Mike Peters: ‘He always spoke about being brave and following your dreams’
MIKE PETERS: ‘An ordinary man who did extraordinary things’. Picture credit Mark Heybourne
Singer and songwriter Mike Peters died in his home village of Dyserth, Wales, on April 29 after living with cancer for 30 years. He was 66. He is remembered here by Simon Bristow, who toured with The Alarm and attended his funeral last week
Mike Peters led an exemplary life and lived his dream because he had the talent and dedication to make it happen.
In a musical career spanning 50 years he built a global community of fans and friends. Many of them became both.
But even that was not his greatest achievement. More than 300,000 people joined the international bone marrow registry because of the Love Hope Strength Foundation he co-founded, and 3,700 found a match. That’s “thirty-seven-hundred people who got a second chance at life”, charity co-founder James Chippendale told Mike’s funeral service in Dyserth last week.
An indication of the countless lives he touched and changed could be seen in Dyserth the day before the funeral as the small village in North Wales began to welcome thousands of visitors from the US, Canada, Australia and across Europe. But it seems wrong to call them mourners as this was as much about celebration as it was sadness.
PACKED: Crowds gather in Dyserth for Mike’s funeral
They included a woman from Germany who told us she first became aware of The Alarm as a teenager when they burst onto her TV. Such was the impact that instead of resuming her studies she borrowed a friend’s Mini and drove to their next gig in Amsterdam. Waiting outside until the band arrived to soundcheck, she tentatively approached and said “It’s sold out.” “That’s great,” said Mike. “Yes, but I don’t have a ticket,” she replied. “Don’t worry, you can come in with me,” Mike said.
There were many similar stories of connections made, lives changed, friendships formed.
Local people and issues were just as important to this proud son of Wales. A resident said Mike had helped her set up a community group concerned about flooding. Others revealed how Mike and wife Jules had been warned not to take over a pub on the main street that they turned into The Red, and how after ignoring that advice it had become a popular and busy hub that regenerated that part of the village.
They also converted the chapel next door into accommodation, and Mike placed a guitar in every room for guests to pick up and play. That was the thing about Mike. The Alarm, the band he most famously sang and wrote for, may have sold more than five million albums and toured with Bob Dylan but there were no musical hierarchies for Mike. Music was for everyone and he had an unshakeable belief in its power to change lives. Perhaps unusually for a rock star, Mike remained approachable, warm and friendly even at the height of his fame and however much his own life had changed.
That was something I learned myself in 1990 after a surprise phone call to the rehearsal room of my then band Looking For Adam. The Alarm were playing Hull City Hall that night, the support band had dropped out through illness and the venue wanted to know if we could step in.
THE ALARM: On stage at the Isle of Calf Festival in Norway. Drummer Nigel Twist is off camera. Picture credit: Helge Øverås
Unbeknown to us at the time, Mike had put a baseball cap on and gone into the audience to watch during our set. A few days later he invited us to support The Alarm on their forthcoming British tour for their Raw album. Prior to that he invited us to play the Greenbelt Festival, where backstage he taught us a few songs he wanted us to play with The Alarm as encores, including Rockin’ in the Free World, The Cross and Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door. “This is a song I taught Bono how to play,” Mike said, as he launched into the latter on an acoustic, his powerful voice filling the marquee.
There’s a lot I could write about that tour but it’s enough to say it changed our lives and gave four lads from Hull some unforgettable experiences. The point is Mike didn’t have to do any of it. He’d seen something in us he recognised, he’d been in our position and he wanted to give us a leg up. We are eternally grateful.
Personally, the other thing I would say about Mike is I have never met anyone who exuded such warmth and positivity. He lifted everyone in the room.
His friendship with U2’s frontman is in abundant evidence in The Red, with Bono’s artwork and personal setlists among the rock memorabilia adorning the walls.
The Red’s friendly and helpful staff somehow managed to cope with the thousands who descended on Dyserth before and after the funeral service, which was held in the Parish Church of St Bridget & St Cwyfan, just opposite. It was beamed live on a giant screen for the crowds standing shoulder to shoulder in the street, and live-streamed to countless more.
In her own tribute to her husband of 39 years, Jules told those assembled how she used to say: “Mikey Peters, how will I ever live my life without you in it? And he just used to smile. ‘Trixy Vixy’ , that was his nickname for me, ‘Everything is going to be fine’. And you know what? He was right. We will all be fine because we’ll keep on living and we’ll keep on loving, for Mike.
“‘Just remember Trixy’, he used to say more recently. ‘I’ll just be in the other room’.”
The service was conducted by Rev Gregor Lachlan-Waddel – who wore an Alarm badge on his robes – and featured performances from across the musical spectrum, including opera singer Rhys Meirion, Bruce and Jamie Watson from Big Country, and Billy Duffy from The Cult and Coloursound. As excellent as they all were, perhaps none was as emotionally charged as Wonderwall by Mike’s son Evan – a song they played together many times.
Every speaker shared their own poignant memories of Mike and again they were an eclectic group, including his childhood friend and Alarm member Eddie Macdonald, Slim Jim Phantom from Stray Cats, Alex Coletti, godfather of Mike’s son Dylan and creator of MTV Unplugged, family and friends, Mike’s consultant, and the family ski instructor.
Mike’s brother-in-law, Andrew Foley-Jones, said: “He always spoke about being brave, following dreams, having adventures, never letting nerves or naysayers hold you back. He found a way to make things happen. He would view an obstacle as an opportunity. He was interested, he was interesting. He was humble.
TOUR: The Alarm on stage with Looking For Adam, Town & Country Club, London, April 16, 1991. Picture credit: Brett Hambling
“An ordinary man who did extraordinary things, a man who demonstrated that with some graft and imagination you could change your own destiny.
“Life whizzes by, embrace every moment, live every second – as people are saying, be more like Michael Peters.”
The last speaker, Plaid Cymru leader Rhun Ap Iorwerth, recalled how Mike, whose first language was Welsh, had performed at the opening of the Welsh National Assembly in 1999.
The last performance was Yma o Hyd [Welsh for ‘still here’] by Dafydd Iwan, described as a “rallying cry” by Rev Lachlan-Waddel. It was sung to the passionate accompaniment of almost every Welsh voice outside the church.
In the garden at the back of The Red some had left floral tributes including poppies, an Alarm emblem. A message on one said: “It started with mod and DBK, ended with us as red royalty. 40 years of music, 40 years as friends will live with us forever. Our hearts may never mend. M&T xxx.”
Michael Leslie Peters MBE, born February 25, 1959, died April 29, 2025