“Lucky” is a pretty good nick name when you have a father with a club where you can get heard by a Blues legend and get the legend's help to become a star at 5-years-old. Unlikely you say?
It happened to “Lucky” Peterson, the Buffalo, New York, guitarist and organist.
Judge Kenneth Peterson was born in 1964, son of Blues musician and club owner James Peterson. It was in his father’s Buffalo Blues club that the younger Peterson heard Blues greats like Muddy Waters, Jimmy Reed and Willie Dixon. “Lucky” first became interested in the Hammond B3 and by age 5 was good enough to impress Dixon, who took him under his wing. Before Peterson was 7 he had played on The Ed Sullivan Show, What’s My Line? and The Tonight Show.
http://youtu.be/RhOMw4JIWa8
It was when Lucky Peterson was 5 that he recorded Our Future: 5 Year Old Lucky Peterson and had a national hit with the Willie Dixon produced R & B track “1-2-3-4.”
Later, Peterson added guitar to his organ playing and as a teen, attended the Buffalo Academy for Visual and Performing Arts, picking up the French horn while there.
No laurel sitter, he also played with Etta James and Bobby “Blue” Bland while still a teen. At one time joinging Little Milton’s group for three years, starting when he was 17. Next, he played for three years with Bland, leading into the beginnings of Lucky Peterson’s solo career.
http://youtu.be/IPhqbTxB4sk
It was fifteen years after his age 5 recording debut that Petersen restarted his solo career with the 1984 album Ridin’ and many albums have followed. He's also developed a concert, festival and club following.
Peterson was lucky in how his career started and how it has developed. We are lucky when we get to experience Lucky Peterson’s music.
