St. Paul (born Paul Peterson) is the youngest son of a musical dynasty, lovingly referred to as Minnesota's First family of music, based in Minneapolis, MN. Family matriarch and mother Jeanne Peterson, an accomplished pianist and recording artist herself, raised her children with a keen eye to the future. Encouraging an ever-present musical ability in her children including Paul's siblings Billy, Linda, Patty and Ricky, Jeanne perhaps never imagined what her talented offspring, especially her youngest son Paul, would one day accomplish in the field of music. St. Paul was discovered at the young age of seventeen by the legendary artist Prince, and was designated to appear in his 1984 Academy Award Winning film Purple Rain as the new keyboard player in the chart-topping R&B group The Time. St. Paul's foray into the big leagues was under way at a rapid pace. He shortly thereafter contributed his keyboard prowess to the groups platinum album Ice cream castles and the infectious single Jungle love. After the surprising disintegration of the group later that year, Prince, who had recognized Peterson's talent as a gifted vocalist during the filming of Purple Rain, recruited him to front the burgeoning new group, The Family, whose self-titled debut was released on Prince's expanding Paisley Park label. Peterson then shifted to the new moniker, St. Paul. Generating the popular single The screams of passion. With the eventual demise of The Family, St. Paul released his self-titled debut album on MCA Records in 1986, which yielded the United States R&B hit singles Rich Man and Intimacy which was popular in many United Kingdom soul circles.
