How Orange Peel Moses Built a Career as a Singing Telegram

Light spills through the balcony doors of Archipelago's idyllic attic, bathing George Peele in a warm golden glow that complements his fuzzy, fluorescent-orange jumpsuit and Orange Crush beanie. He places an orange net bag cradling several ripened navel and blood oranges on the floor, waves to a few friends and settles into his chair, perfectly at home in the cavernous space.

Peele, who is also known by his musical moniker Orange Peel Moses, asked to meet at Archipelago, a social health club, for a reason. He first learned of music's health benefits at a 2021 Music as Medicine workshop guided by Touch Copple and held at the historic mansion. Since then, that knowledge has grown into a philosophy that shapes how he views his health, his happiness and his career as a singing telegram.

"When customers ask me to enhance their special occasions, it's beneficial for me, too," Peele says. "The health benefits of singing are incredible, and most people have no idea. But people that are in choirs or sing with their friends or jam with their friends feel it."

Articles from the American Heart Association revel in the varied perks of singing, from reduced stress to increased oxygen intake and improvement of muscle tension. But for Peele, the dopamine hit he gets from belting Beatles tunes and birthday songs is just another bonus in a career that is already as fulfilling as it is joyful.

At first, his gig as a singing telegram was just another way to pad his pockets. After he moved to Denver from Boulder in 2004, he needed a quick source of income; Peele was still getting settled in the Mile High City, and his rent check had just bounced. His housemate, a belly dancer for Sunshine Singing Telegrams, was happy to provide a referral.

For Peele, who has sung since childhood, it was a dream job. "I was sixteen or seventeen when I first envisioned what a singing telegram was, but I didn't have any name for it at the time because I was growing up in a rural, small town in southeast Colorado," he reflects. "How cool would it be to sing a song that was about someone in their living room? How special would that be? ... I'd had that vision years before, and [a singing telegram] was such a perfect fit."

Peele stuck with the gig, eventually straying from the subcontracting work and booking performances for himself. Gradually, the intimidating moments of intimate one-on-one singing transformed into what he calls his "superpower," blossoming into a lifelong career fueled by passion.

His alias, Orange Peel Moses, came about years before he was introduced to the realm of singing telegrams. "I was reading this magazine, and it was talking about growing miniature orange trees," he says. "In the end, it dabbled in color therapy and said that orange is the color of eternal youth, an appetite stimulator and a mood enhancer. That was the point of no return for me."

In 1997, a CU Boulder student introduced him to orange-peel art created by sushi chefs. Since then, Peele has mastered the craft. Digging a citrus peeler into the fragrant skin of an orange, he patiently carves figures, from cowboys — including anatomically correct details — to mermaids. The name Orange Peel Moses came to him in 1999 during a dream, and, spurred by his love for the color and the fruit, he adopted it.
Peele's skills stretch far beyond sourcing orange clothing and artfully peeling oranges, however. His résumé is a smorgasbord of performances, from a show at Red Rocks as a member of the live EDM band Friends in Stereo — an act that was chosen as Westword's Best Club DJ in 2006 — to stilt-walking on packed festival stages with LMFAO and Will.i.am.

His success on a range of stages isn't surprising; there's something about Peele's personality that makes him magnetic.  Perhaps it's his extroversion, his passion for what he does, or simply because he's a personification of radiant joy. But Peele has a simple explanation: He says it's his capacity for love that has steered him toward his assortment of performance ventures.

"I have what feels like a boundless amount of love for people in the world. And I think if I did not have the singing telegram avenue or the performance avenues, I don't know what I would do with all this love that I have," he muses. "It's a very mutually beneficial arrangement."

His singing ability hasn't always been a guarantee. In 2006, a colleague noticed a mass on Peele's neck, and in 2008, he underwent surgery to have it removed. "Losing my voice entirely was a bona fide risk. Vagus nerve proximity also made it dangerous to biopsy," he shares. "I postponed surgery for over a year, attempting to record as much music as possible before the operation."

Although he regained his singing skills, one of his vocal folds was paralyzed — a tidbit he didn't know until he suddenly lost his voice in 2015. "When my voice specialist informed me that one of my vocal folds had been paralyzed since my 2008 operation, I was gobsmacked," he says. "I'd delivered well over a thousand singing telegrams in that time...and I'd somehow accomplished all that while operating at half capacity."

Despite his vocal issues, Peele continues to spread joy by delivering singing telegrams through his own business, Custom Singing Telegrams. Currently, his total count of performances hovers around 4,000. "But think of the extrapolate, all the lives and families and friends that we've touched," he adds. "It has been really, really special and really impactful."

Peele refers to this ripple-effect phenomenon as "collateral sunshine."

And the collateral sunshine is bright: Many of his performances are silly episodes that break up the mundane days of everyone involved. He's donned a bee costume to chase a police officer (who was afraid of bees) around the precinct, rented a sexy cockroach costume from a burlesque performer, and sang "Birthday Sex" to a business owner while dressed as a unicorn. He's also celebrated a vasectomy in a hot dog costume and surprised a few anchors on television — this Valentine's Day, he popped in at Channel 2 to serenade Lisa D'Souza.

"Orange is a very complementary color for what I do because it's a mood enhancer," he says. "And most of the time when we're singing telegrams, we're trying to lift the mood of the occasion...and create a collective effervescence and get people singing along."

Although his job often evokes raucous laughter, there have been more than a few touching moments. He's sung to people with Alzheimer's and a man who is blind. He's marched into a Lululemon store in full drag (his drag character's name is Orangina) to surprise an employee whose first date with her partner was at the drag brunch Bump and Grind. During COVID, he sang for the birthday of a twenty-year-old whose life expectancy was less than a year. And he always goes above and beyond, even flying to Albuquerque to sing for a ninety-year-old's birthday at the request of a client.

"I've talked to recipients that I sang to ten years ago, and they still remember that experience and have fond memories associated with that experience," he reflects. "I love that I'm facilitating these memories that stay with people for a long time. It's really special, and I don't take that responsibility lightly."

Outside of his singing-telegram adventures, Peele writes parodies and original music. His next single, "Under the Eclipse," will drop in March, and his track "Birthday Medicine" will be released on April 19, at his Singaversary and UnBirthday Party.

"I cannot even imagine my life without this joyful service. ... Even if I got struck by lightning tomorrow, I would not have any regrets, because I have lived such a full life through these experiences and touched so many lives," he shares tearfully. "I've gotten so much joy from enhancing these special occasions — laughing with people, interacting with recipients, pranking people, singing with people, making music with people and creating these emotionally charged events that recipients never forget."

"Under the Eclipse" Release Party, 7 p.m. Thursday, March 7, Invisible City, 941 Sante Fe Drive. Donations will be collected at the door.