[5] As a solo artist, Cetera has scored six Top 40 singles, including two that reached number one on Billboard's Hot 100 chart in 1986, "Glory of Love" and "The Next Time I Fall".

[39] When he was 15, some older students from his high school took him to a club to see a band called the Rebel Rockers, which led to his purchasing an acoustic guitar at Montgomery Ward.

[43] Cetera played in several groups in the Chicago area, including a popular local rock band named the Exceptions, which toured the Midwest in the mid-1960s.

Impressed by their use of a horn section combined with rock and roll, Cetera left the Exceptions to join the Big Thing within two weeks.

"[54] As the 1970s progressed, Cetera became a more prolific songwriter for the group, contributing the songs "Wishing You Were Here" and "Happy Man" to the 1974 album Chicago VII.

[59] According to William James Ruhlmann, biographer of the group, "the success of 'If You Leave Me Now' overshadowed the album from which it came, and also consolidated what by now seemed a definitely stated preference on the part of radio, if not Chicago's audience in general, for lush ballads sung by Peter Cetera over any other style the band might care to put forward.

[65] The following year he collaborated with Karen Carpenter on her self-titled solo album, providing backing vocals for a song that he had written, "Making Love in the Afternoon".

Cetera blamed Warner Bros., claiming that the company refused to promote him as a solo artist out of fear that he would leave Chicago, who had only recently signed with the label.

[3] Former bandmate Danny Seraphine agrees with Cetera on this point, and says that the album "... sank like a stone due to lack of record company support.

It went to number one on the charts,[14] was certified Gold by the RIAA in September of that year,[72] and was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal.

[76] In 1983, he took a break from his duties as Chicago frontman to add backing vocals on Paul Anka's final U.S. Top 40 hit, "Hold Me 'Til the Mornin' Comes",[77] which debuted in the summer of that year.

[100] It produced another number one hit single on both the Billboard Hot 100 and Adult Contemporary charts, "The Next Time I Fall", a duet with Amy Grant.

It featured the Adult Contemporary number one hit "Restless Heart",[116] as well as two other successful singles: "Even a Fool Can See", and another duet, this time with Chaka Khan, "Feels Like Heaven".

[45] In 2002, Cetera performed a medley of four of his songs at the Concert for World Children's Day, backed by David Foster and an orchestra at Arie Crown Theater in Chicago.

[136] From 2003 until summer 2007, Cetera performed a limited number of concerts each year with a 40-piece orchestra, playing re-arrangements of songs from throughout his career, including several from his tenure as a member of Chicago.

[143][144][145] Cetera appeared as himself in the 2010 Adult Swim program Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!, Season 5, Episode 9, "Greene Machine", which also featured the actor Ted Danson.

[177][178] He did, however, appear in the documentary The Terry Kath Experience, along with the other surviving members of the original Chicago line-up and producer James William Guercio.

'"[39] For Cetera, recording the vocals with members of the Beach Boys for "Wishing You Were Here" from Chicago VII was satisfying on a personal level, according to William James Ruhlmann.

"[190] In a 2016 documentary about the history of the group, original band member and keyboard player Robert Lamm says, "There were and are a lot of tenor voices in rock and none of them sound like Cetera.

[200] Robert Lamm's song from the 1970 album Chicago II, "25 or 6 to 4", which was sung by Cetera, was used in the 2017 film I, Tonya,[201][202] and on the animated TV series King of the Hill.

[206][207] Chicago's 1984 version of the Cetera/Foster song "You're the Inspiration", which is sung by Cetera, was used for the soundtracks of the movies A Hologram for the King[208] and Deadpool (both 2016);[209] a 2017 Super Bowl commercial;[210] and the television series It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia[211] and Criminal Minds.

A young man at an assisted-living home holds up a copy of the World Falling Down LP cover and asks one of the residents why he likes Cetera.

[224] Cetera has been given the honor of singing at professional sporting events, including at least one time singing the national anthem at a World Series game, the fourth in the series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Oakland Athletics in 1988 in Oakland;[225][226][227][228] and at least three times for home team Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field, where he was guest conductor for "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" during the seventh-inning stretch in 2003,[229] 2007[229] and 2009[230][231] – a duty of some importance according to Jim Oboikowitch, Cubs manager for game and event production, as quoted by Adam McCalvy: "Whenever you come to Wrigley Field, you have two questions ...Who is the starting pitcher?

'"[24] He cites James Jamerson, Paul McCartney and Andy Fraser among his bass influences and says that he was aware of John Entwistle and Jack Bruce.

His tasty 4-string style was forged through a deep knowledge of early rock & roll and R&B, bolstered by a keen melodic sense, astute rhythmic prowess, and a dexterous technique capable of issuing graded nuance and fervent oomph in equal measure.

In his review of a 1969 Chicago concert at the University of Hartford, Ken Cruickshank wrote, "Their bass player, Peter Cetera, is perhaps the fastest and finest I've heard.

[250][251] On February 22, 2017, it was announced that Cetera, Robert Lamm and James Pankow were among the 2017 Songwriters Hall of Fame inductees for their work as members of the music group Chicago.

"[254] According to William James Ruhlmann, in 1969 the Moon landing, Walter Cronkite and convalescence after having his jaw broken provided Cetera with the right mix of inspiration and available time for him to write his first song with Chicago, "Where Do We Go from Here?

"[54] Cetera also tells Ruhlmann that songs can come to people in "flashes", but without a recording device at hand they're apt to "disappear just exactly the way they come, into thin air."

The album featured a duet between Cetera and Fältskog, "I Wasn't the One (Who Said Goodbye)",[259] and he and Bruce Gaitsch co-wrote the title track, "I Stand Alone".