Michael Peters
Martha Swope
Michael Peters was born on August 6th, 1948.
He appeared as a featured dancer in the Broadway productions of The Wiz, Raisin, Purlie, Billie, and, Me and Bessie.
In 1975 he choreographed Donna Summer’s “Love to Love You Baby” music video which led him to choreograph for Pat Benatar’s “Love Is A Battlefield” (1983), Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” (1983), “Beat It” (1983), and Lionel Richie’s “Hello” (1984) music videos, amongst many others.
He plays the rival gang leader wearing all white in the “Beat It” music video.
In 1979, he choreographed his first Broadway show, Comin’ Uptown, an all-black version of Charles Dickens's Christmas Carol, which starred Gregory Hines.
This led him to work with Michael Bennett on the staging and choreography for the original run of Dreamgirls and together, win the Best Choreography Tony award in 1982.
In 1985, he directed his first Broadway musical, Leader of the Pack.
He lent his excellence to film, choreographing for films like The Jacksons: An American Dream (1992), What's Love Got to Do with It (1993), Sister Act 2 (1993), The Mambo Kings (1992), and The Five Heartbeats (1991).
He won the 1993 Outstanding Individual Achievement in Choreography Emmy for his work on The Jacksons: An American Dream.
This was his second time winning the award, he had won it for the first time in 1987 for his choreography work on the TV special, Liberty Weekend.
Not one to limit himself , he also directed the television special "New Kids on the Block" and segments of "Knots Landing," "Fresh Prince of Bel Air" and "A Different World."
In the last years of his life, he was a tireless advocate for choreographers.
He was instrumental in bringing the word “choreographer” to the mainstream lexicon and had even begun a campaign in 1993 to get the Oscars to include a category for Best Choreography.
Michael Peters died from AIDS on August 29th, 1994. He was 46 years old.