Since the age of six he studied at the musical school, practicing classical piano and music theory for eight years. Along with secondary school, music and sports school, Pete’s mother insisted that he attends private English lessons as well. When he was eleven years old, Pete started regularly listening to the jammed Western radio – real “forbidden fruit”. The most fascinating radio host of that time was Willis Connover, who six nights a week was transmitting famous “Jazz Hour” from the Voice Of America and had a unique, soft, deep, low baritone hypnotizing voice: 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJCy2Tv9erw&noredirect=1 
That was only chance to listen to the real American jazz, true sound of Freedom!
But the first true genuine rock’n’roll tune Pete has ever heard in his life came from another record “on ribs” around 1958. It took years and years to identify what was this magic shocking piece of music that shook almost all of his further life – that was Freddy Cannon’s version of “Chattanooga Shoeshine Boy”! 

 
In 1959, Pete, at the age of 14, was flabbergasted and totally fascinated by American Rock’n’roll, the sounds unheard before. As a student of the technical college he joined the music band as a piano player. The first song he ever sang on stage back then was famous Little Richard’s http://www.history-of-rock.com/richard.htm classic - “Long Tall Sally”. Since then the repertoire of the college band consisted mostly of rock’n’roll standards and Pete became the lead singer. This first band existed until Pete, “unintentionally”, broke the bust of Lenin in front of the college stairways and was excluded for it from the technical college.
Since that day Pete has known that all he wanted to do in his life is to play and sing this magical music called rock’n’roll.