The Team

Paul

Petersen

Bio

Biography

Guitarist and producer Paul Petersen has been playing professionally since he was sixteen. He moved to Johannesburg to work in 1978 and a year later got his break when he joined the afro-jazz band, Spirits Rejoice. With Spirits Rejoice, he recorded the hit songs Paradise Road and Shine On.

From the mid-eighties, Paul played from Cape Town to Sun City to the Comoros Islands and back, and has worked with many top acts including Johnny Clegg, Wayne Jackson of the Memphis Horns, J.D. Blair (Shania Twain), Taliep Petersen, David Kramer, Terry Fortune, Jim Roberts, Timmy Thomas, Leo Sayer, Lamont Dozier, Clarence Carter, Margaret Singana, Lionel Petersen, Richard Jon Smith, and Dobie Gray.

In 1997 Paul and his American-born wife Helen moved to Bowling Green, Kentucky. He built and ran a recording studio while playing in a world-music band based in Nashville.

In 2003 Paul returned to his home of Cape Town to develop local talent which he believes to be both abundant and untapped.