Péter Máté

Máté was born on the 4th February 1947 in Budapest, Hungary. He learnt singing, piano, and guitar from the age of six with a private teacher, and from fourteen in a music school. When his talent and wide vocal range were discovered, he was taught by well-known figures such as composer Geszler György and Bágya András. He gained a wide range of musical knowledge, which allowed him to write, compose, score, and play his own music. These skills proved to be important in gaining his later fame.

After some years in a runner-up band from 1965, he made his first recordings at Hungarian Radio Broadcast in 1965, including "Úgy várom hogy jössz-e már?" and "Mondd már", in cooperation with Illés. The two songs, and his first prize at the largest pol-beat festival of the Eastern Block in Sochi made him well known in the region. Several awards from festivals followed, notably in Cuba, Canada, Germany, and Ireland. Besides pop music, he also scored musicals, and wrote theatrical music.

He died of a heart attack on the 9th September 1984, aged thirty-seven. He was buried in the Farkasréti Cemetery in Budapest, an event that was attended by tens of thousands of mourning fans.