Career
Born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Peterson was the youngest son in a musical family. He was discovered by Prince in 1983 and groomed to replace Monte Moir as keyboardist of Rhythm & Blues band The Time. Peterson gained exposure when the band appeared in the hit movie Purple Rain.
When The Time broke up in 1984, Prince gathered the remnants to form The Family, with Peterson as lead singer.
The group"s tenure was brief, performing live only once (at First Avenue, where Purple Rain was filmed). Peterson left to pursue a solo career, releasing his eponymous debut album in 1987.
Peterson released two singles, "Intimacy" and "Rich Manitoba" from the album, as well as a video for the latter one. Prince wrote a song about Peterson"s early jump from The Family ship called "Dream Factory", which was later released on 1998"s Crystal Ball compilation.
Peterson released two solo albums in the 1990s on Atlantic Records and a live recording with the group the Minneapolis All-Stars.
Peterson is also a session musician and has backed up many acts in concert. He has toured with Kenny Loggins, and Oleta Adams. From 1998–2000 he was the bassist in the house band on the Donny & Marie television program
His last solo album, Everything, was released in 2004.
Peterson is married and has two children, and resides in the Minneapolis area. Peterson produced two songs and co-produced two more songs on Oleta Adams" 2009 album, Let"s Stay Here.
He also played on the album, which was released April 21, 2009. Since then fDeluxe has released RELIT, and most recently "Department of Administration and Management Static," a collection of covers done in the classic fDeluxe style.
Peterson is the Program Chair for Audio and Recording arts at Minneapolis Media Institute.
