Dickie Peterson
1948 – October 12, 2009
Born into a musical family, Dickie Peterson knew from an early age that he wanted to be a professional musician, so he picked up the bass at thirteen and never looked back. In 1966, he helped form Blue Cheer, a San Francisco based psychedelic blues rock band that is considered by many to to be the first “heavy metal” band. Peterson played bass and sang lead in the band. In 1968, they released a heavy electric blues version of Eddie Cochran’s “Summertime Blues.” It has been called the very first heavy metal song. The song made it into the top 15 on the Billboard singles chart, making it their only hit. The band stayed together, all be it in different configurations, into the ’90s, with Peterson being a constant figure. They parted ways in 1994, reunited in 1999, and have been together ever since. Dickie Peterson died of liver cancer on October 12, 2009. He was 61 years old.
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