Blues guitarist, organist and vocalist Judge Kenneth Peterson, better known as Lucky Peterson, passed away on May 17, 2020 in Dallas, Texas. Peterson’s style combined blues with soul, gospel and rock.
Lucky Peterson was born on December 13, 1964 in Buffalo, New York. He was the son of James Peterson, a celebrated blues guitarist and owner of “The Governor’s Inn”, a popular roadhouse venue in the city and customary stop for some of the most famous bluesmen of the era.
He was known as Little Lucky Peterson at the time and fell in love with the blues at a very early age. Willie Dixon produced Little Lucky Peterson’s first album when he was only 5 years old. “Our Future” was released on the label Today/Perception Records. Invitations quickly arrived for Little Lucky Peterson to perform live on national TV shows such as the “Ed Sullivan show”, the “Tonight show” and “What’s my line.”
In his teenage years Lucky Peterson played guitar and keyboards and toured and recorded with Etta James, Bobby “Blue” Bland, Little Milton, Otis Rush, Kenny Neil and other artists.
In the early 1990s, Lucky Peterson started to record his own albums on well-known labels such as Alligator Records, Verve, Gitane, Universal, Dreyfus, and JSP Records.
In 2019, Lucky Peterson celebrated his 50th anniversary as a musician with the album “50 – Just Warming Up!”
Author: World Music Central News Room
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What a treat it was to see Mr. Lucky Peterson in live concerts. Here, in our intimately sized Jazz Alley (in Seattle) we were so thrilled to enjoy his several performances over the years. They were infectious, amazing, full of energy great music and his larger than life stage presence. What a musician he was! I am so grateful I got to experience the quality of live performance which is nearly instinct these days. Thank you, dear Mr. Lucky Peterson! RIP