Peter Ivers

Peter Scott Ivers (September 20, 1946 – March 3, 1983) was an American musician, songwriter and television host.^[1] He is perhaps best known as the host of the experimental music television show New Wave Theatre.

Ivers' primary instrument was the harmonica, and at a concert in 1968, Muddy Waters referred to him as "the greatest harp player alive."^[2] Ivers was signed by Van Dyke Parks and Lenny Waronker to a $100,000 contract as a solo artist with Warner Bros. Records in the early 1970s; his albums Terminal Love and Peter Ivers were commercial flops, but would eventually come to be well-regarded by music journalists.^[3] Ivers scored the 1977 David Lynch film Eraserhead, and also contributed the song "In Heaven (Lady in the Radiator Song)" to the soundtrack.^[4] He opened for Fleetwood Mac in 1976, and wrote songs that would go on to be recorded by Diana Ross and The Pointer Sisters.^[3]

Despite being well-connected in the entertainment industry, Ivers never never achieved mainstream success; yet, biographer Josh Frank describes the musician as having been connected by "a second degree to every major pop culture event of the last 30 years — from film, comedy, television."^[5]

Ivers was murdered in 1983 under mysterious circumstances; the crime remains unsolved. Following the publication of a 2008 biography on Ivers, the LAPD re-opened the investigation into his death.

Life and career

Early life

Ivers was born in Illinois, but raised in Brookline, a suburb of Boston, Massachusetts. He attended the Roxbury Latin School and then Harvard University, majoring in classical languages, but chose a career in music. He started playing harmonica with the Boston-based band Street Choir. He embarked on a solo career in 1969 with the Epic release of his debut, Knight of the Blue Communion (also featuring Sri Lankan jazz diva Yolande Bavan, who was sometimes erroneously thought to be married to Ivers).

Early career

In 1971 Ivers replaced Yolande with Asha Puthli on Take It Out On Me, his second album for Epic. The single from this second album, a cover of the Marvin Gaye number, "Ain't That Peculiar", backed by Ivers' original, "Clarence O' Day", was released and briefly entered the Top 100 Singles Billboard charts but the album was shelved by Epic (only finally seeing the light of day in 2009). Subsequently, Peter signed with Warner Bros. Records, where he recorded two more albums.

In 1971 and 1972, WNET and WGBH presented Jesus, A Passion Play for Americans, a play produced by Timothy Mayer. The music and lyrics were Ivers' from Knight of the Blue Communion. Other important roles are played by Andreas Teuber, Asha Puthli, Steve Kaplan and Laura Esterman. The work was broadcast as part of the WNET American Playhouse series. As a rock retelling of the story of Jesus, the work was a precursor to classics of that genre, such as Godspell and Jesus Christ Superstar.

Later career

In 1975, Ivers wrote the lyrics to the only compositions on the Threshold: The Blue Angels Experience film with vocals. Namely, these were; "Dawn: Eagle Call / The World Is Golden Too", "Noon: Rise Up Call / Wings / Blues Anthem" and "Night: Night Angels / She Won't Let Go". All were sung by Michael Nesmith.

In 1976, Ivers was asked by David Lynch to write a song for his movie, Eraserhead. Ivers penned "In Heaven (The Lady in the Radiator Song)", which became the most well-known composition from the film. He also scored the Ron Howard film Grand Theft Auto the following year. In 1979 he scored the fifth episode of the first season of B. J. and the Bear.

In 1977, Ivers produced a Synth-Pop / Disco album for Roderick Falconer titled Victory in Rock City.

Ivers' best friend was Harvard classmate Douglas Kenney, founder of the National Lampoon. Ivers played "Beautiful Dreamer" on the harmonica at Kenney's funeral. Ivers was also close friends with John Belushi who likewise preceded him in death.

In 1981, Ivers produced the Circus Mort EP featuring Swans front man Michael Gira and avant-garde drummer Jonathan Kane. 1981 also found Ivers tapped by David Jove to host New Wave Theatre on Los Angeles TV station KSCI which was shown irregularly as part of the weekend program Night Flight on the fledgling USA Network. The program was a frantic cacophony of music, theater and comedy, lorded over by Ivers with his manic presentation. Using a method of filming known as "live taped", the show was the first opportunity for many alternative musicians to receive nationwide exposure. Notable bands who appeared on the show included The Angry Samoans, Dead Kennedys, 45 Grave, Fear, Suburban Lawns and The Plugz.

Also in 1981 Ivers experienced commercial success having written a song with John Lewis Parker that became an R&B top ten hit for Phyllis Hyman called "Can't We Fall in Love Again?". Ivers formed a songwriting team with Franne Golde, and several of their compositions were picked up by successful artists, like; "Little Boy Sweet" recorded by The Pointer Sisters, "All We Really Need" recorded by Marty Balin, "Let's Go Up" recorded by Diana Ross and "Louisiana Sunday Afternoon" and "Give Me Your Heart Tonight"; both recorded by Kimiko Kasai. Peter also appears in the film Jekyll and Hyde... Together Again (1982) performing his song "Wham It" and had another composition "Light Up My Body" featured in the soundtrack.

In 1983, he performed on the Antilles Records release Swingrass '83.^[6]

Personal life

Ivers dated film executive Lucy Fisher for many years.^[5] Fisher would later become a vice president at Warner Bros., supervising films like Men in Black and Jerry Maguire.^[7]

Death and investigation

On March 3, 1983, Peter Ivers was found bludgeoned to death with a hammer in his Los Angeles loft space apartment. The murderer was never identified.^[5]

In the hours following his death, the LAPD officers sent to Ivers' house failed to secure the scene, allowing many of Ivers friends and acquaintances to traffic through the loft space. The scene was contaminated, and officers even allowed David Jove to leave with the blood-stained blankets from Ivers' bed.^[8] Harold Ramis was briefly considered a suspect in the murder (due to Ivers' close relationship with Harold's wife Ann), but was quickly cleared after he was able to establish an alibi.

Several of Ivers friends told biographer Josh Frank that they suspected David Jove, with whom the musician had a sometimes-contentious relationship. Harold Ramis noted, "As I grew to know David a little better, it just accumulated, all the clues and evidence just made me think he was capable of anything. I couldn't say with certainty that he'd done anything, but of all the people I knew, he was the one person I couldn't rule out."^[9] However, Derf Scratch (of the band Fear) and several other members of the Los Angeles punk and New Wave scene have maintained Jove's innocence.^[10]

About five weeks after the murder, Lucy Fisher paid for a private investigator named David Charbonneau to focus on the crime. Charbonneau interviewed a number people who knew Ivers, but due to the botched initial investigation, lack of evidence and lack of witnesses, the case eventually stalled out. Charbonneau stated: "I do not believe it was a break-in. I do not believe it was just someone off the street that Peter brought in because he was a nice guy that night and fell asleep trusting them. I'm not buying it."^[11]

Legacy

Shortly after his death, Lucy Fisher helped establish the Peter Ivers Visiting Artist Program at Harvard in the artist's memory.^[7]

Josh Frank and Charlie Buckholtz wrote a book about Ivers' life, art and mysterious death, In Heaven Everything Is Fine: The Unsolved Life of Peter Ivers and the Lost History of New Wave Theatre, published by Simon & Schuster in 2008. On the basis of new information unearthed during the creation of the book, the Los Angeles Police Department's cold case department reopened their investigation into Ivers' death.^[5]

In 2013, The Guardian named Terminal Love in their "101 Strangest Albums on Spotify" series. The newspaper noted that 30 years on, "Ivers' oddball leanings sound entirely contemporary. Those same arrangements that seemed so off-putting in 1974 feel rich and comfortable now, and the passing of time has leant Terminal Love a delicious hipster twang it couldn't possibly have enjoyed as a new release."^[3]

Discography

• Knight of the Blue Communion (Epic, 1969)
• Take It Out on Me (recorded for Epic in 1971; released in 2009 by Wounded Bird Records)
• Terminal Love (Warner Bros. Records, 1974)
• Peter Ivers (also known as Peter Peter Ivers) (Warner Bros. Records, 1976)
• Nirvana Peter (Warner Bros. Records, 1985)*
• The Untold Stories (K2B2 Records, 2008)

* Compilation of previous Warner recordings with bonus tracks

Other appearances

• Buellgrass - Big Night at Ojai (K2B2 Records, 1983); released on CD as Buellgrass - Across the Tracks
• John Klemmer - Magic and Movement (Impulse!, 1974)

References

Sources