The youngest of Minnesota's Peterson Family, Paul started his professional career at the age of 15. He got his first record deal at age 17 with Prince, and has continued through the years making records for himself and others, including David Sanborn, George Benson, Paula Abdul and countless others. He also has toured with Steve Miller, Ben Sidran, Boz Scaggs, David Sanborn, Oleta Adams, and most recently with Kenny Loggins.
St Paul recently reunited with 4 of the original members of Prince's group, "The Family," now known as "fDeluxe."
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St. Paul Biography pt. 1
There are many talented people in the world of music, but only a few that have adeptly conquered the various areas of expertise necessary to be considered a consummate artist. St. Paul (a.k.a. Paul Peterson) is such an artist. Whether it be being discovered by Prince, performing with Grammy Award™ Nominee Oleta Adams, contributing to the success of a 10 million selling album (The Corrs), serving as Musical Director for Donny Osmond, or producing a feature piece of music for the closing ceremonies for the Winter Olympics, St. Paul is a musical talent respected by colleagues and fans alike.
St. Paul is the youngest son of a musical dynasty, lovingly referred to as Minnesota's First Family of Music. Family matriarch and mother Jeanne Peterson, an accomplished pianist and recording artist herself, raised her children with a keen eye to the future. Encouraging an ever-present musical ability in her children including St. Paul’s siblings Billy, Linda, Patty and Ricky, Jeanne perhaps never imagined what her talented offspring, especially her youngest son Paul, would one day accomplish in the field of music.
St. Paul was discovered at the age of seventeen by Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Prince, and was hand picked to appear in his 1984 Grammy Award™ winning film Purple Rain as the new keyboard player (replacing producer Jimmy Jam no less!) in the critically acclaimed funk group The Time. St. Paul’s foray into the big league was under way at a rapid pace. He shortly thereafter contributed his keyboard skills to the group's platinum album Ice Cream Castle (#24 pop), and the infectious singles Jungle Love (#6 R& B/#20 pop) and The Bird (#36 pop).
After the surprising disintegration of the group later that year, Prince, who had recognized Paul's talent as a gifted vocalist during the filming of Purple Rain, recruited him to front the burgeoning new group, The Family, whose self-titled debut was released on Prince's expanding Paisley Park label. It was here that Paul picked up the new moniker, St. Paul. Generating the popular singles The Screams Of Passion (#9 R&B), High Fashion, (#34 R&B) and the original (and, arguably, the finest) version of the worldwide hit Nothing Compares 2 U (later popularized by Sinead O'Connor) the album was released to critical acclaim in September of 1985.
Upon the demise of The Family, St. Paul was courted by every major label before signing with MCA Records in late 1985. His self-titled, debut album was released in 1986 and yielded the American R&B hit single Rich Man (#32, 1987) and Intimacy which was popular in United Kingdom soul circles.
In spite of the success of his debut, St. Paul’s eagerly awaited second solo CD, Down To The Wire, would be released on Atlantic Records in 1991. The first single, Stranger To Love, charted in the US pop top 40, while it's follow up Every Heart Needs A Home sold over two million copies as part of the film soundtrack to the box office hit Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
Having outgrown the restrictions placed upon him by major labels St Paul’s most recent releases have been released on independent labels and licensed to various territories throughout the world: 2004’s Everything, a collection of R&B pop which was nominated for Best Contemporary Album by The Just Plain Folks Music Organization for their 2004 Just Plain Folks Music Awards; 1996's Blue Cadillac, a personal project created to satiate his many international fans, and a fiery live recording as a member of the Minneapolis All-stars on Live At The Quest (1998 Go Jazz Records). Other notable members of the Minneapolis All-stars include sibling (and one of the jazz world’s most in-demand producers and players) Ricky Peterson on keyboards, guitar virtuoso David Barry (KD Lang, Janet Jackson), Eric Leeds (Prince, Madhouse) on sax and Bonnie Raitt's brother Steve Raitt on vocals.
St. Paul Biography pt. 2
As evidenced, St. Paul is indeed a celebrated recording artist, but he is also renowned as a thrilling live performer - complementing an impressive and ever-growing list of artists which includes names such as Stevie Wonder, Steve Miller, Boz Scaggs, Lionel Richie, Reba McIntire, Kenny Loggins, The Beach Boys, Little Richard, Boy George, Robert Palmer, Dolly Parton and Oleta Adams to name but a few.
With his musical skills and contributions firmly established, St. Paul has been and continues to be in high demand as a studio musician lending his musical chops to yet another impressive list of artists and their varied recording projects. A partial list includes Gavin DeGraw, Jonny Lang, The Corrs, The Spice Girls, Neneh Cherry, Mavis Staples, Rosie Gaines, Shannon Curfmann, Tuck & Patti, Anita Baker, Paula Abdul, Joe Sample, Tevin Campbell, Sergio Mendes, David Sanborn, George Benson and Academy Award™ Winner Leo Sidran.
As a songwriter Paul has achieved considerable success, most notably as co-writer on The Corrs worldwide smash Only When I Sleep while his track Song For My Brother garnered a Grammy Award™ nomination for the legendary George Benson. Continuing to make his mark as an internationally renowned songwriter, St. Paul has recently penned material for recording artists BB Mak (Unpredictable, Next Time - platinum), Al Jarreau (Oasis), Youngstown (Sugar - first single) and Aussie Youth (Stay A While - first single). He has also contributed a song to Donny Osmond’s new record called In It For Love that was written with his brother Ricky Peterson, nephew Jason Peterson Delaire, Donny Osmond and respected producers Gary Barlow (Take That) and Eliot Kennedy. Other artists to have covered St. Paul’s material include The Veronicas, Eternal, Paula Abdul, Jasmine Guy, Stacey Earle and Sheena Easton along with jazz greats David Sanborn, Ben Sidran and Jeff Lorber. He continues to write material with a host of accomplished songwriters including Oliver Leiber (Opposites Attract, Forever Your Girl - Paula Abdul), Jon Lind (Save The Best For Last- Vanessa Williams, Boogie Wonderland - Earth Wind & Fire, Crazy For You- Madonna), Bunny Hull (New Attitude - Patti Labelle, Breakdance - Irene Cara), Richard Page (Broken Wings- Mr. Mister, I'll Remember - Madonna) and country music star Bryan White (Leann Rimes, Sawyer Brown).
Firmly proving himself behind the scenes as a consummate professional, St. Paul’s production and performing talents continue to impress throughout films, television and CD-ROM media. His most notable credits include The Young and The Restless, A Goofy Movie, Girl 6, ESPN Boxing, Melrose Place, The Mayo Clinic Medical Guide (CD-ROM), and the award winning documentaries Vietnam - Long Time Coming and Hoop Dreams. Other accomplishments include tracks for HBO's series America Undercover, Bob Costa's new sports talk show, the theme song for KSTP's Sports Wrap and a pivotal role playing on and producing a track for Oleta Adam's CD entitled All The Love. Most notably, St. Paul was honored with a remarkable opportunity of Olympic proportions. He produced the debut of the exhilarating song Inspire the Spirit, for the opening ceremonies for the 2002 Paralympic Winter Games and additionally produced a rousing re-working of the hit We Are Family for the closing ceremonies for the 2002 Winter Olympics - both of which were broadcast around the world. He also produced and arranged the music for 'Royale Variety 2003', a benefit concert in Scotland honoring the Queen of England.
St. Paul Biography pt. 3
Always desiring to stretch himself artistically, St. Paul signed on, after a personal request by Donny Osmond, to serve as the musical director for the singer's first solo tour in eleven years, while working under the tutelage of music impresario, producer and legend Phil Ramone (Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Barbra Striesand, Billy Joel) St. Paul currently leads Donny’s amazing touring band, playing bass and conducting the orchestra. Having just enjoyed the success of a sold-out 2004 tour of UK castles, Donny is scheduled for other performances at other European destinations through the end of 2005. (For updates see http://www.StPaulMusic.com)
In September 2005, St Paul released his much-anticipated DVD St Paul Live at Bunkers. Shot at Minneapolis’ favorite music venue, this DVD is packed with songs that span St. Paul’s career. World-renowned percussionist Sheila E calls it “amazing” while fellow bass player Victor Wooten calls St Paul “one of my favorite artists and bass players. It’s wonderful to finally see him on DVD. It shows how talented and funky he really is.”
Obviously a man on a mission, Peterson continues to embrace new musical challenges and is always searching for new ways to express his explosive creativity. He has in fact, throughout his acclaimed career, expertly demonstrated himself to be a consummate artist, studio musician, live performer, multi-instrumentalist (bass, keyboards, drums, guitar and vocals), songwriter, arranger, producer and musical director, with many more musical horizons ahead of him to explore.
St Paul’s official website: http://www.stpaulmusic.com
For more information contact:
Neil Richards @ Square One Entertainment
Email: info@squareoneentertainment.net