Peel was born in Manhattan to Puerto Rican parents, Angel Perez, who worked in a restaurant, and Esther Rosario, a homemaker. He was raised in Brooklyn and served two years in the
United States Army, and was stationed in Alaska. Peel was rediscovered by
John Lennon in 1971 as the early seventies continued its swing towards the youth revolution. Lennon befriended Peel when David was playing with his ragtag hippie band in New York's
Washington Square Park in
Greenwich Village. Lennon produced
The Pope Smokes Dope for Peel. This album was banned in many countries and since has been sought after by collectors worldwide. Peel appeared with John Lennon at the
John Sinclair Freedom Rally in
Ann Arbor, Michigan on December 10, 1971, later released as a documentary film called "Ten for Two". On January 13, 1972, Peel and his band performed live on the
David Frost Show with Lennon,
Yoko Ono and
Jerry Rubin. This was Lennon's first live appearance on U.S. TV as a solo performer. In 1976 the independent labels Orange Records and Auravox Records released
An Evening With David Peel. The LP was hailed as being a breakthrough recording by capturing the tumultuous mid-1970s American underground movement as well as the bubbling under of live recordings that have become a mainstay of the recording arts. The mix was finalized by Ron St. Germain (of Band 311 fame) at Ultrasonic recording studios in Hempstead, New York. Peel has been associated with the "transgressive, shock" performer
GG Allin, with Allin's debut album and early singles released by Peel's Orange record label. Allin would cover Peel's "Devil's Prayer", "I Want to Kill You", and "I Like Marijuana", and frequently cited him as a musical influence in interviews. Peel also produced the album
Always Was, Is and Always Shall Be, and in the unreleased song "What a drag it is to be dead" performed with GG Allin on the drums. In the early-to-mid 1990s, Peel was a mainstay on
The Howard Stern Show, singing at his yearly live birthday shows, and he wrote "the official" song when Stern attempted to run for governor, the song titled (and the chorus stating) "
Howard Stern for Governor," repeated three times and finishing with, "For Governor of New York." After Stern dropped out because of financial disclosure laws, Peel changed the "Stern" to "Pataki" for
George Pataki since Stern was supporting him. In 1995, the vinyl LP tracks from
An Evening With David Peel were combined with two new multi-tracked studio recordings: "Junk Rock" and "I Hate You" (recorded at Right Track Studios, NYC) for a CD release
Up Against The Wall. In the additional studio recordings on the CD,
Muruga Booker played his "electric talking drum" on the comeback hit "Junk Rock". In 1995,
Technohead produced "
I Wanna Be a Hippy", a
gabber remix of "
I Like Marijuana", which quickly climbed the charts in many countries. In 2011, Peel signed with Global Recording Artists.
The David Peel Anthology, a career retrospective compiled by Peel with his favorite tracks from his entire career, was released in 2012. In 2011 through 2013, Peel was involved in the
Occupy Wall Street protests at Zuccotti Park, in Union Square, and in other New-York-area locations. In addition to performing, Peel documented the protests via hundreds of photographs, some of which he released online. In 2013, David Peel and the Protesters released
Up Against the Wall Street, an album of themed protest songs. In 2015, Peel was back to his fight for the legalization of marijuana, releasing his latest album as David Peel and the Lower East Side titled
Give Hemp a Chance. He also made film music for the
avant-garde director
Rosa von Praunheim. On March 31, 2017 Peel was escorted to the
Veterans Administration hospital in Manhattan New York by fellow musician Joff Wilson, after complaining that he was not feeling well. He suffered a series of three heart attacks upon his arrival. Peel died at the hospital on April 6, 2017.{{cite news | last =Marinucci | first =Steve | title =Anti-Establishment Icon David Peel Dies at 73| newspaper =
Billboard| date =April 6, 2017 | url = http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/obituary/7752422/david-peel-dead ==Discography==