Sweet Pea Atkinson (September 20, 1945 – May 5, 2020) was an American R&B singer known as one of the vocalists for the band Was (Not Was).
Hillard “Sweet Pea” Atkinson was born in Oberlin, Ohio, and moved to Detroit as a child. He worked at the Chrysler factory, and sang with work colleagues in a local band called Hi Energy. He met Don Was in the late 1970s, when he was rehearsing at the same studio that Don Was was using.
Sweet Pea Atkinson joined Was (Not Was) as joint lead vocalist alongside Harry Bowens and they featured on some of the band’s most successful recordings.
Was (Not Was) is an American band founded in 1979 in Detroit, Michigan, by David Weiss and Don Fagenson, who adopted the stage names David Was and Don Was. Their first album Was (Not Was) which was released in 1981 was an amalgam of rock, disco, Weiss’s beat poetry, Reagan-era political-social commentary, and jazz. On vocals they were Harry Bowens and “Sweet Pea” Atkinson, who frequently found themselves singing absurdist and satirical songs alongside tender ballads.
Was (Not Was)’s song catalog features a mix of pop and rock styles, often featuring guest musicians from across the musical spectrum. The band’s most popular period was during the 1980s and early 1990s, with their highest-charting hit, the fantastic song “Walk the Dinosaur”, which was released in 1987 as the lead single from their 1988 album “What Up, Dog?“, becoming a worldwide top-40 hit and peaking at No. 7 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart.
Shortly after the release of the first Was (Not Was) album called “Was (Not Was)”, in 1982, Sweet Pea Atkinson recorded and released his first solo album, “Don’t Walk Away” which was co-produced by David Was and Don Was.
American music journalist and essayist Robert Christgau gave Don’t Walk Away an A− grade, writing, “Trouper that he is, Atkinson will sing any nonsense [the Was brothers] hand him, but he obviously finds his truth in Dionne Warwick, the Tymes, General Johnson, and Eddie Rabbitt, and I’ll go along with that.”
In 1997 Sweet Pea Atkinson starred along with Kris Kristofferson, in a 15-minute short film included on Don Was’ album “Forever’s a Long, Long Time”, which Don Was released under the alias Orquestra Was. Sweet Pea Atkinson also performed as lead vocalist on most of the songs on the album, on which Don Was interprets songs by legendary country artist Hank Williams.
Sweet Pea Atkinson later joined forces with blues guitarist Randy Jacobs, who was also a longtime Was (Not Was) session guitarist and co-wrote the band’s most successful hit, “Walk the Dinosaur”, in a band called the Boneshakers. Together they released three albums, two of which were studio recordings, “Book of Spells” in 1997 and “Shake the Planet” in 1999, both on Point Blank Records.
The third album “Live in Seattle”, was released on Concord Records, and recorded with Mindi Abair, who is a saxophonist, vocalist, author, and National Trustee for the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, the organization that puts on the Grammy Awards show.
Two more albums were credited to Mindi Abair and the Boneshakers “The EastWest Sessions” (2017) and “All I Got for Christmas Is the Blues” (2018).
Sweet Pea Atkinson also toured for ten years with Lyle Lovett, and sang on records by Bonnie Raitt, Bob Dylan, Brian Wilson, Willie Nelson, Iggy Pop, Elton John, Jackson Browne, and many, many others.
Sweet Pea Atkinson died from a heart attack in Los Angeles, on May 5, 2020, aged 74.
Check out Sweet Pea Atkinson on Amazon
Check out Was (Not Was) on Amazon.
If you liked this article please share it with your friends and family, and why not check out some of our other articles on Musicians who died in 2020.
.
