Musician St. Paul Peterson talked with host Jill Riley about the history of the Minneapolis sound, Prince, and the Minneapolis Funk All Stars. The band will perform at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, July 29, at Excelsior Commons in Excelsior, Minnesota.

Listen to the full interview in the player above, and find a complete transcript below.

Interview Transcript

Jill Riley: You are listening to The Current, I'm Jill Riley. St. Paul Peterson is best known for spending time in Prince's world, immersed in the Minneapolis sound, with groups like The Time and The Family, and he leads the Minneapolis Funk All Stars. This is a powerhouse supergroup of musicians who helped define that iconic Minneapolis sound. Members from the Revolution, the New Power Generation, the Time, the Family, Mint Condition, and others. And I'm joined this morning because there's a gig coming up this evening where you can experience that legacy of the Minneapolis Funk All Stars and a new song that we're going to play for you. St. Paul Peterson is with me on The Current's Morning Show. Paul Peterson, how are you doing? Thank you for being on the show.

St. Paul Peterson: So great to be on the air with you at The Current. This is fantastic. We are so looking forward to playing tonight and sharing the Minneapolis sound with hopefully the people who were around when it was, you know, popular in the ‘80s, and a whole new generation of folks as well. That's kind of our point. We want to make sure the Minneapolis sound continues for generations to come.

Jill Riley: I like that you say for the next generation. You know, for those who were there, but for the next generation. I mean, that's really the point of celebrating a legacy is to keep it living and breathing. And for the next generation, I wonder if you could talk about defining the Minneapolis sound. It's something that I feel like when you hear it, you know it. But how do you define the Minneapolis sound for the next generation?

St. Paul Peterson: That's a tough question to answer, really, because I think a lot of things led to what we know as and identify as the Minneapolis sound. The first thing that comes to mind, obviously, is Prince and what he did to put Minneapolis on the map once again. I mean, we've had many, many different people come along from Minneapolis and be very successful, but he really put this particular sound, which is a combination of James Brown, Jimi Hendrix, Earth, Wind, and Fire, so many different people. He melded them all into a new electronic kind of new wave sound that everybody identifies as the Minneapolis sound. Of course, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis are huge part of that as well. But I think the originator is really Prince, and that's what we celebrate. It's something that we're all proud of. We're always amazed that Prince handpicked all these different individuals, and there's so many in my band, and that's what makes it so unique, is that we have the original members, like you said, of the Revolution, the Time, the Family, etc, etc. And what we want to do is we want to pass this on to new generations with authenticity and integrity, and so does everybody else who who also is a part of the Minneapolis sound. There are others out there who do a fantastic job as well, and there are friends for years and years. And it's just important that we continue this on and tell the next generation what it's all about. It's all about the funk.

Jill Riley: St. Paul Peterson is on The Current. The Minneapolis Funk All Stars are playing a show this evening, starting at 6:30 at Excelsior Commons. So you can enjoy that Minneapolis sound on the shores of Lake Minnetonka. You can purify yourself if you choose, but tonight in Excelsior. Now, Paul, at some point you went from Paul Peterson to St. Paul Peterson, and you had mentioned about all these musicians that Prince handpicked. So, at what point did you come into Prince's orbit? And I understand that he may be responsible for that St. Paul Peterson.

St. Paul Peterson: I had just graduated high school in 1983 from the Academy of the Holy Angels in Richfield, and I was on a vacation up north. I got a phone call from my brother-in-law, who's — see if you can follow this — his cousin is Bobby Z., the drummer in the Revolution. Anyway, he said there's an audition that's happening for the keyboard slot made available by Prince by firing Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis and all that. So that position became available. I drove back down to the cities. To make a long story short, I had to learn a bunch of songs the night before the audition. I went into the audition the next day, Jesse Johnson, the guitar player, was running it. I got invited back the next day. I walked into this warehouse, and Prince was there. Evidently, I did okay because the minute I got off stage, we started picking out swatches for this new little movie he was about to make. And oh, by the way, the name St. Paul. Yeah, he gave me that name. So I wear it as a badge of honor. When I was asked by Prince to be the new lead singer in a group called the Family, along with Susannah Melvoin, he just dubbed me that. Everybody seemed to have nicknames around that camp, and you know Dr. Fink and Bobby Z., Sheila E., Apollonia. I just got the name St. Paul, and I think it's cool. My mom said, "You better live up to that name."

Jill Riley: You are listening to The Current's Morning Show with St. Paul Peterson, and at some point, you were immersed in Prince's world really during that defining time and the height of the Minneapolis sound. Now, at some point down the line, you got all of these players who were a big part of Prince's world, the Minneapolis Funk All Stars. When did that group come together, and what did it take for you to — did you have to do any kind of convincing of anyone, or was it kind of like, yeah, we're on board, we want to celebrate this legacy.

St. Paul Peterson: That's a great question. The Minneapolis Funk All Stars was originally the Minneapolis All Stars, which started in 1996, and we would go to different cities and do clinics at colleges, and then we'd play a concert. And we were still doing music that Prince wrote for me, but we'd also do Bonnie Raitt and different songs that were from the Minneapolis area, "Funky Town." Then when Prince passed, I focused the group more on celebrating the legacy and the songs and the music that he gave us. So I'd say 10 or 11 years ago, we refocused it on Prince's music, and I simply asked my friends that I had been playing with anyway for many years. The late great Jellybean Johnson was right there. We have kind of a revolving door of incredible musicians who come when they can, from Eric Leeds, Susannah Melvoin from The Family, Kirk Johnson from The New Power Generation, Dr. Matt Fink from The Revolution, Elisa Fiorillo, Liv Warfield wil come in sometime. Sheila E. sat in with us last time. Really the whole point is to carry on that legacy of music that Prince gave to us. So it was not hard to convince these folks to come and play because we all are cut from the same cloth. We all were in the Prince camp together. We know what a high level is that we have to perform this music at. You can't phone this in. It's got to be authentic. It's got to be great and up to those standards that he gave to us.

Jill Riley: You're listening to The Current. St. Paul Peterson, the Minneapolis Funk All Stars are performing this evening in Excelsior, Excelsior Commons, so right on the shores of Lake Minnetonka, and you can show up. It looks like everyone is welcome. Just show up and get ready to move your body and to help the Minneapolis Funk All Stars continue to celebrate that legacy. Now, Paul, before I let you go, we have been playing a new song from the Minneapolis Funk All Stars. I'm not super familiar with this collective of musicians getting together to write original music. It's more to me. I look at this group as a celebration of the legacy of Prince and all of the music that you guys were a part of in Prince's orbit. So, have you put out very much music as a group, original music, or is this a first?

St. Paul Peterson: We have not put out original music until about a month ago. You know, Prince was a funny guy. He would say, if he were here today, he'd probably say, "Why are you playing my music? Why don't you write your own music?" And it was always in the back of my mind, and I was like, "Well, we should do that." And sometimes we would do songs, my original songs. Sometimes we would do Elisa Fiorillo's original songs, but we never have come together collectively to make a record as St. Paul and the Minneapolis Funk All Stars, and that's what we ended up doing. And I thought I think it's a perfect out-of-the-box song talking about keeping the funk alive and handing it to the next generation. The name of the song is "Got to Keep the Funk Alive," you know, and it's a tip of the hat to our funk forefathers, and it's fun to have Jerome Benton make an appearance on the track, and the whole band is involved in it. So it's the sound that you will definitely recognize.

Jill Riley: St. Paul Peterson and the Minneapolis Funk All Stars with a gig tonight. You can check out the concert calendar at thecurrent.org/giglist, and you can check out that new song from the Minneapolis Funk All Stars. Well, right now, St. Paul Peterson, thank you so much for joining The Current's Morning Show.

St. Paul Peterson: Thank you so much for having me, and I hope to see a lot of The Current's fans at the show tonight.

Credits

Guests – Paul Peterson
Host – Jill Riley
Producer – Nilufer Arsala
Digital Producer - Natalia Toledo

External Link

St. Paul Peterson – Official Website