What have Robert Lamm, James Pankow and other Chicago members publicly said about Peter Cetera's solo career and legacy?

1. Robert Lamm: supportive, pragmatic, and on the record

Longtime Chicago keyboardist and songwriter Robert Lamm explicitly told the Chicago Tribune in 1986 that “Peter (Cetera) really wanted to be on his own, and we supported that desire,” a straightforward public framing that presents Cetera’s exit as an accepted, even endorsed, career move rather than a purely acrimonious split ^[1].

2. Other members: public traces of frustration about Cetera’s prominence

Multiple retrospective accounts and interviews with band members and chroniclers describe internal tensions as Cetera’s voice and songs became central to Chicago’s hit machine in the David Foster era, with several members—reported collectively—saying they were “getting a bit antsy” about Cetera’s dominance and that the band felt changes in sound and personnel contributed to strain before his departure ^{[2] [3]}.

3. Public narrative of a falling-out, not full reconciliation

Music press and songwriting outlets have explicitly described a falling-out between Cetera and Chicago around 1985 and note that relations “didn’t improve over the years,” reflecting a public narrative—endorsed by multiple writers—that the split left a lasting rift rather than a quick reunion or mollified feelings ^[3].

4. Chicago members’ assessment of Cetera’s solo achievements

While several Chicago members underscored the band’s identity beyond any single singer, reporting and archival notes acknowledge Cetera’s undeniable solo commercial success—two No. 1 Hot 100 hits in his solo career and major soundtrack and award recognition—and members have publicly recognized that he found a lucrative, high-profile solo path even as they defended the band’s broader legacy ^{[4] [1] [5]}.

5. Tone and subtext in members’ public comments: money, ego, and artistic shifts

When band members talk about that era in longform interviews and features, the public emphasis is less on personal attacks and more on systemic issues—touring demands, management decisions, and a change toward a slicker, pop-oriented sound—that fostered “petty jealousy” and “money grumblings,” phrases used in band oral histories to describe the context of Cetera’s exit and subsequent solo rise ^{[2] [3]}.

6. What James Pankow and named individuals have (and have not) said publicly in these sources

The supplied reporting includes explicit attributions from Robert Lamm and collective or paraphrased comments from other Chicago members, but it does not contain a direct, attributable public quote from trombonist James Pankow about Cetera’s solo career or legacy; therefore a definitive Pankow quote cannot be produced from these materials ^{[1] [2] [3]}.

7. Legacy adjudicated by facts and fractured relationships

Taken together, the band’s public statements and the music-press record portray two concurrent truths: Chicago members publicly stress the group’s continuity and collective identity, and they have admitted irritation at the time over Cetera’s prominence; at the same time the reporting acknowledges Cetera’s solo chart and award accomplishments, creating a legacy in which both the band’s and Cetera’s successes are repeatedly affirmed even as personal and professional relationships remained strained ^{[1] [4] [5] [3]}.

8. Reporting limits and the need for direct contemporaneous quotes

The supplied sources give clear on-the-record comments from Robert Lamm and broad, sourced narratives about band tensions, but they do not provide a direct public statement from James Pankow in these excerpts nor exhaustive, contemporaneous quotes from every Chicago member about Cetera’s solo legacy—this analysis is bounded by those reporting limits and cites only the available public attributions ^{[1] [2] [3]}.