salesman at Simpson's department store. He began studying music with Gordon Delamont and soon thereafter began playing the vibraphone in concerts with Billy O'Connor in the early 1950s. From 1954 to 1956 he played with a band at the Park Plaza Hotel and made numerous appearances on CBC Radio with jazz pianist Calvin Jackson. He formed his own jazz ensemble in 1957 which performed not only in Toronto but also toured throughout North America and appeared on American television during the 1960s. Among the ensemble's original members was pianist and arranger Jimmy Dale. The group accompanied singer Gloria DeHaven for a year. From 1961 to 1962 Appleyard co-hosted, with singer Patti Lewis, the CBC Radio program Patti and Peter. He spent most of the mid-1960s on the road touring. In the late sixties, he ceased his busy touring schedule and returned to Toronto on a more permanent basis. He began playing once more at the Park Plaza Hotel. In 1969 he co-hosted the program Mallets and Brass with Guido Basso for CBC TV. In addition he began studying timpani and percussion and extended his musical expertise substantially. Working with Benny Goodman and later career In the early 1970s Appleyard was a member of Benny Goodman's sextet which toured in Europe in 1972 and 1974 and in Australia in 1973. Afterwards, he played only periodically with the group for the remainder of the decade, notably playing three performances with the ensemble at Carnegie Hall in the mid to late 1970s. During these years he lived in Toronto and performed in nightclubs and hotel lounges and was music director for local jazz bands. He was a percussionist in the city's orchestra. In the 1970s he appeared at the Colorado Springs Invitation Jazz Party. From 1977 to 1980 he hosted Peter Appleyard Presents, a jazz and variety television program which was syndicated in North America. In 1976, Frank Sinatra invited Appleyard to join him in concert with the Count Basie Orchestra and Ella Fitzgerald at the Uris Theatre in New York City. Sinatra made this request based on Appleyard's work with Goodman. Appleyard and Sinatra performed together several years later during a benefit concert in Ottawa arranged by Rich Little. In 1982 Appleyard formed the All-Star Swing Band which performed traditional pop and jazz tunes, often in medley arrangements by Rick Wilkins. The ensemble's 1982 album Swing Fever received a gold record certification