in Boston—where he shared an apartment with David Lynch—and recalls stories of first love, his untraditional literary education, and his soulful early musical influences such as Muddy Waters and John Lee Hooker. After Wolf joined the J. Geils Band and their musical fame grew with hits such as “Centerfold” “Freeze Frame” and “Love Stinks”, many other greats left their impressions on him, including members of the Rolling Stones, Tennessee Williams, Alfred Hitchcock, Sly Stone, John Lennon and Van Morrison. He also sheds light on his marriage to Faye Dunaway during the height of her Hollywood career. 

Told with gentle humor and often heart-rending poignancy, WAITING ON THE MOON is an enchanting and revealing glimpse through lyrical snapshots of artists, writers, actors, and musicians as they work—the creative forces that drive them to achievement; the demons they battle; and the patterns of their human relationships. They are meant to inspire not only empathy but also admiration. Like Christopher Isherwood in Goodbye to Berlin, Wolf remains “a camera with its shutter open.” 

A prolific artist, Wolf currently tours with his band ‘The Midnight Travelers’ and will be releasing his ninth solo album in 2025. Only an artist as unique as Wolf could tell his life in such a profound and poetic way.

For more information, please visit PeterWolf.com

WAITING ON THE MOON 

Peter Wolf

Little, Brown |March 11, 2025 |Price: $30 Hardcover | ISBN: 978-0316571708



***

About the Author:

 Peter Wolf, born in the Bronx NY, became a rock ’n’ roll convert at the age of eleven after attending an Alan Freed revue that included performances by Chuck Berry, Buddy Holly, Jerry Lee Lewis, and others. Although at first, he aspired to a career as a painter and studied at the Boston Museum School of Fine Arts, he experienced a life-changing epiphany after jumping onstage with a band of fellow art students at a loft party forming one of Boston’s early rock bands, the Hallucinations. 

 Shortly thereafter, Wolf secured a job as an all-night DJ on the fledgling FM radio station WBCN, where he adopted the persona of the “Woofa Goofa” and spun obscure rock ’n’ roll and early rhythm and blues. His encyclopedic musical knowledge came in handy when he and some like-minded Boston players formed the J. Geils Band, much of whose early repertoire was drawn from Wolf’s vast record collection. In 1970 the band was signed by Jerry Wexler for Atlantic Records where they went on to release nine influential albums and earned a reputation as one of rock’s most exciting live acts. In 1979 they were signed by EMI America topping the charts world-wide with their hit songs “Freeze Frame,” “Love Stinks,” and “Centerfold.”  

With the 1984 album Lights Out, Wolf began his career as a solo artist. In the ensuing years he collaborated with Aretha Franklin, Merle Haggard, John Lee Hooker, and Mick Jagger, among others. His album Sleepless was voted one of the top five hundred albums of all time by Rolling Stone. He currently tours with his band ‘The Midnight Travelers’ and will be releasing his ninth solo album in 2025. He lives and works from his home base in Boston, Massachusetts.