J. Geils Band’s Peter Wolf Praises ‘Determined, Talented’ Ex-Wife Faye Dunaway

Dan Clarendon March 14, 1:18 pm

Peter Wolf, Faye Dunaway — John W. Ferguson/Getty Images, Frazer Harrison/Getty Images

Peter Wolf’s new memoir is titled Waiting on the Moon: Artists, Poets, Drifters, Grifters, and Goddesses, and to hear the former J. Geils Band lead singer tell it, ex-wife Faye Dunaway falls into the last category.

Wolf spoke highly of Dunaway in a new Billboard interview, saying his marriage to her and his time with the J. Geils Band are “two subjects [he] didn’t want to write about.” But he did write about both, making Waiting on the Moon a rare glimpse into his relationship with the Bonnie and Clyde star.

American actor Faye Dunaway and American musician Peter Wolf, circa 1976.

Vinnie Zuffante/Getty Images

“Faye was this very determined, talented person, and we loved each other,” Wolf told Billboard. “I was just trying to bring her, and our relationship, somewhat to life and all the adventures we shared in it. I didn’t talk about it [before] because I would talk about my music, talk about the records, and all the other stuff was kind of private. But I was writing about the adventures in my life, and certainly, she and I shared many of them. I was very surprised how quickly the stories came out.”

Wolf was married to Dunaway from 1974 to 1979. That relationship came amid his 1967–1983 run with the J. Geils Band, during which time the rock band produced hits like “Centerfold” and “Freeze-Frame.”

Dunaway, meanwhile, starred in Chinatown, The Towering Inferno, and Three Days of Condor and won an Academy Award for Network during her time with Wolf. (She later married and divorced British photographer Terry O’Neill.)

“I was committed to the band; it was my life, and even with my marriage to Faye, our careers always came first,” Wolf explained to the magazine. “In other chapters [of the book], you can see how hard I tried working to keep the band relevant and moving ahead, so, of course, when things did fall apart, it was a very painful thing for me. What I didn’t add in the book that I was asked to leave the band in 1968 because they felt my vocal abilities were holding back the band.”

These days, Wolf is “about 80 percent” done with his next solo album, his first since 2016’s A Cure for Loneliness.

“It occurred to me that my solo recordings, a lot of them went unnoticed, and I realized that if I put this out with the way things are these days, it can turn to vapor quite easily and be another lost solo effort,” he said. “So I thought, ‘Well, maybe now is the time to write that book I’ve been talking about for decades.’ I think if the book connects with people it would even put the wind beneath my wings to finish the record and put it out.”