Michael Peterson (singer)
Encyclopedia
Michael James Peterson is an American country music
artist. He made his debut on the country music scene in 1997 with his self-titled debut album
, which produced five Top 40 hits on the Billboard
Hot Country Singles & Tracks (now Hot Country Songs
) charts, including the Number One hit "From Here to Eternity
". Peterson's second album, 1999's Being Human
, produced two more chart singles, and a third album, 2004's Modern Man, was issued only in Europe
.
on August 7, 1959. At an early age, he was influenced by the music that his grandmother listened to, such as Cole Porter
and Roger Miller
.
After attending high school at Richland High School in Richland, WA, Peterson later earned a football
scholarship to Pacific Lutheran University
, where he won a national championship. One of his teammates, Brad Westering, was also working as a producer for Deniece Williams
at the time. Eventually, Peterson traveled to Nashville, Tennessee
where he started working as a professional songwriter, collaborating with other writers such as Josh Leo
and Robert Ellis Orrall
.
, a division of the Warner Music Group
. His debut single, "Drink, Swear, Steal & Lie", was released that year, charting at #3 on the Billboard
country charts and #86 on the Billboard Hot 100
. It was the lead-off single to Peterson's self-titled
debut album, which also produced four more chart singles. The second one, "From Here to Eternity", became Peterson's first and only Number One hit, while "Too Good to Be True" reached #8. Following it were "When the Bartender Cries" at #37 and "By the Book" at #19. The album was certified gold by the RIAA for shipping 500,000 copies in the U.S. Also in 1997, Peterson was named Male Artist of the Year by Billboard.
, in 1999. Its lead-off single, "Somethin' 'bout a Sunday", failed to reach top 40, and "Sure Feels Real Good" peaked at #39. Also in 1999, Peterson co-wrote the title track to Travis Tritt
's album No More Looking over My Shoulder, which was released as a single. After a Super Hits album for the label, Peterson exited Warner Music Group.
Nashville. His third studio album, Modern Man, was to have been released in 2002 for the label. Although its title track and "Lesson in Goodbye" both entered the country charts (with the former being the highest-debuting single of his career), the album itself was not issued in the US due to a restructuring of the label's parent company. AGR, a European record label, acquired the album and issued it in Europe
in 2004. Six singles were released from it in Europe, including Peterson's own rendition of "No More Looking over My Shoulder." Also included on the album was the track "Right About Now", which Ty Herndon
later released from his 2007 album of the same name
.
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
artist. He made his debut on the country music scene in 1997 with his self-titled debut album
Michael Peterson (album)
Michael Peterson is the debut album of American country music artist Michael Peterson. Released in 1997 on Reprise Records, it features the singles "Drink, Swear, Steal & Lie", "From Here to Eternity", "Too Good to Be True", "When the Bartender Cries" and "By the Book", all of which charted on the...
, which produced five Top 40 hits on the Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
Hot Country Singles & Tracks (now Hot Country Songs
Hot Country Songs
Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States.This 60-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly mostly by airplay and occasionally commercial sales...
) charts, including the Number One hit "From Here to Eternity
From Here to Eternity (Michael Peterson song)
"From Here to Eternity" is the title of a song recorded by American country music artist Michael Peterson, who co-wrote the song with Robert Ellis Orrall...
". Peterson's second album, 1999's Being Human
Being Human (album)
Being Human is the second album by American country music singer Michael Peterson. It was released June 8, 1999 via Reprise Records. The album includes the singles "Somethin' 'bout a Sunday' and "Sure Feels Real Good", which respectively reached #45 and #39 on the Billboard country singles charts...
, produced two more chart singles, and a third album, 2004's Modern Man, was issued only in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
.
Biography
Michael Peterson was born in Tucson, ArizonaTucson, Arizona
Tucson is a city in and the county seat of Pima County, Arizona, United States. The city is located 118 miles southeast of Phoenix and 60 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border. The 2010 United States Census puts the city's population at 520,116 with a metropolitan area population at 1,020,200...
on August 7, 1959. At an early age, he was influenced by the music that his grandmother listened to, such as Cole Porter
Cole Porter
Cole Albert Porter was an American composer and songwriter. Born to a wealthy family in Indiana, he defied the wishes of his domineering grandfather and took up music as a profession. Classically trained, he was drawn towards musical theatre...
and Roger Miller
Roger Miller
Roger Dean Miller was an American singer, songwriter, musician and actor, best known for his honky tonk-influenced novelty songs...
.
After attending high school at Richland High School in Richland, WA, Peterson later earned a football
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
scholarship to Pacific Lutheran University
Pacific Lutheran University
Pacific Lutheran University is located in Parkland, a suburb of Tacoma, Washington. In September 2009, PLU had a student population of 3,582 and approximately 280 full-time faculty...
, where he won a national championship. One of his teammates, Brad Westering, was also working as a producer for Deniece Williams
Deniece Williams
June Deniece Chandler known by her stage name Deniece Williams is an American Grammy Award-winning singer, songwriter and record producer who achieved success in the 1970s and 1980s...
at the time. Eventually, Peterson traveled to Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...
where he started working as a professional songwriter, collaborating with other writers such as Josh Leo
Josh Leo
Josh Leo is an American guitarist, songwriter, and record producer active in Nashville, Tennessee.Leo was born in Des Moines, Iowa, but was raised in Kansas City, Missouri. In 1973, he moved to Chicago, Illinois and subsequently became a guitarist of the short-lived Eddie Boy Band...
and Robert Ellis Orrall
Robert Ellis Orrall
Robert Ellis Orrall is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer. Signed to RCA Records in 1980, Orrall debuted that year with the album "Fixation". His first Top 40 single was "I Couldn't Say No", a duet with Carlene Carter...
.
Michael Peterson
Orrall suggested that Peterson sign to a recording contract, and in December 1996, Peterson was signed to Reprise RecordsReprise Records
Reprise Records is an American record label, founded in 1960 by Frank Sinatra. It is owned by Warner Music Group, and operated through Warner Bros. Records.-Beginnings:...
, a division of the Warner Music Group
Warner Music Group
Warner Music Group is the third largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry, making it one of the big four record companies...
. His debut single, "Drink, Swear, Steal & Lie", was released that year, charting at #3 on the Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
country charts and #86 on the Billboard Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
. It was the lead-off single to Peterson's self-titled
Michael Peterson (album)
Michael Peterson is the debut album of American country music artist Michael Peterson. Released in 1997 on Reprise Records, it features the singles "Drink, Swear, Steal & Lie", "From Here to Eternity", "Too Good to Be True", "When the Bartender Cries" and "By the Book", all of which charted on the...
debut album, which also produced four more chart singles. The second one, "From Here to Eternity", became Peterson's first and only Number One hit, while "Too Good to Be True" reached #8. Following it were "When the Bartender Cries" at #37 and "By the Book" at #19. The album was certified gold by the RIAA for shipping 500,000 copies in the U.S. Also in 1997, Peterson was named Male Artist of the Year by Billboard.
Being Human
Peterson released his second album, Being HumanBeing Human (album)
Being Human is the second album by American country music singer Michael Peterson. It was released June 8, 1999 via Reprise Records. The album includes the singles "Somethin' 'bout a Sunday' and "Sure Feels Real Good", which respectively reached #45 and #39 on the Billboard country singles charts...
, in 1999. Its lead-off single, "Somethin' 'bout a Sunday", failed to reach top 40, and "Sure Feels Real Good" peaked at #39. Also in 1999, Peterson co-wrote the title track to Travis Tritt
Travis Tritt
James Travis Tritt is an American country music singer from Marietta, Georgia. He signed to Warner Bros. Records in 1989, releasing seven studio albums and a greatest hits package for the label between then and 1999. In the 2000s, he released two albums on Columbia Records and one for the defunct...
's album No More Looking over My Shoulder, which was released as a single. After a Super Hits album for the label, Peterson exited Warner Music Group.
Modern Man
After his departure from Warner, Peterson signed to Monument RecordsMonument Records
Monument Records was an American record label, Washington, D.C. named for the Washington Monument, founded in 1958, by Fred Foster and Buddy Deane . Buddy Deane soon left the company, and in the early 60's bought KOTN in Pine Bluff, Arkansas where he retired to until his death...
Nashville. His third studio album, Modern Man, was to have been released in 2002 for the label. Although its title track and "Lesson in Goodbye" both entered the country charts (with the former being the highest-debuting single of his career), the album itself was not issued in the US due to a restructuring of the label's parent company. AGR, a European record label, acquired the album and issued it in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
in 2004. Six singles were released from it in Europe, including Peterson's own rendition of "No More Looking over My Shoulder." Also included on the album was the track "Right About Now", which Ty Herndon
Ty Herndon
Boyd Tyrone "Ty" Herndon is an American country music and Christian singer. Signed to Epic Records in 1995, Herndon made his debut that year with the Number One single "What Mattered Most", followed by the release of his first album, also entitled What Mattered Most...
later released from his 2007 album of the same name
Right About Now (Ty Herndon album)
Right About Now is an album, released in 2007, by country music artist Ty Herndon. His first major studio album since Steam in 1999, it features the singles "Mighty Mighty Love", previously recorded by Lila McCann on her album Complete, and the title track, previously recorded by Michael Peterson...
.
Studio albums
| Title | Album details | Peak chart positions | Certifications Music recording sales certification Music recording sales certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped or sold a certain number of copies, where the threshold quantity varies by type and by nation or territory .Almost all countries follow variations of the RIAA certification categories,... (sales thresholds) |
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| US Country | US Billboard 200 The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists... |
US Heat Top Heatseekers Top Heatseekers refers to either of two separate "Breaking and Entering" music charts issued weekly by Billboard Magazine: the Heatseekers Albums chart or the Heatseekers Songs chart. They were introduced by Billboard in 1993 with the purpose of highlighting the sales by new and developing musical... |
CAN Country RPM (magazine) RPM was a Canadian music industry publication that featured song and album charts for Canada. The publication was founded by Walt Grealis in February 1964, supported through its existence by record label owner Stan Klees. RPM ceased publication in November 2000.RPM stood for "Records, Promotion,... |
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| Michael Peterson Michael Peterson (album) Michael Peterson is the debut album of American country music artist Michael Peterson. Released in 1997 on Reprise Records, it features the singles "Drink, Swear, Steal & Lie", "From Here to Eternity", "Too Good to Be True", "When the Bartender Cries" and "By the Book", all of which charted on the... |
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17 | 115 | 2 | 13 |
Recording Industry Association of America The Recording Industry Association of America is a trade organization that represents the recording industry distributors in the United States... : Gold |
| Being Human Being Human (album) Being Human is the second album by American country music singer Michael Peterson. It was released June 8, 1999 via Reprise Records. The album includes the singles "Somethin' 'bout a Sunday' and "Sure Feels Real Good", which respectively reached #45 and #39 on the Billboard country singles charts... |
|
32 | — | 20 | — | |
| Modern Man |
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— | — | — | — | |
| Down on the Farm |
|
— | — | — | — | |
| In Black |
|
— | — | — | — | |
| Grave to the Cradle |
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— | — | — | — | |
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart | ||||||
Compilation albums
| Title | Album details |
|---|---|
| Super Hits |
|
Singles
| Year | Single | Peak chart positions | Album | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US Country Hot Country Songs Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States.This 60-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly mostly by airplay and occasionally commercial sales... |
US Billboard Hot 100 The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday... |
CAN Country RPM (magazine) RPM was a Canadian music industry publication that featured song and album charts for Canada. The publication was founded by Walt Grealis in February 1964, supported through its existence by record label owner Stan Klees. RPM ceased publication in November 2000.RPM stood for "Records, Promotion,... |
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| 1997 | "Drink, Swear, Steal & Lie Drink, Swear, Steal & Lie "Drink, Swear, Steal & Lie" is the title of a song co-written and recorded by American country music artist Michael Peterson. It was released in May 1997 as the first single from his debut album, Michael Peterson... " |
3 | 86 | 2 | Michael Peterson |
| "From Here to Eternity From Here to Eternity (Michael Peterson song) "From Here to Eternity" is the title of a song recorded by American country music artist Michael Peterson, who co-wrote the song with Robert Ellis Orrall... " |
1 | — | 11 | ||
| 1998 | "Too Good to Be True Too Good to Be True (Michael Peterson song) "Too Good to Be True" is the title of a song co-written and recorded by American country music artist Michael Peterson. It was released in January 1998 as the third single from his debut album, Michael Peterson... " |
8 | — | 5 | |
| "When the Bartender Cries" | 37 | — | 31 | ||
| 1999 | "By the Book" | 19 | 101 | 22 | |
| "Somethin' 'bout a Sunday" | 45 | — | 77 | Being Human | |
| "Sure Feels Real Good" | 39 | — | 38 | ||
| 2002 | "Modern Man" | 44 | — | * | Modern Man |
| "Lesson in Goodbye" | 58 | — | * | ||
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart * denotes unknown peak positions |
|||||
Music videos
| Year | Video | Director |
|---|---|---|
| 1997 | "Drink, Swear, Steal & Lie" | Tim Hamilton |
| "From Here to Eternity" | Steven Goldmann Steven Goldmann Steven Goldmann is a Canadian music video and film director. He has directed over 200 music videos. Goldmann also directed the movies Broken Bridges and Trailer Park of Terror, and has additionally directed several television programs.-1990-1999:... |
|
| 1998 | "Too Good to Be True" | |
| "When the Bartender Cries" | chris rogers | |
| 1999 | "Sure Feels Real Good" | David Hogan |
| 2002 | "Modern Man" | Steven Goldmann |