Peter Jesperson

I grew up in a suburb of Minneapolis and have been a music fanatic all my life. My first job in the field was distributing British rock weekly the New Musical Express in 1972. I was hired at record store Oar Folkjokeopus in 1973 and was manager there for a decade. In 1977 I co-founded Twin/Tone Records. In 1980 I discovered and signed The Replacements, soon became their manager, and co-produced their first four albums. Other notable signings include Soul Asylum, Vic Chesnutt, Chuck Prophet, and Ben Lee. In 1983 I became interim tour manager for R.E.M. I was an announcer at KRSI-KFMX (’74-’75), rock club The Longhorn (’77 -’81) and at radio station Rev 105 (’94-’97). I moved to Los Angeles in 1995 to work Twin/Tone releases with the help of Restless Records. I joined New West Records in 1999 as VP of A&R and Production. I went freelance in 2016, doing A&R, production, and music-related writing. In November of 2023, I released a memoir, Euphoric Recall, detailing my half century in the music business.