"Thank you, New York, for building calluses I'll never lose." Kimberly Peterson's cross-country, post-college move from Los Angeles to New York has shaped her first demo, Growing Up. Although Kim had been in many new and uncomfortable cultural situations since birth (Kim's parents had a penchant for traveling to the outskirts of foreign countries without knowing the language or the cultural norms), settling into New York City was a shock. After finding the subway and finding an apartment in Red Hook, Brooklyn, Kim started the much harder battle of finding herself in this new, adult role.
Kim got her musical ear from her grandmother, a concert pianist, who used to sit Kim and her brother Kent on the piano bench whenever they visited her in Neosho, Missouri. After passing pitch tests as babies, (her grandmother would say, "sing like Granny!," and was thrilled when her grandkids sang in the same key), and later singing duets from Camelot to her grandma's accompaniment, Kim knew that her heart was in her voice.
Although Kim adored being musical, her teenage years brought her to an uncanny fear of solo performance. She found numerous ways to weasel out of competitions, but finally agreed to perform in the Kiwanis club finals at her middle school. In preparation for this performance, Kim both had panic attacks and started voice lessons.
Kim went into these lessons wanting only to sing Eponine in Les Miserables or the lead in a Twisted Sister cover band, but graduated as a young opera student. At the University of Southern California, Kim studied opera while simultaneously veering off track to experiment with jazz, choral music, early music, studio singing, cabaret and musical theater. Finally, another voice teacher guided Kim's life when he said, "I think you'll get tired of auditioning for what other people want you to be. You have a great ear; you should start writing your own music." My first reaction was, "Really? I can do that?"
The answer, to my great joy, was "yes." Growing Up conquers the thrills and dark days of moving from home, falling in love and, clearly, growing up. I've been extremely lucky to work with Craig Wilson (Tyler Hilton, Taylor Swift, Cyndi Lauper), who's forced me to dig for golden truth in every emotion I feel. Craig produced Growing Up, and led me to Defy Recordings to work with engineer extraordinaire Robert L. Smith (Michael Jackson, Aerosmith, Bon Jovi). Dan Vonnegut on drums (Patti Rothberg, Mary Fahl, David Berkeley) David Patterson on guitar (Shawn Mullins, Indigo Girls) and Nick Alberti on bass expanded my songs into the living, breathing music you're hearing now. Thank you for listening, and enjoy!
