A PEWSEY businessman has just completed a long held dream by recording an album.

Peter Buxton, 47, works for the family steel firm that built half of Greenbridge Retail Park and was involved in the refurbishment of Windsor Castle following the fire in 1992.

But his real passion, as in the title of his album Passion For Life, is his music.

Growing up with a famous blues singer, Dana Gillespie, for a cousin, and hobnobbing with the stars that dropped into her flat, had a major impact on Peter as a young boy.

"I had a classical music upbringing, playing the piano from the age of seven, but I became aware of pop music from a pretty young age, thanks to Dana," said Peter.

His cousin was on the same record label as David Bowie. She sang with Bob Dylan and Donovan and is still pals with Jimmy Page from Led Zeppelin.

The businessman turned musician has no lack of stars contributing to his own debut album as his pal Geordie Walker, from Killing Joke, plays the lead guitar, his cousin sings a blues duet with him, and Bernie Greenwood, Eric Clapton's saxophone player, also contributes.

"I went fishing with Geordie on the Lambourn River and then we would put down three or four tracks with his guitar riffs in my Wiltshire studio," said Peter.

Alongside his cousin, Peter's biggest musical influence was the Limen Company, an unusual musical theatre outfit.

The Norfolk-bred musician belonged to the group from 1995 to 2003. The company played at various festivals and became involved in the Healing Sounds Festival and music therapy for young offenders at the Amber Trust in Savernake.

"The music would come from the flow of energy in the room," said Peter.

"It is an uplifting experience and I like to push my boundaries," he said.

Peter's firm was involved in creating a power station in Khartoum, Sudan in 2002 so he learned to speak Arabic. and his travels influenced his song Meeting In The Desert, which came about from a journey he made to Morocco.

"I wanted to see the desert and we camped by a cluster of tents woven from goats' hair," he said.

Peter's 15-track album is available on www.peterbuxton.com and is also on iTunes and Amazon.