Blue Cheer Frontman Passes Away

Dickie Peterson, the singer and bass player of Blue Cheer, who are considered another one of the first heavy metal bands, sadly passed away this morning in Germany at the age of sixty one. The cause of death has yet to be announced but he had been ill for some time. After Peterson's death, Andrew MacDonald wrote on the groups website "Blue Cheer is done. Out of respect for Dickie, Blue Cheer would never become a viable touring band again."

Blue Cheer released their first album, "Vincebus Eruptum" in 1968 and released a further five albums until a hiatus. The band returned with a new album in 1984 and released two more albums in 1990 and 1991 before another break. The bands last record was a collection of re-recorded material entitled, "What Doesn't Kill You..." in 2007. Peterson himself had also recorded two solo albums entitled, "Child Of The Darkness" and "Tramp."

They are best known for their cover of Eddie Cochran's "Summertime Blues," which peaked at #14 on the Pop Singles chart and #3 on the Canadian RPM magazine charts in 1968.

You can listen to the song here.

Thanks for the report to Metalunderground.com.

Comments

[The_Seventh_Sin]

awww that sucks!

RIP

[the_hoodster]

R.I.P.

[AEnima18]

RIP.

One of the first bands to really crank up the volume.

[Mr. Chang]

Their first two albums kicked a lot of ass

[alexanderjames7]

damn.
RIP

[Waterboy799]

too bad, they were a good band.

RIP

[TheBurningFish]

Great band. Shame they're best known for a cover, though.

[TomD03]

=( I actually really enjoyed Blue Cheer a lot. Though I didn't follow them these past few years, still very sad news.
RIP

[The_Casinator]

R.I.P. I loved their sheer loud attitude...

[Mauro_0990]

R.I.P.

[R0B0_Ninja]

R.I.P

Just read an article about them a few days ago and realised the part they played in very early metal.

[-LAW-]

I loved summertime blues... damn this sucks. Such sad news.

R.I.P

[Polystant]

I loved these guys. I didn't really follow up on them either but I loved Summertime Blues and Just a Little Bit More. RIP

[sjilie]

damn i had just discovered blue cheer about a month ago too...
R.I.P.

[DimebagRob]

These guys were one of the first metal bands, so I have to appreciate them, R.I.P

[DrFuzz]

Man, first Ron Asheton, then Sky Saxon, then this guy...

My favourite era in music is literally dying off

RIP, Dickie Peterson.

Checked.

[darkwolf291]

R.I.P.

[BassFishin]

Wow, i seriously freaked because i thought it said 'blur frontman passes away'.

Well, whoever this guy is, thoughts to his family n such.

[MethLabForCutie]

this is a real shame. i just found out about theses guys last week, and their first album is really good. RIP

[Freebird79]

wtf? How is a Metallica DVD more important than this?

[Paramecium302]

horrible

[humperdunk]

mannn i loved their early stuff. dickie, you rocked harder than just about anyone. RIP.

[jthm_guitarist]

R I P Dickie, kudos for keeping the band going for so long.

Anyone interested in learning a ton about the greatness that is Blue Cheer should check out the Summer 2009 issue of Classic Rock, lengthy featured interview with the man.

[Phiddler]

peace

Never heard of him or his band, but R.I.P.

Checked.

[JoeLancaster]

TheBurningFish wrote:

Great band. Shame they're best known for a cover, though.

Yeah. Still quite the solid band though. Even just their first two albums, full of blues-rock magic. R.I.P. indeed.

(Also: better than Manfred Mann, a band that's mainly known for a cover, but sucks)

[rebeltildeth87]

much respect for Blue Cheer. Its sad to hear he died.

[sheppo]

RIP thanks to Blue Cheer the foundtions of Heavy Metal were laid

[tom1thomas1]

aw i was just airdrumming to Parchment Farm last night, i love these guys since I watched 'A Headbanger's Journey' and found out about them there, with MC-5, The Stooges and Mountain.

[NewRisingSun]

It happened more than a week ago, not yesterday morning. He died from liver cancer on October 12, 2009.