Peter Cetera

Now here's a man who will fight for your honor. Peter Cetera has even had to fight for his own once in a while — in the late '60s, the former Chicago bassist/singer and Cubs fan got into a scrap with some marines at Dodger Stadium. He had to have his jaw wired shut, which resulted in the tender but stoic clenched-jaw singing style that blossomed on Chicago's mid-'70s hits "If You Leave Me Now" and "Baby, What a Big Surprise." Cetera remained with the outsized Windy City jazz-­rockers through 1984's blockbuster Chicago 17 — even doing some of his own car-chase stunts in the "Stay the Night" video — as his pleading tenor soundtracked a million proms with "You're the Inspiration" and "Hard Habit to Break." Since leaving the group, Cetera has continued to record (often duetting with eldest daughter Claire) and scored the odd Adult Contemporary hit here and there. These days he's on the tux-n-tails circuit, and the Houston Symphony should provide appropriately lush backing for the golden-haired balladeer's catalog of regrets and reassurances.