Born in Greenville, Mississippi, on June 20, 1933, and raised in Hollandale, Ben James Peters grew from singing gospel with tenant farmers and playing a saxophone he found in his grandparents’ attic into a major country songwriter. After graduating from high school in Hollandale in 1952 and from Mississippi Southern College in 1956, where he studied business administration and met his wife Jackie Macon, he served four years as a U.S. Navy aviator while continuing to write songs. Early work with Atlanta producer and publisher Bill Lowery brought experience but no important songwriting credits, and his first break came in 1966 when one of his songs became the B-side of an early Dolly Parton single. Moving to Nashville as a songwriter and general manager for Fingerlake Music, he soon saw Roy Drusky take “If the Whole World Stopped Loving You” into the country top twenty, and in 1967 Eddy Arnold made “Turn the Whole World Around” his first number-one song. Peters went on to write fourteen number-one hits, including “Before the Next Teardrop Falls,” “Daytime Friends and Nighttime Lovers,” and “Kiss an Angel Good Morning,” and he became known for turning everyday remarks into memorable songs. Though he also recorded a handful of country pop singles between 1969 and 1973 and operated a successful recording studio for decades, he is best remembered as an extraordinary songwriter whose work was recorded by artists ranging from Waylon Jennings, Buck Owens, Kitty Wells, and George Jones to Dean Martin, Lou Rawls, and Ella Fitzgerald.
