Violin signed by Paul McCartney on the auction block

Paul Peabody, a Nyack resident, has played violin for the New York City Ballet for years, is auctioning off a violin, autographed by musicians and celebrities including Paul McCartney, Celine Dion and Stevie Wonder. Peabody, photographed Aug. 15, 2017 at The Beast With a Million Eyes Art Gallery in Nyack, will donate the proceeds to a few charities in India, including one that provide surgery for cataracts, and one that provides surgery for cleft palates.
(Photo: Seth Harrison/The Journal News)



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Violin signed by Paul McCartney, Celine Dion on the auction block
Peter D. Kramer
Published  Aug. 28, 2017



As a first violinist for New York City Ballet for nearly 40 years, Paul Peabody has played plenty of romantic music, from Faure to Prokofiev to Tchaikovsky.

He also created a violin solo on one of the most romantic singles of the 1990s, Celine Dion's "My Heart Will Go On," from the 1997 film "Titanic."

But the Nyack native isn’t romantic when it comes to one of his instruments, even though it chronicles nearly half his career. He’s auctioning it off to help several charities in India about which he is passionate.

 It’s a bright orange, acrylic, six-string Tucker Barrett “Luma” electric violin he played for more than 20 years, at the ballet and as a session musician alongside A-listers of music, stage, screen and ballet.

But don’t take Peabody’s word for it. His collaborators signed the instrument.  

There’s Paul McCartney’s autograph on the neck. And Celine Dion’s is over there. And Natalie Cole’s. Look on the back and you’ll see Sting and Willem Dafoe and Kevin Kline and Phoebe Cates, who added two other names: “Princess” and “Frixos,” characters they played in the 1994 film “Princess Caraboo.”

There’s Wynton Marsalis and Sheryl Crow and Lauryn Hill. Peabody played on Hill’s yet-to-be-released Christmas album. 


Paul Peabody, a Nyack resident, has played violin for the New York City Ballet for years, is auctioning off a violin, autographed by musicians and celebrities including Paul McCartney, Celine Dion and Stevie Wonder. The violin is on display at The Beast With a Million Eyes Art Gallery in Nyack. Peabody will donate the proceeds to a few charities in India, including one that provide surgery for cataracts, and one that provides surgery for cleft palates.  (Photo: Seth Harrison/The Journal News)

It also has NYC Ballet luminaries, from chief Peter Martins to Shaun O'Brien, who danced with the ballet for 42 years, including more than 30 holiday seasons as Herr Drosselmeyer in “The Nutcracker.” He signed, appropriately, as Drosselmeyer.

There are others, including producer BabyFace and Stevie Wonder. Yes. Stevie Wonder.

The violin is on display at Nyack’s Beast With a Million Eyes Art Gallery, where owner Lex Reibestein says he thinks the instrument — accompanied by a certificate of authenticity — will appeal to a cross-section of bidders, from collectors of musical instruments to conservatories to autograph collectors. The silent auction closes Sept. 13.

Signature events

Each autograph comes with a story, a snippet of a life’s work with an instrument tucked beneath Peabody’s chin.

McCartney signed it at a rehearsal for the 2015 Kennedy Center premiere of “Ocean’s Kingdom,” a ballet piece NYC Ballet commissioned the former Beatle to write. Getting the autograph took some stealth.

“I thought of it like Jason Bourne,” Peabody says, referring to the action hero. “If I’m going to get a chance, I’m going to have a moment, if I get a moment.”

During a rehearsal break, Peabody hopped over the pit rail and stood with the neon orange instrument in front of him, hoping it would draw McCartney in.

It worked.

“I just stood there and finally he came over and said, ‘So what is that?’ I thought ‘It’s now or never.’ I walked past my big boss, Peter Martins, and said ‘Peter, you’ve already signed it.’”

Once face to face with McCartney, whose music played such an outsized role in his youth, whose every album release was an event, the best Peabody could muster was: “My name’s Paul, too.”

That was enough. Before long, McCartney was talking shop, asking Peabody his thoughts on the piece. Then he signed Peabody’s bright orange calling card.

Mission accomplished for the violin-toting Jason Bourne.


Paul Peabody, a Nyack resident, has played violin for the New York City Ballet for years, is auctioning off a violin, autographed by musicians and celebrities including Paul McCartney, Celine Dion and Stevie Wonder. The violin is on display at The Beast With a Million Eyes Art Gallery in Nyack. Peabody will donate the proceeds to a few charities in India, including one that provide surgery for cataracts, and one that provides surgery for cleft palates.  (Photo: Seth Harrison/The Journal News)

Celine Dion signed the violin at The Grammys when she sang “My Heart Will Go On.”

“I was concertmaster for the recording session and after everyone left, I stayed around and played some Celtic things and it was a hit,” Peabody recalls. His bit of improvisation was included in the song, which is one of the best-selling singles in history, having sold more than 15 million copies worldwide.

Stevie Wonder’s was a tough get, but not for the reason one might think. The blind musician was accompanied by a wall of a man.

 “He had this 7-foot bodyguard named Love,” Peabody says with a laugh. “He didn’t make you feel loved. He took Stevie’s hand and guided it.”

Stevie Wonder’s signature was guided by Love. 

Pop culture cred 

Peabody sees the value of the violin for its sound and for its pop culture provenance.

“It’s certainly a very playable instrument. I know a lot of people with electric violins, but I don’t know anyone who has a six string. Tucker Barrett, who designed it, is retired now. Everybody knows him as a fine maker of these things, but he’s not doing it anymore. There’s no other violin in the world that has remotely the signatures that this does," he said.

An electric violin, Peabody points out, doesn’t resonate through the body the way a traditional instrument does. The energy goes down a wire and into an amp. A traditional violin makes a connection the player can feel. It reaches the heart.

Although the stories behind each signature clearly mean something to Peabody, there are a half-dozen life-changing charities in India – where he is a regular visitor – that touch his heart.

Those groups will benefit from the auctioning of the violin. Among them:

Smile Train, (www.smiletrain.org) which repairs cleft palates,
Help Me See, (helpmesee.org) which reverses cataract-induced blindness;
Pados, (www.pados.org) which plants trees in India.

Place a bid: You can see Paul Peabody's autographed violin at The Beast With a Million Eyes Art Gallery, 70 S. Broadway, Nyack, and place a bid in person or at 845-480-5233. The silent auction closes Sept. 13. Gallery hours are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Tuesdays through Sundays, 7 p.m. to 10 p.m., Thursdays through Sundays. Email: beasteyesart@gmail.com. Check out The Beast with a Million Eyes Facebook page.