Career
Early career
In 1967, Peterson joined The Righteous Brothers on a summer tour. While in school, he played bass and drums in local orchestras, big bands, and R&B bands, and toured with the Lawrence Welk Show All Stars. After graduating high school, he played bass with trumpet legend Clifford Brown's pianist Billy Wallace until 1973. Peterson was the bassist on three of folk guitarist Leo Kottke's albums in the mid '70s, and played electric and upright bass on Bob Dylan's multi-platinum Blood On The Tracks for Columbia Records.
Peterson joined the Gibson guitar staff in 1976, giving him the opportunity to perform with B.B. King, Johnny Smith, Lenny Breau, Les Paul, and Howard Roberts. During this decade, record producer and engineer David Rivkin (aka David Z, who produced Prince in the 1980s) introduced Peterson to keyboardist Ben Sidran, the beginning of a musical partnership that is still going strong.
Peterson released his first solo album, “Threshold of Surrender,” in 1981. While touring the US and Europe with various artists, he recorded many albums as well as national radio and TV commercials. These included Peterson in a wide range of roles, from playing solo bass to accompanying a full symphony orchestra. [3]
With the Steve Miller Band
In 1986, Ben Sidran produced an album for Steve Miller and hired Peterson to play bass on Miller's debut solo album, Born 2 B Blue (Capitol). Afterwards, Peterson joined the Steve Miller Band and was a member for 23 years. He started to tour with the band in spring 1987; besides Born 2 B Blue, Peterson played bass on the Steve Miller Band Box Set (Capitol) and Wide River (Polydor) recordings, among many others.
With Prince and other artists
When possible, Peterson continued touring Europe and Japan with Ben Sidran and worked on numerous recordings for other artists, including Georgie Fame and Phil Upchurch. In 1990, Peterson played on, produced and arranged Leo Kottke's album That's What for which he wrote the song “Mid Air.” Shortly afterwards, The Artist (also known as Prince) approached him to create a string arrangement for The New Power Generation's dynamo maven, Rosie Gaines.
Peterson re-harmonized Bryan Adams's hit, "(Everything I Do) I Do It for You", and was musical director and bass player for Legends Rock (2004), a three-part television concert series and documentary shot in the south of France and produced by Megabien Entertainment. [3]
2010 to present
Peterson continues to work with various artists around the world. In 2012, he went on a European tour with longtime colleague Ben Sidran. Later that year, he and Cynthia Johnson co-hosted the Funkytown Movie (Megabien Entertainment), which showcases some of the finest artists and musicians in Minnesota's Twin Cities (Minneapolis and St. Paul).
In 2015, Peterson received a Grammy Hall of Fame Award for his participation in Bob Dylan's Blood on the Tracks. The album was inducted into the Hall of Fame for its musical, social, and cultural significance. [4] [5]
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