Local man living up to fame of band’s original lead singer while gaining fans of his own.
From the moment he appears on stage, it’s clear Nate Peck is at home and in his element. This is where he thrives, passionately belting out songs from the hair metal/glam rock genre in a soaring, resonating voice while almost instantly connecting with audiences.
The 2019 Lake Fenton graduate embraces music from an era long before he was born and has turned his affinity for it into a dream-fulfilling, full-time gig.
Since the fall of 2023, Peck has been lead vocalist for the band Firehouse, which rose to fame during the early 1990s on the strength of smash hits like “Love of a Lifetime” and “Don’t Treat Me Bad.” Firehouse’s recordings feature legendary vocalist C.J. Snare, who died last year following a lengthy battle with colon cancer. At first, Peck was substituting for Snare when major abdominal surgery forced him from the road before officially succeeding the group’s founding frontman upon his passing.
“Yeah, it’s been quite the experience – a crazy ride,” Peck said. “Getting to know and forming a bond with the Firehouse guys has been phenomenal and to just be a part of the brotherhood of what I call ‘Generation X Music’ is an honor because I believe it’s truly the best music.”
Essentially, any Firehouse performance from roughly the past 20 months illustrates how enthusiastically Peck has been accepted by longtime fans and how well he has blended with founding members Bill Leverty (guitar) and Micheal Foster (drums), along with Allen McKenzie, the band’s bassist since 2004. All are some four decades the 24-year-old Peck’s senior.
“I think of our shows as a big energy transfer between us and the crowds. I mean, we are pouring 100 percent energy into what we’re doing, and the audience is throwing that energy right back at us which is very cool,” Peck said. “At the same time, I’m always mindful that it’s really important to honor C.J. with every performance and keep the focus on making music the way he would want us to.”
That’s just one of the reasons Leverty is thankful Firehouse and Peck found each other. “Nate brings a lot of integrity, humor, and positive energy,” he said. “He strives for perfection while at the same time, knows how to have fun. Nate is a consummate professional and takes great care of his voice (because) he has that bright, effortless tone that you can’t fake.”
To preserve his pristine vocals for the nearly 40 concerts Firehouse will play in 2025, Peck sings for roughly 90 minutes a day as each show approaches.
He also drinks plenty of water, and in what might seem like a direct contrast to the stereotypical rock-and-roll lifestyle, Peck is careful to get the right amount of sleep.
Of course, Peck does not consider any rigors of the road or aspects of fronting a band that has sold more than seven million albums worldwide, work. “It’s always on your feet and go, go, go, go which really makes me feel alive, and I get to be around really awesome people all of the time both in our band and the bands we’ve done shows with,” said Peck, who calls Holly home when not touring. “I love everything about this lifestyle, really.”
Yes, Peck has had the pleasure of appearing on the same bills with some of the acts most synonymous with the genre, including Warrant, Winger, Lita Ford, Dokken, Great White and iconic voices Dee Snider (Twisted Sister) and Bret Michaels (Poison). This year alone has been loaded with memorable moments for Peck, including returning to the Flint area in February to rock the Capitol Theatre with Winger.
“That show kind of popped up out of nowhere and playing in front of so many family and friends at such a beautiful venue made it a really cool homecoming event for me,” Peck said.
His second straight ‘80s Cruise appearance with Firehouse brought interviews with legendary MTV VJs Mark Goodman and Downtown Julie Brown. Firehouse was part of a diverse lineup, including Quiet Riot, Sheila E., Men at Work, Information Society and pioneering rapper, Kurtis Blow.
An April 25th show at the Crystal Grand Music Theatre in Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin, was attended by an emotional Brenda Snare, C.J.’s former wife. “C.J., it’s been a year since you left us (and) maybe in a way, this was what we needed,” she posted to Facebook the next day. “Nate Peck, you had some massive shoes to fill, and you did him proud! There were times that if I closed my eyes, I could hear him.”
Since the fall of 2023, Nate Peck has been lead vocalist for the band Firehouse, which rose to fame during the early 1990s on the strength of smash hits like “Love of a Lifetime” and “Don’t Treat Me Bad.”
Photo Courtesy of Firehouse Mgmt.
Peck’s musical journey began not far from the Capitol Theatre while growing up in the Linden area, listening to the music his parents were playing. Father Jerry Peck, who died in 2007, was fond of acts like Ambrosia, Styx, Boston and Journey while his mother preferred more of the music Nate eventually gravitated toward like Dokken and the Scorpions.
Peck began to take music more seriously during his final year at Lake Fenton. “In my senior year, it came to the point where I needed to make a decision about college or give music a chance,” he recalled. “I chose music.”
Soon, videos of Peck covering some of his favorite songs began appearing on TikTok and garnering attention. Wanted, an Oxford-based band with a hair metal-influenced sound, was looking for a lead singer around the same time, noticed Peck on social media and asked him to join. “Wanted’s debut album, Chain Reaction, was released on Eonian Records in 2022. An interesting review of the album appeared on the website cgcmrockradio.com which read: “Lead singer Nate Peck sings like a young Jack Russell from Great White singing in a Don Dokken fashion.”
Peck left Wanted later in 2022 to pursue a solo career, leading to an even greater opportunity, also via TikTok. An “American Idol” producer contacted Peck through the site and asked if he would be interested in auditioning. Stunned, Peck began preparing to perform Dokken’s “Lightning Strikes Again” before “American Idol” judges in Nashville and wowed them during Season 21 early in 2023. Lionel Richie exclaimed that Peck was “Brilliant …The best rock singer ever that we’ve had. You’ve got it!”
Peck earned a golden ticket to Hollywood, but decided continuing on the show was not best for the direction he wanted his career to take. “Yeah, I never went to Hollywood, but everything turned out all good,” he said. “That door closed, but another opened.”
An even bigger door, from Peck’s perspective, again through social media. Many of the songs he posted were by Great White, a band he reveres. Imagine Peck’s surprise when he learned, through notifications, that someone from the booking agency ARM Entertainment had sent some of those videos straight to lead singer Jack Russell.
“Next thing I know, I get a call from a representative of Jack saying he would like to meet me after a show Great White had coming up in Pittsburgh,” Peck recalled. “We met, started going through deep cuts from Great White’s earlier albums and just clicked.”
Nate with the late Firehouse lead singer, C. J. Snare
That meeting led to Peck occasionally joining the band, by then touring as Jack Russell’s Great White, on stage and singing on hits like “Save All Your Love.” Russell and Peck remained in touch as he moved to Nashville to further his career. In October 2023, easily the biggest break of that career came via a phone call from Russell’s Great White guitarist Robbie Lochner, also a friend of Leverty’s. “Robbie says that Firehouse’s lead singer is going to be out for a time recovering from surgery, and would I be interested in filling in for him,” Peck said. “I’m like, ‘well, hell yes! Let’s do it.’”
Leverty called Peck the next day with a formal offer to substitute for Snare, beginning with New England Rockfest in Norwalk, Connecticut, roughly two weeks away. “I first heard Nate sing when I went scouting him on his Instagram,” Leverty said. “He had a ton of clips of him singing some of the most difficult songs in the tenor range and his intonation was spot on. What really caught my ear was his natural tone and I knew Nate was a vocal phenom the minute I heard him.”
Peck’s excitement was tempered by the fact that he had to learn 14 songs in a small window of time. He began listening to them every waking hour and was still listening while drifting off to sleep. Boosted by Leverty’s encouraging words and his painstaking preparation, Peck crushed his first gig with the band.
“When we did our first gig with Nate, I asked him to just be himself and he performed like he’d been doing it for twice as many years as he is old,” Leverty said. “I think Nate’s got that live performance vibe that’s part of his DNA that fits with us. We have a great time up there.”
Peck was relieved by the performance and Snare’s reaction to it. “C.J. saw a video of the first shows I did and was like ‘this is your guy, let’s keep it going,’” he said. “We became fast friends and talked all the time. He gave me great advice about things like interacting with the crowd and taking my time and not blowing my voice a few songs into a show. He also had good advice about the music business and life in general.”
Snare died April 5, 2024, at age 64. A month later, Firehouse formally named Peck its new lead singer. Just three months later, Peck lost another mentor when Russell died at 63 from complications of Lewy Body Dementia. “Losing both in such a short period of time was very tough,” Peck said. “I simply would not be where I am without Jack.”
In May, Firehouse released “Mighty Fine Lady,” their first single recorded with Peck. “I contacted Bill about working on a new song and it came together over the phone with him sending riffs and me coming up with the lyrics,” Peck said. “That’s actually the first song I’ve ever written and I’m hoping a few more are coming.”
Meanwhile, the shows will keep coming as Firehouse remains a consistent concert draw with its new frontman. “I love watching the reaction of people who are seeing Nate perform for the first time,” Leverty said. “The fans have embraced him better than we could’ve ever imagined.”
