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. Billy is brother of Paul Peterson (bass guitarist/singer/songwriter/keyboardist) and Ricky Peterson (keyboardist/singer/song writer/producer).
Career
Early career
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.
With the Steve Miller Band
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.
2010 to present
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.
Awards
2015 - Grammy Hall of Fame Award – Induction of Bob Dylan's album "Blood on the Tracks", with Peterson on bass 2008 - Mid-American Music Hall of Fame – Induction Award, as a member of “The Peterson Family” 2007 - Ancient City Blues Society – Honorary Lifetime Membership 2005 - Minneapolis City Pages - Best Jazz Artist 2005 1989 - Minnesota Music Award – Best Jazz Bass 1988 - Minnesota Music Award – Best Jazz/Fusion Bass Player 1987 - Minnesota Jazz Music Awards – Special Recognition Award 1985 - Minnesota Music Award – Jazz-Modern/Mainstream Instrumentalist 1984 - Minnesota Music Award – Best Jazz Instrumentalist 1984 - Minnesota Music Award – Best Bass 1982 - Minnesota Music Award – Best Jazz Instrumentalist 1975 - Grammy Award - for Bob Dylan's album Blood on the Tracks, with Peterson on bass, awarded for "Best Album Notes". The album also received Double Platinum in the US, Platinum in Canada, Gold in the UK, amongst others.