Peps Persson

Swedish reggae and blues musician

Swedish guitarist, mouth harp player, percussionist, producer, singer and songwriter, born December 20, 1946 in Klippan, Sweden, died 27 June 2021 in Vittsjö district in Skåne county. In Helsingborg his father Anton, a radio technician, owned a radio store on Järnvägsgatan in central Klippan. The family (incl. sisters and his mother Marta) lived above said store. After it went bust in the 50s, they first moved an hour east, to Åhus by the east coast, but soon settled when he still was a child in nearby Tjörnarp in Höör municipality, a tiny town where he grew up listening to the blues as a teenager, typically discussing politics at the dining table with his academically educated sisters, and starting his first bands in the mid 60s. He died in his Vittsjö (of Hässleholm Municipality) home of many years June 27, 2021, non-active for the better part of his last 15 years due to his heart problem, living as a recluse with his wife Anita, spending much time in his home studio in a shack next to their old house in the dark forest, studying the Arabic roots of Mali blues. About 6-8 months before he died, he gathered his old friends and band members in Hässleholm (a railroad hub, sort of between Klippan and Tjörnarp) for a last gig together at a local club - the first in some 50 odd years - and also let a local newspaper journalist, longtime fan and friend, Göran Holmquist, finally write his memoirs, something Holmquist had wanted for many a good year. The book - 'Spela för livet' ("Play For Your Life") - was released on Peps' 74th and last birthday Dec. 20, 2020. He died half a year later. His father Anton Persson wrote three songs that were recorded by Peps; 'Persson ifrån stan' from Peps Blodsband - Hög Standard (1974), 'Drängavisan' from Peps Blodsband - Spår and 'Karna & Ola' on Peps Persson Med Blodsband Och Kapell* - Rotrock (1980). As retirees, his parents moved back to Klippan where they both died; Anton in 1979, Marta in 1985. They're both buried at the old Klippan Chapel. Peps Persson was both a blues and a reggae pioneer in Sweden, and toured extensively in Sweden, Norway and Denmark for some 30 years. His sound was a bit special as he sang with both his exaggerated, Scanian dialect (or "a Southern drawl", if you will), and with a very characteristic voice. Persson's 1968 debut album - as Linkin' Louisiana Peps - was a straight-forward take on the blues, The studio musicians were some of Sweden's best, like Bill and Guy Öhrström and Slim Notini. It consisted of three covers of Elmore James standards, but also covers of tracks by John Lee Hooker, Eddie Boyd, Brownie McGhee and the likes. On his 2nd album, 'Sweet Mary Jane' (with a banned cover of marihuana leaves) as Peps & Blues Quality in 1969, he wrote all of the song except for a cover of a Lightnin' Hopkins track, 'I Once Was A Gambler'. Former jazz and progresssive rock drummer and lifelong friend Bosse Skoglund was now on board for the first time (he actually died 10 weeks before Peps, on his 85th birthday on April 10, 2021). Peps' third blues album in 1972 was actually recorded in Chicago during a two-week stay there, with the help of local musicians. Most songs were his own compositions, but he also recorded tracks by, for instance, Muddy Waters and Walter Jacobs, as well as one each by Carey Bell and Mighty Joe Young who both played on the album. His later move to the Swedish language, him openly smoking Mary Jane and his hippie looks, as well as his down-to-earth, humoruous political lyrics, and his connections with the Swedish "proggen" (our RIO, sort of) in the 70s made "Peps" a blues pioneer and a legend in his own time in Sweden. In the mid 70s, his interest for reggae also made him a pioneer in that area, with his Swedish covers of classic, early reggae songs. His legacy cannot be underestimated, but the shameless lack of re-releases of his recordings has made him more or less unknown to at least one generation now, although he actually had a huge surprise hit with Peps Blodsband - Oh Boy! in 1992, and totally unexpectedly performed said song on a popular TV show in Stockholm in Aug. 1999. His last album, 'Äntligen!' ("Finally!") was released in 2005 to little or none attention outside his die-hard fanbase. His last public show was in Vittsjö June 28, 2014.