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Billy Peterson

Billy Peterson
Peterson with Steve Miller Band in 2006
Peterson with Steve Miller Band in 2006
Background information
Birth nameWillard Peterson
BornMinnesota, United States
Genres
Occupations
InstrumentBass
Years active1967–present
WebsitePetersonbilly.com

Billy Peterson (born as Willard Peterson, in Minnesota) is an American bass player, songwriter, composer, session musician and producer. Growing up in a family of professional musicians, Peterson started with music at a very young age.[1] Billy is the brother of Paul Peterson (bass guitarist/singer/songwriter/keyboardist) and Ricky Peterson (keyboardist/singer/song writer/producer).[2]

Career

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Early career

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In 1967, he joined The Righteous Brothers on a summer tour. While going to school, Peterson played bass and drums in local orchestras, big bands, R&B bands and toured with the Lawrence Welk Show All Stars. After high-school, he started playing bass with trumpet-legend Clifford Brown's pianist Billy Wallace until 1973. In the mid 1970s, he was the bassist on three albums of folk guitarist Leo Kottke and also the electric and upright bassist on Bob Dylan's multi-platinum album Blood On The Tracks for Columbia Records.

In 1976, he joined the Gibson guitar staff 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, a beginning of a musical partnership remaining strong till today. He released his first solo album “Threshold of Surrender” in 1981. While continuing to tour the US and Europe with various artists, he recorded many albums plus national radio and TV commercials performing from solo bass to playing with a full symphony orchestra.[3]

With the Steve Miller Band

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In 1986, Ben Sidran produced an album for Steve Miller and hired Peterson to play bass on the recording Born to be Blue. Afterwards Peterson became a member of the Steve Miller Band for 23 years, until 2010. He started to tour with the Steve Miller Band in spring 1987 and played bass on the Born to Be Blue (Capitol), Steve Miller Band Box Set (Capitol), and Wide River (Polydor) recordings, amongst numerous others. Simultaneously, when possible, he continued to tour Europe and Japan with Ben Sidran and worked on numerous recordings of other artists, including Georgie Fame or Phil Upchurch. In 1990 Peterson played on, produced and arranged Leo Kottke's album "That's What" for which he wrote a composition named “Mid Air”. Shortly after The Artist (also known as Prince) approached him to create a string arrangement for The New Power Generation's dynamo maven, Rosie Gaines. He also re-harmonized Bryan Adams's hit “Everything I Do I Do It For You”. In 2004, he was the musical director and bass player for the Legends Rock TV Show shot in the South of France and produced by Megabien Entertainment.[3]

2010 to present

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After leaving the Steve Miller Band, Peterson continues to work with various artists around the world. In 2012 he went on a European Tour with Ben Sidran. Later that year he co-hosted along with Cynthia Johnson the Funkytown Movie, produced by Megabien Entertainment, which showcases some of the Twin Cities´ finest artists and musicians. In 2015, Peterson as the bassist of Bob Dylan's album “Blood on the Tracks” received the GRAMMY Hall of Fame Award, which was inducted due to its significance for musical, social, and cultural history.[4][5]

Awards

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Discography

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for references see allmusic[8] or cduniverse.com [9]

Filmography

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References

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  1. ^ "Billy Peterson - Biography". Jazz.com. Archived from the original on 2014-06-04. Retrieved 2014-06-14.
  2. ^ Wynn, Ron. "Ricky Peterson - Biography". AllMusic. Retrieved 2018-05-31.
  3. ^ a b "Billy Peterson - Official Artist Website - Biography". Petersonbilly.com. Retrieved 2014-06-14.
  4. ^ "27 Recordings Added to the GRAMMY Hall Of Fame". Grammy.com. Retrieved 2015-03-04.
  5. ^ "2015 GRAMMY HALL OF FAME INDUCTION". Petersonbilly.com. Retrieved 2015-03-04.
  6. ^ "27 Recordings Added to the GRAMMY Hall Of Fame". Grammy.com. Retrieved 2015-03-04.
  7. ^ "BEST JAZZ ARTIST Minneapolis 2005 - Billy Peterson". Archived from the original on 2014-10-06. Retrieved 2014-10-03.
  8. ^ "Billy Peterson : Album Discography". AllMusic. Retrieved January 18, 2020.
  9. ^ "Billy Peterson Discography". Cduniverse.com. Retrieved January 18, 2020.
  10. ^ "Legends Rock, live music TV show". Retrieved 2013-05-24.
  11. ^ "Billy Peterson". IMDB.com. Retrieved 2013-05-24.
  12. ^ "The Funkytown Movie, music documentary (2012)". Archived from the original on 2018-12-04. Retrieved 2013-05-24.
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