Peter Jesperson
Peter has been a music fanatic since he was a kid. He started working in music in 1972 in Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota distributing British rock weekly New Musical Express. He was hired at the record store Oar Folkjokeopus the next year, becoming manager in '75 and remaining there till the summer of '83.
In 1977, along with recording engineer Paul Stark and St. Paul Pioneer Press sports writer Charley Hallman, Peter co-founded Twin/Tone Records. He primarily handled A&R and distribution. In 1980 he discovered and signed The Replacements, soon becoming their manager and going on to co-produce their first four albums. Other notable signings include Curtiss A, The Suburbs and Soul Asylum. In 1983 he became interim tour manager for his Athens, GA buddies R.E.M. In the late 80s he managed Toronto's 13 Engines and worked on projects with A Single Love and Bad Thing. In 1991 Peter started Medium Cool Records (a spin-off of Twin/Tone) making thirteen albums with Slim Dunlap, Perfect (with Tommy Stinson), Jack Logan, The Leatherwoods, The Dashboard Saviors, Duane Jarvis, Marlee MacLeod, and Ticks.
Peter indulged his life-long disc jockey fetish with stints at commercial radio station KRSI-KFMX in the Twin Cities ('73-'74), underground rock club The Longhorn ('77 -'81) and again in commercial radio at Rev 105 with his weekly program Shakin' Street ('94-'97).
In 1995 Peter moved to Los Angeles to work his Medium Cool projects through a west coast-based company that had licensed several back catalog titles from Twin/Tone. In 1999 he was invited to join start-up record label New West Records. He began work with the label in September, becoming VP of A&R, Production and later Catalog as well. Peter left New West in April of 2016 and is currently freelance, doing A&R, production and music-related writing, and continues to help people navigate the recording process (vinyl is his specialty). In November of 2023, Peter released his first book, Euphoric Recall, a memoir of his 50+ years of work in music.
Peter is still deliriously happily married. His wife, Jennifer, is a music licensing specialist, and is the Director of Music Clearance and Licensing at MGM Studios. Their son, Autry, is attending The Thornton School of Music at USC in LA. Peter and Jennifer currently live in North Hollywood, CA with three essential cats.