Peter Jesperson

BIOGRAPHY

Peter Jesperson, music executive, DJ, manager, tour manager, label founder, and huge music fan will be releasing his memoir Euphoric Recall on November 14 through Minnesota Historical Society Press. The book features a forward by music journalist David Fricke.

A passionate music lover since childhood, Peter Jesperson found his way into the Minneapolis music world just as it was blossoming in the 1970s and ‘80s. While also managing the influential Oar Folkjokeopus record store and DJing at Jay’s Longhorn bar. Jesperson cofounded Twin/Tone Records, which launched such groundbreaking artists as the Replacements, Soul Asylum, The Suburbs, Babes In Toyland and the Jayhawks, and many more. By the early ‘80s Jesperson made the discovery that changed his life: the Replacements. As an A&R man and then manager, he guided this talented and out-of-control foursome while taking a break to road-manage an upcoming sensation out of Athens, Georgia: R.E.M. But as his career was on the rise, Jesperson began his own descent into substance abuse.

Motivated by his love of music, Jesperson rallied back and eventually made his way to Los Angeles for the next phase of his career. While working alongside artists such as Dwight Yoakam, Kris Kristofferson, Vic Chesnutt, and Steve Earle, Jesperson experienced firsthand the dramatic changes in the music industry of the 1990s. After a half century in the music business, Jesperson shares insights, anecdotes, and lessons from his unique vantage point.