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John Petersen Biography

john-petersen
  • Born: in Rudyard, MI
  • Years Active: 1960s
  • Member of: The Tikis
  • Genre: Rock & Alternative

John Petersen was the drummer in the Beau Brummels and, from late 1966 to 1970, Harpers Bizarre. As the Beau Brummels drummer he was important to their image, with his resemblance to the Rolling Stones' Brian Jones. He didn't write anything for the band, but he did sing lead once in a great while, on "Sometime at Night" (from their second album) and "That's All That Matters," a Kinks-like garage rock outtake from their first album that eventually came out in the 1990s. In late 1966, he left the Beau Brummels for the Tikis, another band that, like the Beau Brummels, had been on the San Francisco independent label Autumn but found themselves sold to Warner Bros. The Tikis were actually in the process of changing their name to Harpers Bizarre, and had already recorded the first Harpers Bizarre hit, "59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy)." Petersen stayed with the band until their breakup in the early '70s, enjoying some commercial success even if the band's extremely light variety of sunshine pop was nowhere near as interesting as what he had played with the Beau Brummels. He recorded and played with the Beau Brummels when the group reunited in the mid-'70s. In 1969 he married Roberta Templeman, sister of Harpers Bizarre's Ted Templeman. Ted Templeman later became a successful producer, and in the 1980s Roberta Templeman became a vice president at Warner Bros. Records. ~ Richie Unterberger, Rovi

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