Peters & Lee were Lennie Peters and Dianne Lee. Ex teenage prize fighter Lennie Peters was a pianist playing in London pubs when he teamed up with Dianne Lee, who had been half of a dance group called the Hailey Twins in 1970. They gained experience playing on the supper club circuit before entering the British talent show contest Opportunity Knocks, which they won for 7 successful weeks in 1972. They were signed up by Philips and the producer Johnny Franz played them a French romantic ballad, "Welcome L'Ami" by Les Compagnons De La Chanson, which they liked. Bryan Blackburn, who normally wrote comic songs, translated it into English and "Welcome Home" took the duo to the top of the UK charts. Their album We Can Make It topped the LP charts at the same time making Peters and Lee the first music act since The Beatles to simultaneously chart a single and an album at the #1 spots in Britain. The duo recorded three other UK Top 20 hits: "Don't Stay Away Too Long" (#3), "Rainbow" (#17) and "Hey Mr. Music Man" (#16). Peters was blinded in an accident when aged 16 and he died of bone cancer in 1992.
Peters was the uncle of Charlie Watts and he once dismissed his future Rolling Stone nephew from one of his pub bands for playing too much Jazz.
Dianne Lee recalls in 1000 UK #1 Hits by Jon Kutner and Spencer Leigh, "We thought it was too simple, you know, 'Welcome home, come in and close the door.' We couldn't see that we could do anything with it, but it felt like a hit when we recorded it."
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