Peter Ivers

Peter Scott Ivers (September 20, 1946 - March 3, 1983) was an American musician,^[1] best known as the host of New Wave Theatre.

Ivers was born in Illinois, but raised in Brookline, a suburb of Boston, Massachusetts. He attended the Roxbury Latin School and then Harvard University, majoring in classical languages, but chose a career in music. He started playing harmonica with the Boston-based Street Choir. He embarked on a solo career in 1969 with the Epic release of his debut, Knight of the Blue Communion (also featuring Sri Lankan jazz diva Yolande Bavan, who was sometimes erroneously thought to be married to Ivers).

Early career

In 1971 Ivers replaced Yolande with Asha Puthli on Take It Out On Me, his second album for Epic. The single from this second album, a cover of the Marvin Gaye number, Ain't That Peculiar, backed by Ivers' original, Clarence O' Day, was released and briefly entered the Top 100 Singles Billboard charts but the album was shelved by Epic (only finally seeing the light of day in 2009). Subsequently, Peter signed with Warner Bros., where he recorded two more albums.

In 1971 and 1972, WNET and WGBH presented Jesus, A Passion Play for Americans, a play produced by Timothy Mayer. The music and lyrics were Ivers' from Knight of the Blue Communion. Other important roles are played by Andreas Teuber, Asha Puthli, Steve Kaplan and Laura Esterman. The work was broadcast as part of the WNET American Playhouse series. As a rock retelling of the story of Jesus, the work was a precursor to classics of that genre, such as Godspell and Jesus Christ Superstar.

In 1975, Ivers wrote the lyrics to the only compositions on the Threshold: The Blue Angels Experience film with vocals. Namely these were; "Dawn: Eagle Call / The World Is Golden Too", "Noon: Rise Up Call / Wings / Blues Anthem" and "Night: Night Angels / She Won't Let Go". All were sung by Michael Nesmith.

In 1976, Ivers was asked by David Lynch to write a song for his movie, Eraserhead. Ivers penned In Heaven (The Lady in the Radiator Song), which became the most well-known composition from the film. He also scored the Ron Howard film Grand Theft Auto the following year. In 1979 he scored the fifth episode of the first season of B.J. and the Bear.

In 1977, Ivers produced a Synth-Pop / Disco album for Roderick Falconer titled "Victory In Rock City".

Ivers' best friend was Harvard classmate Douglas Kenney, founder of the National Lampoon. Ivers played Beautiful Dreamer on the harmonica at Kenney's funeral. Ivers was also close friends with John Belushi who likewise preceded him in death.

In 1981, Ivers produced the Circus Mort EP featuring Swans front man Michael Gira and avant garde drummer Jonathan Kane. 1981 also found Ivers tapped by David Jove to host New Wave Theatre on Los Angeles TV station KSCI which was shown irregularly as part of the weekend program Night Flight on the fledgling USA Network. The program was a frantic cacophony of music, theater and comedy, lorded over by Ivers with his manic presentation. Using a method of filming known as "live taped", the show was the first opportunity for many alternative musicians to receive nationwide exposure. Notable bands who appeared on the show included The Angry Samoans, Dead Kennedys, 45 Grave, Fear, Suburban Lawns and The Plugz.

Also in 1981 Ivers experienced commercial success having written a song with John Lewis Parker that became an R&B top ten hit for Phyllis Hyman called "Can't We Fall in Love Again?". Ivers formed a songwriting team with Franne Golde, and several of their compositions were picked up by successful artists, like; "Little Boy Sweet" recorded by The Pointer Sisters, "All We Really Need" recorded by Marty Balin, "Let's Go Up" recorded by Diana Ross and "Louisiana Sunday Afternoon" and "Give Me Your Heart Tonight"; both recorded by Kimiko Kasai. Peter also appears in the film Jekyll and Hyde... Together Again (1982) performing his song "Wham It" and had another composition "Light Up My Body" featured in the soundtrack.

In 1983, he performed on the Antilles Records release Swingrass '83.^[2]

Death

In 1983, Peter Ivers was found bludgeoned to death with a hammer in his Los Angeles apartment. The murderer was never identified. Harvard established the Peter Ivers Visiting Artist Program in his memory.

Josh Frank and Charlie Buckholtz have written a book about Ivers' life, art and mysterious death, In Heaven Everything Is Fine: The Unsolved Life of Peter Ivers and the Lost History of New Wave Theatre (published 2008). On the basis of new information unearthed during the creation of this book, the Los Angeles Police Department has reopened their investigation into Ivers' death.

Discography

• Knight of the Blue Communion (Epic, 1969)
• Take It Out on Me (recorded for Epic in 1971 but not released until 2009, by Wounded Bird Records)
• Terminal Love (Warner Bros., 1974)
• Peter Ivers (also known as Peter Peter Ivers) (Warner Bros., 1976)
• Nirvana Peter (Warner Bros., 1985)*
• The Untold Stories (K2B2 Records, 2008)

* Compilation of previous Warner recordings with bonus tracks

Other appearances

• Buellgrass - Big Night at Ojai (K2B2 Records, 1983); released on CD as Buellgrass - Across the Tracks
• John Klemmer - Magic and Movement (Impulse!, 1974)

Bibliography

• Josh Frank and Charlie Buckholtz, In Heaven Everything Is Fine: The Unsolved Life of Peter Ivers and the Lost History of New Wave Theatre (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2008) ISBN 978-1-4165-5120-1

References

External links

• Peter Ivers at the Internet Movie Database
• Josh Frank's Peter Ivers site
• L.A. Weekly article
• Peter Ivers last band he was in The Girlz of Zaetar on YouTube