Sticking to his principles

Duke Special doesn’t do compromise when it comes to music, he tells Ed Power

PETER WILSON, aka Duke Special, is a reluctant pop star. “Entirely by accident, I had some early singles that became moderate radio hits,” says the piano-man. “I never intended it. What people heard of me on the airwaves was just the tip of the iceberg. It didn’t give the entire picture of what I was about. A lot more was going on under the surface.”

He became moderately famous six years ago, when his album Adventures in Gramophone was nominated for the first Choice Music Prize. Looking back, Belfast native Wilson talks about the period as if it happened to someone else.