Lucky Peterson

Blues/soul keyboardist and guitarist Judge Kenneth ‘Lucky’ Peterson was born on December 13, 1964 in Buffalo, New York. The son of blues guitarist James Peterson, he learned to play the organ at an early age. His father owned a club called Governor’s Inn, and Lucky Peterson was witness to many performances by blues greats, including Willie Dixon, who encouraged him to pursue a career in the blues. In 1971, at the age of 5, he recorded his first album, Our Future: 5 Year Old Lucky Peterson and appeared on The Tonight Show and Ed Sullivan Show. In 1972, he recorded the album The Father, the Son, The Blues with his father. After years of working on his guitar playing, he toured and recorded with artists such as Etta James, Little Milton, Otis Rush, Bobby ‘Blue’ Bland, and others. In 1984, he released Ridin’, his first album as an adult. Lucky then signed to legendary blues label Alligator Records. His first album for the label was 1989’s Lucky Strikes, followed a year later by Triple Play. After great success with the Alligator Records albums, he moved on to Verve Records and released the albums I'm Ready (1993), Beyond Cool (1994), and Lifetime (1995). In 1996, Peterson collaborated with gospel/soul legend Mavis Staples to pay homage to Mahalia Jackson on the album Spirituals & Gospel: Dedicated to Mahalia Jackson. Over the next few years, he expanded his musical horizons by collaborating with a variety of artists including Bill Laswell, classical violinist Nigel Kennedy, jazz icons Ron Carter and Jack DeJohnette. He continued to release albums for a variety of labels including JSP, Dreyfus, Blue Thumb, Jazz Village and Universal Music France. He celebrated his 50th anniversary in the music business in 2019 with the album 50 – Just Warming Up. Less than a year later, on May 17, 2020, he died in Dallas at the age of 55 of a hemorrhagic stroke.

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