Peter Shelly 5/1/2008
By Jennifer Otto, EmeraldCoast.com
Featured Band: May 2008
Playing by Ear

Panama City Beach entertainer Peter Shelly is a self taught musician.

As a self taught musician, Shelly has the unique ability to listen to a song and immediately work out the harmony in his head. He calls this “playing by ear.”

“In learning new songs, I just pick up the guitar and play right with them,” he said. “I can hear the changes in my head.”

Playing by ear did not always come easy for Shelly.

When he was 14, Shelly auditioned for a band as a vocalist.

“I got the job, but my timing was terrible,” he said.

The band’s guitarist told Shelly to learn to play guitar and his timing would improve. Shelly took this advice very seriously and set out to learn.

His mother had a guitar and knew some basic chords. Shelly watched her for many hours learning to play the basics.

Shelly went to dances with his girlfriend just so he could watch the band.

“Right after the dance, I would go home and practice,” he said. “I would practice until 3 or 4 in the morning. The guitar was so old that my fingers bled. The strings were so far from the fret board that you had to press hard to make the notes happen.”

After six months of training himself to play the guitar, Shelly started his own band called the Banana Band.

“The slogan was ‘music with a-peel,’” Shelly said laughing.

The Banana Band was just one of many bands Shelly played with throughout his musical career.

About 10 years ago Shelly decided to say goodbye to band life and try to make it on his own as a solo artist.

“I’ve always been a leader, and there are many advantages to being a solo artist,” Shelly explained. “For one, the money is better. I also do not have to put up with drunk musicians and people that do not show up on time.”

As a one-man show, Shelly has to think outside the box to give his music the same appeal as a live band.

Shelly depends on his Sequencer to guide him through his shows.

“I program everything on the keyboard. I use a synthesizer to sequence my backgrounds,” he explained. “The visual and the sound is complete like a band, because I use sequencing and vocal harmonizing.”

Shelly’s entire song collection, featuring more than 650 tunes, is programmed into his keyboard and used as background to showcase his singing.

Shelly’s voice range is almost as varied as his song collection. He is able to sing both male and female vocals.

“My voice range is all the way from Louie Armstrong and Rod Stewart to as high as Patsy Cline and Natalie Cole.”

Shelly likes to give his audience the full experience. He is well known in Panama City for his hilarious impersonations of popular musical artists.

“I shave off all my hair, and I wear different wigs and glasses. I do Rod Stewart, Elvis, Roy Orbison, Alan Jackson, Toby Keith. I do some female artists too.”

Through Shelly’s impersonations and his energetic personality, he wins over his audience and has them coming back for more and more.

“My main goal in life is to make people happy through my music and entertainment,” he said. “That means the world to me. There is so much sadness in the world so I feel entertainment helps to lift people's spirits and take their mind off of their daily troubles and strife.”

Without his fans, Shelly says he would be nothing.

“The fans are what make the entertainer. The entertainer does not make the fans,” he said. “Your fans should be respected at all times, because they are the ones that are going to make you what you are.”