Garry Peterson

Garry Peterson
Garry Peterson
Background information
Born	(1945-05-26) May 26, 1945 (age 79) Winnipeg, Canada
Genres	Hard rock, psychedelic rock, blues rock, garage rock
Instrument(s)	drums
Years active	1949-
Member of	The Guess Who
Formerly of	Bachman-Turner Overdrive

Garry Peterson (born May 26, 1945) is a Canadian-American drummer. He has been in The Guess Who and Bachman–Turner Overdrive.

He was born in Winnipeg, and his father (also a drummer) got him to start playing the drums at age two, and professionally when he was four years old.^[1] In 1950, when he was five, he played drums for Peggy Lee at the Chicago Theatre.^[2][3][3] At nine years old, he joined the American Federation of Musicians.^[3] Garry was a child prodigy drummer, and backed Lionel Hampton, The Four Lands, Ames Brothers, and The Andrew Sisters.^[4] His influences are Ringo Starr, David Garibaldi, Buddy Rich and Gene Krupa.^[5] He is also inspired by jazz and classical music, and played in the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra for one season.^[3]

Peterson met Randy Bachman in junior high school, where they were both on their baseball team.^[6] They, with another friend, formed the band The Embers in 1958. Garry and Randy Bachman from the band The Embers^[7] met Chad Allan, Bob Ashley, and Jim Kale from Al & The Silvertones who were the bands "biggest rivals", and became Chad Allan and the Reflections. They later changed to The Guess Who. The Guess Who charted fourteen Top 40 singles in the United States and more than thirty in Canada.^[8] These songs include “American Woman”, “These Eyes”, “Laughing”, “No Sugar Tonight/New Mother Nature”. Peterson performed congas, drums and other percussive instrument on Randy Bachman's solo album Axe in 1970.^[9] Peterson, Cummings and Bill Wallace all played Rick Neufeld's 1974 album Prairie Dog.

The Guess Who stopped in 1975, and Garry formed an unsuccessful band with Roy Kenner called Delphia.^[10] He later worked jobs in a hotel and as an insurance salesman.^[11] He backed Burton Cummings for a while, until 1983, when he decided to leave Cummings to join Bachman–Turner Overdrive.^[6] Peterson plays on their 1984 Bachman–Turner Overdrive album. Although he was not a member at the time, Garry played percussion, drums and backing vocals on BTO's first album, also called Bachman–Turner Overdrive from 1973.^[12]

Garry was kicked off of the bands tour after breaking his ankle in an Ice hockey accident.^[13] Garry has received a phone call from Tim Bachman saying that the band “no longer required” him.^[13] Peterson’s booting from BTO was an especially dark time for him, as he lost his house since he was receiving no income, and Burton Cummings never forgave him for ditching him to go with Bachman.^[13]

A year after leaving Bachman—Turner Overdrive, he went back to The Guess Who. Since then, he had toured with Kale, but is the sole original member in the Guess Who since Kale retired in 2016. The last time all four original Guess Who members performed together at the closing ceremonies of the Pan American Games at Winnipeg Stadium on August 8, 1999.^[14] A 2003 performance at the Molson Canadian Rocks for Toronto SARS benefit concert with a capacity of 450,000 is now recognised at the largest outdoor ticketed event in Canadian history.^[15]

From 2023 onwards, Bachman and Burton Cummings have been getting into legal battles with the new Guess Who featuring Garry Peterson. These battles include a Cease and desist and accusations of false advertising.^[16] As a result of a court agreement, as of April 2024, Peterson’s Guess Who can not perform songs written/co-written by Cummings or Bachman. Garry is the only original Guess Who member touring with the new version currently since 2016, but in recent years has on occasion been absent from concerts because of health reasons, causing these gigs to contain no original members on stage, with the oldest serving member in the band on stage only dating back to 2008.^[16] The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office records show that since 2006, Peterson and Kale co-own the rights to the "Guess Who" name only during live performances and not for studio releases.^[17]

Born in Canada, Garry now lives in the United States, Greensboro, North Carolina, with his wife Kimberly.^[18] He and Kimberly met at the Greensboro Coliseum Complex when Bachman-Turner Overdrive were playing there.^[6] Peterson has Dual citizenship of Canada and the United States.^[5] He has leg problems, and sometimes uses a wheelchair or a Mobility scooter when having to walk long distances.^[3]

Garry has received many honors as a part of the Guess Who. These include, an induction into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame (1987), induction into the Canada's Walk of Fame (1999), and receiving the Governor General's Performing Arts Award for Lifetime Artistic Achievement for their contributions to popular music in Canada (2002).^[19][20][21]